Some Pigeons in Brooklyn

First I want to say, I grew up on a large piece of land with plenty of room. I had lots of dogs, cats and birds. We had a couple of ferrets, we had ducks, we had guinea pigs, we had gerbils, hamsters, lets just say I was never ever without a pet. EVER!!!! Even when I grew up I had dogs, cats, horses. I even had pet chickens. I just love taking care of them. It might be a lot of work, but it was work that calmed me when I was stressed and they gave me unconditional love in return.

It was in a different life in a different world in New Jersey. I am however now, in New York.. I love this place with all its diversities. From the different races all in one place and my neighbors are great. I see all walks of life in one block. I love that about Brooklyn. Alas, I been missing my pets. My husband is definitely not an animal lover. He is very neutral about them. We do have a pet parakeet named PP. short for Princess Pinkerton. She is not hand tamed. I tried to work with her but I guess she is too old or acts too much like my significant other..

I decided to take things into my own hands. We live on the third floor of an apartment building. Its a nice apartment but that is what it is. An apartment. We do not have a balcony but outside of my bedroom window, we have a fire escape.

I remember my father used to set up tin dishes in our yard full of food for the squirrels and birds. He would clean them every morning and put bread and seeds in them and a separate bin would be for fresh water. I was remembering it one day while looking out my window. I decided to do the same thing to see if I could attract birds. Sure enough it worked!! So every morning when I get up and after everyone leaves of course, I go take care of my birds. They expect it too now. They sometimes fly and sit on my fire escape until I come to the window and then they fly off to let me do my thing.

At first I was putting things on paper plates, but that was getting old fast.. So I got an old cookie sheet and when I buy PP her bird food, I buy the really big one that holds five pounds of seeds. I start by cleaning out PP's seed dish, and I dump hers onto my pigeons dish, and it usually has a lot of left over and then I scoop two scoops onto their tray, I add oatmeal, bread crumbs and raisons and some apples. This way I know they are getting a lot. I also put out a large flat dish of fresh water. Especially in the winter, it is scarce for them to find. I make sure its filled in the morning and if it is going to be extra cold, I make sure it s not frozen in the afternoon. They usually leave by late afternoon. I guess they retire for the night.

It s always the same ones that come though. I am starting to recognize them. The girl pigeons are the first to arrive in the morning. They seem to get their fill and then I'll see bigger pigeons coming. I'm assuming they are the males. They land on the dish and all the females disperse and watch him eat. Once in a while, I'll see a female sneaking slowly and trying to eat around him.

Little birds start coming in and sometimes by the droves... they fly onto the fire escape and watch first, and then they fly onto the floor of the fire escape and then make their way to the dish and it seems like even in the bird world size don't matter, the females still run away from the males.

I do enjoy this little scene on the mornings that I have time to watch it. I have to be careful when I open the curtain. It can only be a little bit. There is one female that always notices me but she is not scared. She knows I won't hurt her, the others if they see me fly away fast.

Its just a hobby, passed down from father to daughter. I can imagine my father watching and saying he approves.

I just thought I would share.