[Leica] IMG: The Return of the Pigeon

[ric at cartersxrd.net (RicCarter)]

i believe that his is one of the best natural histories i have ever read

ric


> On Oct 1, 2017, at 7:38 PM, Douglas Barry <imra at iol.ie> wrote:
> 
> I discovered the internet lied to me.
> 
> After a day without some beady eye affection, I realised I was missing the 
> pigeon. However, my temporary pigeon deprivation wasn't to last. My wife 
> went out to her car today, saw a movement behind it, and discovered a 
> pigeon.  I came out on her call, realised that it was the same one, and 
> that the poor thing was obviously entranced by the quality of the 
> Flahavans Pinhead Oats that I had given it when it was here before. I say 
> this confident in my understanding of the knowing and hopeful looks it 
> gave me. With our cat asleep in the house, my wife headed off, and I 
> cycled down for my daily swim in the sea. When I pedalled back a half hour 
> later, there was the pigeon waiting for me.
> 
> However, being a pigeon hotel proprietor is not in my life plan, so I rang 
> John the owner of the stray pigeon to say that it was back with me, and 
> had it returned to him, and then changed its mind? He said that, according 
> to his records, it hadn't been raced by him for at least a year, and that 
> someone else must retrieved it. After some desultory chit chat, I got the 
> distinct impression that John didn't really see himself getting back with 
> this pigeon, especially as he lived on the far side of Dublin. "Could I 
> give it to someone else - a local pigeon owner?" I suggested. He didn't 
> think so, as he thought they would be afraid that all their pigeons might 
> get some sort of plague. He thought that maybe I might like it 
> permanently. I said I couldn't see it living happily, or very long, with 
> my pet cat. After a silence, he then suggested I let it revert to its 
> feral state.
> 
> I asked him how I would accomplish that. He recommended that I shoo it 
> away, and, above all, not to feed it or give it water, as it was clearly 
> bonding with our garage which it now associated with rest and refreshment. 
> The internet site I had read a couple of days earlier had recommended 
> feeding and rest and stated that once it recovered (24 to 48 hours) it 
> would fly back to its loving owner. Some chance with this one, I thought. 
> I asked about our cat, and John said that once it sees a cat, it'll clear 
> off anyway. I went out to it and did some heavy shooing. It shot under one 
> of the cars and there it stayed until I went back into the house.
> 
> At lunch, my wife spotted it just outside the patio window staring in at 
> us eating. I went in and woke the sleeping cat and put it on the other 
> side of the window. The cat spotted it, stiffened, flicked its tail, 
> paused for a minute or so, and then leapt at the window. The pigeon did 
> its best Kim Jong-un impression and didn't look in the least bit phased by 
> the Trumpian showboating. It stared back and didn't move. The cat got more 
> enraged. Eventually, I had to go out another way and flap my swimming 
> towel until the bird retreated and flew off to the garden wall. I then let 
> the cat out, and it became clear that this was one cool bird who knew how 
> to deal with cats. It remained high enough to keep well away from it, and 
> stayed staring down at an excited cat.
> 
> I decided that I wasn't really abandoning an ingenue to its fate, but 
> really reminding a mature thing of the limitations of its expectations. I 
> went off and did other things. However, here is a photo my son took of the 
> cat and the pigeon.
> 
> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/DouglasBray/NHLFs/Target+Acquired.jpg.html
> 
> I hope the bloody thing has moved to pastures new by tomorrow.
> 
> Douglas
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information