Comments on: Some days you're the pigeon, other days you're the statue

Some days you're the pigeon, other days you're the statue

DeepFriedTwinkies — Sun, 29 May 2005 09:20:28 -0800

Pigeons. Some people love them, others loathe them. Although the passenger pigeon went the way of the dodo, our rock dove friends continue to endure and prosper. First introduced to America's shores by french guests in 1606, the rats with wings are great sources of amusement, childish delights, mathematical theorem, and even spiritual inspiration, defying all efforts to wipe the little poop factories out. Plus they're tasty!

By: blm

blm — Sun, 29 May 2005 09:31:37 -0800

And of course a data transfer method.

By: Balisong

Balisong — Sun, 29 May 2005 09:38:15 -0800

Pigeons age great!! With a greamy garlic sauce and some capers. Right up there with blackened squirel carbonara.

By: deemer

deemer — Sun, 29 May 2005 09:48:54 -0800

I like them better dressed... =)

By: goatdog

goatdog — Sun, 29 May 2005 09:54:21 -0800

I saw some British show where this chef went back to nature and started raising his own food. He made some dish out of pigeon that had my mouth watering. I probably wouldn't eat the winged rats that live in the city, but farm-raised pigeon sure looks tasty.

By: dmd

dmd — Sun, 29 May 2005 10:25:20 -0800

My SO has taken to calling them "rock doves" to make them seem less like the winged rats they are.

By: ackeber

ackeber — Sun, 29 May 2005 10:32:06 -0800

there are something like over 2,000 types of pigeons in the world, and only two exist in america.

By: pracowity

pracowity — Sun, 29 May 2005 10:40:05 -0800

"They would become lost or fly to a nearby tree and parish in the elements." What a cool name for an outdoor church. (Or maybe a chapel at Dow Chemical.) Anyway, I like hawks. Every pigeoned town should encourage hawks to nest and feast. (And for the night shift, owls.) Besides, I hear that hawks also like chihuahuas.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Sun, 29 May 2005 10:42:20 -0800

the rats with wings thing is older than that ref, definitely--i grew hearing that. ...22 June 1966, New York Times, pg. 59: Commissioner Hoving (Parks Commissioner Thomas P. F. Hoving – ed.) calls the pigeon "a rat with wings." ... ... 31 December 1967, New York Times, pg. 190: To discourage pigeons, recently defined as rats with wings, I scatter millet and cracked corn for juncos and other sparrows in the heart of brush pile which is kept for this purpose. ...

By: TimothyMason

TimothyMason — Sun, 29 May 2005 11:11:50 -0800

Tom Lehrer don't like them much. William Burroughs had a soft spot for the passenger.

By: davidmsc

davidmsc — Sun, 29 May 2005 11:22:37 -0800

The very word "pigeon" is usually sufficient to elicit a giggle from me; they are very whimsical creatures.

By: TimothyMason

TimothyMason — Sun, 29 May 2005 12:44:21 -0800

Oh, and BTW, did you know that the starling is a pigeon (OED). Which means that Clarice - who eats squab, she tells us - is a cannibal. No wonder she went over to the dark side.

By: Zarkonnen

Zarkonnen — Sun, 29 May 2005 13:51:47 -0800

Pigeon extermination made fashionable in a slightly disturbing coffee-table book.

By: gsh

gsh — Sun, 29 May 2005 15:13:38 -0800

From a purely amateur ornithology view, watching the feather colors and patterns of the pigeons at my el stop change over the past 6 years has been fascinating. What began as a group of fairly standard dark grey with green/purple breast birds has changed to several dalmation varieties, browns, cremes and foggy greys. They are really quite lovely.

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Sun, 29 May 2005 15:36:12 -0800

My friend Jon had this letter published in New York Magazine a couple of weeks ago (click it for full-size): As a property manager, I've seen brick walls permanently defaced by pigeons' foul emissions, sections of steel on bridges eviscerated by the acid in their droppings. I would sooner breed and domesticate Norwegian rats than give even one bread crumb to a pigeon. Normal people don't feed pigeons. Those who feed these pests are disturbed. In no other facet of our society are people allowed so openly to create a public health menace under the guise of compassion. Why these select few outcasts choose to perpetuate the flying filth we know as the urban pigeon is anyone's guess. Perhaps a pigeon never craps on the hand that feeds it. —Jonathan L. Posner, Manhattan and got this excellent letter in response:

By: peacay

peacay — Mon, 30 May 2005 01:51:59 -0800

That's classic nicwolff. Heh.

By: mdn

mdn — Mon, 30 May 2005 03:19:55 -0800

that's a beaut, nic. Though I quite like the rock doves myself. (but then, I'm not a property manager.) anyone know if the pigeons on the street in NY and London are different? The Londoners seem to have longer, slightly curved beaks and possibly be a little larger. The parks in london are so full of birds of all sorts, though, whereas in most of NYC you just get pigeons & sparrows (yes, there are plenty of birds if you know where to look, yadda yadda, but in London it seems impossible to avoid them).