a tale of two pigeons
today was the first clear day out in weeks, so i filled it up with many long walks, during which i came across two notable pigeons.
first: i had an early-morning appointment at the unemployment agency and decided to walk instead of riding the U-bahn. along the way, under the lightening navy-to-cerulean sky, i saw what looked to be a standoff confrontation between an adult (it was hard for me to tell in the light but i think it was a woman) and a pigeon on the sidewalk. the moment caught my attention because of the absolute stillness of them both; they were enveloped in a poetic and tense silence. the pigeon stood rigid with its neck craned towards the human, which had its arms crossed. i paused about 15 feet away from them and watched for an extra breath, then continued on my way. another 15 feet or so after that i approached a large flock of pigeons huddled over a heap of bird feed, specks of seeds and yellow grain tossed in the air as they picked at it. it was not clear to me whether the first pigeon i saw had gotten stranded from its friends, and whether the human it was staring at had been the one to bring them their breakfast, but i couldn’t help but draw the conclusion that the two events were connected.
then, in the afternoon, on my return leg of a large loop through the park, i saw a house cat staring hard at a different pigeon, although the poor fellow didn’t seem to be aware of the feline spying on him. the cat, waifish and thin, wiggled its butt and prepared to pounce at the bird, while i took on a similar stance pointing my smartphone camera at them from a short distance away. i must’ve shuffled my feet too quickly because the cat looked up at me, startled, and scuttered away at the same instant that the pigeon flapped its wings and promptly disappeared.