My Balcony is for the Birds

[shanmonster]

The flock was back, today. Three little pigeons who've lost their mittens were pacing back and forth on a thin dusting of snow. Bird tracks litter my balcony. f00 handfed Scroffy, making sure the other two pigeons didn't get any. I think this was ill-planned on his part. He should have waited until only Scroffy was here. Instead, while Scroffy pigged out on dry bread, two other googly sets of orange eyes stared wistfully. Every now and then, they'd fly to the window sill, only to be rebuffed by f00's big, scary presence.

They won't be afraid for long, though.

Scroffy is the king bird. When he first showed up, a few months ago, he was a sorry-looking specimen. His feathers were in disarray, his colour was dull, and he was quite ugly. Now, his feathers glisten, he looks sleek, and he's no longer ugly. This is what comes from being fed good food on a regular basis. When the other two birds tried to horn in on his food, he chased them away with a growling series of coos. When the three mingle on the balcony, he's the bossy one.

f00 witnessed a funny thing. One of the newcomers stood on the balcony railing. The railing is round, and presumably rather slippery. The bird lost its balance and its legs slipped, leaving it astride the rail, legs dangling on either side. It flailed its wings, but couldn't get enough power to lift off the rail. Instead, it had just enough power to send it scooting on its arse right toward the brick pillar. Finally, it achieved escape velocity and extricated itself from its embarassing predicament. f00 laughed and laughed, and I'm sorry I missed the sight.

f00 told me not to name the other two pigeons, but one of them is Lemmywinks. I don't know about the other, yet.

Comments

[minstrel70.livejournal.com]

Pigeons are not well-thought-of in the New York metro area, precisely because they tend to congregate. Best of luck in trying to remain a one-pigeon household! :)

Aww

[jagnightwalker.livejournal.com]

I want a Scroffy! We actually used to have a pigeon...found one practically defeathered out in the rain, nursed him back to full feathered health, and he came back over and over to coo at us from our roof edge in wait of his seed. His name was Harry.

But how can you NOT feed the others! I'm such a sucker, heh.

[fourcorners.livejournal.com]

Your pigeon posts are so interesting

[prolixfootle.livejournal.com]

You seem to be a Scrofulous person, while f00 doesn't, although you'd think it would be the other way round...

(*snicker*)

Re: Aww

[f00dave.livejournal.com]

How *can't* she feed them? I bet she does. *I'm* the hard-ass. ;-)

Seriously, there's already an over-flowing hillock of shit on our windowsill. More pigeons will just make it that much worse. Come spring, I'm prepared to let Scroffy bring a mate/build a nest, sure. But no handouts to the pigeon population at-large!

I just hope Shan has the fortitude to withold food from The Interlopers Who Should Not Be Named (Fuck, She Went And Did It Anyway). We'll see.

[f00dave.livejournal.com]

Har har.

*installs an HTTP-based backdoor and sets your wallpaper to nude-Saddam*

[prolixfootle.livejournal.com]

I meant that in the best possible way...

(*wonders what you are doing with nude pics of Saddam...*)

[f00dave.livejournal.com]

I don't have any, though I'm *sure* I could find some, probably on fark.com. You seem unusually interested.... *zing!*

[prolixfootle.livejournal.com]

Unusually worried... *saddams-bum-ching!*

[f00dave.livejournal.com]

Hey, he's rich *and* a celebrity. Hence, the fare would be, oh, 50,000$ for a non-recorded session, and I wouldn't do a recorded session. Hell, you know what happened after the Star Wars Kid video hit the web, imagine footage of some blonde hunk (well...) fucking Saddam in the ass?

On second thought, don't imagine that.

*washes brain under faucet*

[prolixfootle.livejournal.com]

Ugh!

Use some Clorox!

And are you blonde again?

[f00dave.livejournal.com]

Clorox wouldn't work. Water is the universal solvent.... ;-)

And yes, I've been blond again ever since the red faded/washed out. Which was at least a month ago, probably more.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

They're not well-thought-of here, either. People think of them as flying rats. So obviously, people don't think highly of rats, either. I think rats and pigeons are just both critters doing their own things--neither good nor bad.

Re: Aww

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I want to feed the others. They look so forlorn. Maybe I'll just throw seed down onto the sidewalk below. That way, they'll have food, but it won't be on the balcony.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

It's because pigeons are so interesting!