Love a Pigeon Week

A delightful article on pigeons by Alicia. Love a Pigeon Week surpasses National Pigeon Day.

I am definitely not a bird lover. I tolerate small birds, like house sparrows, finches, whatever. In fact small ones can be rather cute. I like how sparrows in public places have the guts to hop close and try to steal your lunch, or whatever you happen to be carrying. Parakeets are even okay as far as other birds; i think they’re really pretty and they are usually in cages which helps. But it seems to me that the sheer ominosity (is that a word?) of the bigger birds such as ostriches seems to drown the impact of the number of small birds present in the world. I mean, no matter how many small and harmless ones exist, the big ones just look so menacing that it totally disregards how few they are. (Have you ever had an emu chase you? I have * shudder * and that’s probably why i have this problem with birds. Even seagulls look threatening up close, good grief.)

But there is one bird that i think is largely misunderstood and under appreciated, and that is the pigeon. Now before you leave my blog for good, consider my arguments. Pigeons are not aggressive. They make a pleasant cooing sound (at least some think it is pleasant). It is not their fault that they poop all over your car either. They can be rather funny at times, since they are supposed to act like small birds but are quite fat. They add alot of atmosphere and character to a city (at least I think so - when my family went to Chicago, i cannot tell you how much cooler the city was to me just because it had pigeons running around everywhere). Feeding them from your hand is also like the biggest world tourist thing ever, so they also provide entertainment for many crowds - not only for the ones feeding them, but also for those watching people feed them. Without pigeons, the song “Feed the Birds” in Mary Poppins would not have been made possible in front of the Notre Dame. Okay, maybe it is just a movie, but that is my favorite song from that film and it was also one of Walt Disney’s personal favorites, so pigeons are VERY important.

Plus, anyone who has been subjected to the PBS kids version of Curious George loves pigeons automatically, all thanks to Compass the homing pigeon who doesn’t really home. Compass is a representative for the true will of pigeons everywhere; and the true will of pigeons really has nothing to do with bothering us bipeds.

So, i say we should declare a national holiday: “Love a Pigeon Week.” It should be a week long because some people need six days to find a pigeon to love, and others need six days to work up the courage and tenacity to love one they already found. (Pastor Kevin is a step ahead right now - he just needs to find the pigeon that is so “annoyingly” cooing outside his office every day and give it a big hug so it will coo louder.)

So, there is my thought for the day. Not very profound, granted, but hopefully interesting nonetheless. Now go out and love a pigeon!