it's official, i'm a crazy bird lady
this story is quite long, but it’s sweet so you should definitely read it.
in august my coworkers noticed a pair of pigeons laid an egg on the balcony at my office. i immediately googled city pigeons and began to learn everything there was to know. we learned that the pigeon would arrive in a little over 2 weeks. we were stoked; the office would have a baby! penelope was born on 8/18 and wow was she ugly. this is coming from someone whose soul is owned by cute baby animals. penelope’s dad would sit on her during office hours and mom would take over at night. a few weeks went by and i noticed that penelope was in the middle of the deck. a critter must of moved her because she couldn’t walk yet. i gently scooped her up and put her back in the nest. the following week a coworker noticed that penelope’s feet looked tied up. he picked her up and noticed rubber bands around her feet. he cut the rubber bands off and penelope walked for the first time. it was amazing to see that little thing raise her itty bitty wings and walk around! i cleaned out the rest of the rubber bands from her nest. i guess city pigeons use office supplies, rocks, and a tiny bit of pinestraw to make their terribly crappy nests.
the next day we never saw her parents. it was pouring and she didn’t have adequate shelter. another day went by and she looked dead. she was barely breathing so we called an animal nature center and they referred us to a lady who specialized in birds. nancy lived right near our office and came by with food and a warm place for pene to sleep. nancy said her parents most likely abandoned her. we occasionally got emails that penelope was doing well and was being raised with 2 other rescues. several weeks went by and nancy said penelope and the others would be ready for release in a few weeks. she wanted to bring them back to the office so they’d have a flock and we could feed them. yay - office pets! because we never fed the pigeons before and didn’t have a flock for pene to join, we stocked up on bird seed. it only took a few days for us to get a flock together. pigeons are hard to distinguish so we only named one; lloyd. lloyd fluffs up his neck and guards the food like the big fat bully he is.
on monday nancy brought penelope, sweet pea, and blanche (an all white racing pigeon) to our office for release. i had a migraine and missed the fucking release (of course), but i heard it was awesome. all week we’ve been giving them water and bird seed. they’ve starting hanging out on the balcony all day and doing what pigeons do, wait for food.
our balcony is now covered with shit and if/when building management finds out we’ve been feeding the birds i’ll probably get fired. we’re going to ween them off regular feedings over a month so we don’t piss anyone off, but if i had it my way i’d feed them forever.
yesterday i ate lunch alone on the deck and caught myself talking to the birds. so it’s official, i’m a crazy bird lady. hopefully soon i’ll be able to walk outside and they’ll all land on my shoulders and head.
this is sweet pea, blanche, & penelope.
only part of the flock
penelope waiting for food
