A lot of you despise me,
And I don't understand why.
I am not ugly or deserving of your hate.
I survive every day on the streets,
That used to be meadows.
There are no tasty seeds,
Because you turned trees into buildings.
I eat what you throw on the ground,
Because I have no choice.
Water is harder and harder to find.
Do you know what it takes to survive in a world that is not mine anymore?
Please don't scare me or hurt me,
Just let me live - in your world that was once mine.
The truth too. Pigeons can be dirty, but that our doing. They are actually very pretty birds I find.
ReplyDeletenice poem!
ReplyDeleteScott from Massachusetts said.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rick.
Sad but true poem!!
There is trash everywhere. People what you take in the woods take it back out. I have to find a suttle way to say pick up your trash before leaving.
It really not hard, I just bring a little bag, and put my rubbish in that and throw it away at home in the trash.
This not only relates to birds but all animals in the woods.
Count me among those who despise them. To my knowledge, it is the only bird that craps where it roosts. You can't imagine the damage that does, the illness it causes.
ReplyDeleteThe other birds? Love them.
Well, fuck me. That changed how I view pigeons. Though I'm partial to crows and swallows myself. I'll take a different view of pigeons.
ReplyDelete@whkattk: I think chickens poop where they roost too. Ideally, birds roost in places where their pooh drops away from them. They are a good source of food for hawks and other aerial predators.
I love my backyard birds, 16 species, but find some of their behavior quite odd. For instance, the Mourning Doves visit regularly for the seed I provide. I also have a birdbath with a fountain that circulates the water. After they eat and before sunset they sit and drink at the fountain, then turn around and poop in the water?!? But then I guess fish poop in their water and continue to swim and filter it through their gills?!?
ReplyDeleteThis would be poignant if it were true, but it's not. Pigeons do not live "in your world that was once mine." Pigeons are native to a small part of the Old World – they were first domesticated in Mesopotamia – and they were brought to America by the colonists as food animals. Some escaped, and now they are feral, an invasive species.
ReplyDeleteSO true. thanks for posting to make others realize what we have done and what we continue to do.
ReplyDelete@Unashamed Male. Good job. Thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteOn a completely different note: maybe the poem is sort of a metaphor for the undesirable?
@ Leftfield-
ReplyDeletePat is right that pigeon's poo in the nest, but you are right... pigeons and Most birds do poo near or in the nest, but they actually "shoot" the pellet out and over the nest usually.
People are the worst thing to ever happen to this planet.
ReplyDeleteUnashamed Male - Thanks for that info.
ReplyDeleteMaddie - And thank you, too.
ReplyDeletePigeons know very well how to survive, to feed and nest, outside towns. 'Proof' being the attempts at sterilizing the males (it was easier with the males) through medically treated seeds in order to reduce their population: it appeared that the females quickly flew out of town to find suitable partners to get ticked, then got back in town to nest and maintain the population.
ReplyDeleteThe reason they are so numerous in urban areas is proportional to the lack of care of the people, unfortunately used to throwing away garbage appealing to pigeons. Cities which have a comprehensive cleanliness policy - available street litter bins, frequent cleaning of streets and pavements... - saw their population of pigeons seriously decrease, and with a bonus: the reappearance of other species traditionally more adapted to gardens.
I feel for this pigeon in the picture because it was very well Photoshopped. But I wish it were solely found in it's region of origin (thank you Larry for looking it up).
Workman - Cleanliness of our cities is a very important aspect in this situation.
ReplyDelete