Last week I shared a photo of my pigeon pal Gulliver on a Facebook page called Weird Toronto. It's a fun page at times as people from around the city share their weird sightings. Some really odd stuff comes up at times. Occasionally I throw in a wildlife sighting of mine, not always weird, but heart warming is more like it, as I can see a lot of people on there dig our common city wildlife like the raccoons. I like to give a little story to the photo as that keeps it interesting. I hate those "look what I saw" or "look at my pretty photograph" and there's nothing to it. So for Gulliver, I said that he visits me everyday. I called in for a snow day last week to dig us out of this snow storm and not be on the roads. He figured out I was home all day and visited me numerous times while I was shoveling. Gulliver was a nice break from my workout. And the thing with Gulliver is that he doesn't look like your common pigeon, not with that plumage of his.
A number of people from Weird Toronto took a liking to Gulliver, even those who admitted to not liking pigeons a whole lot. Then I got an email from someone at BlogTO wanting to speak with me about this guy. I jumped at the chance to speak to someone about him, and that conversation turned into a chat about pigeons, how Pierre started this whole thing with me 10 years ago and I dabbled in our backyard as a whole. I know I flooded the writer, Karen Longwell, with a lot of story bits, bird and animal species. She seemed to enjoy the tales. I knew that everything I told her certainly could not be done in one short blog; and it was going to be interesting to see what she was going to make of this. She told me it would probably be published over the weekend, which was 3 or 4 days away. That left me a lot of time to wonder about this in my spare time, but it was good wondering.
Here is the link to the blog she did.
The blog was mostly well received. Angie and I enjoyed it, as did family and friends of ours who checked it out. The blog got multiple shares throughout social media pages and I was catching it being posted in various pigeon groups. I'd say it was 95% positively received by others. I expected some to not like it at all. Angie did too, and even before it was released, she asked me to please ignore any negative comments. I didn't go looking for the comments but if they showed up somewhere, I would view them. It was a little disheartening how much some people loathe these birds. One could easily tell that some people never even read the blog and just jumped on a story title about a pigeon. That's humans for ya!
The majority of people who complain to me about these birds live in high rises and hate pigeons living on their balconies, messing up their little outdoor living space. Some others just see pigeons as dumb birds who are good for nothing but to feed a hawk, and they get extreme joy from seeing a hawk chowing down on one. Flying rats is one term I hear often. Disease carrying vermin is another. "I wish they would all just die" has been said to me in the past. Now imagine if there were no pigeons? What would happen to the populations of birds of prey? Red-tailed hawks, cooper's hawks, peregrine falcons are examples here in Toronto. It's kinda fucked up with the love many people have for these big sexy predators yet some seem to be willing to give up their first born to be rid of the primary food source.
I'm currently reading two books about pigeons. One is A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching: Getting to Know the World's Most Understood Bird. It's an entertaining, yet informative read about pigeons. The other is called Operation Columba which is based on the use of pigeons by Britain during WW2. I learned a lot about the second world war in high school but was never taught anything about how pigeons were used for communicating and how some of these messages sent saved many human lives throughout the war.
I know I talk more about pigeons the last little while. I don't expect people to turn around and fall in love with them. I just wish more people would have a little more appreciation, heck even a tolerance towards them, and not want to kick every one of them that they pass on the street. They, like us, and every other creature on this planet, are just trying to live out our lives.
Anyway, back to Gulliver and the blog.
It was fun chatting with people about Gulliver. I've had people reach out to me to talk about pigeons, share their pigeon friends with me, which has been pretty cool. Animal lovers in general "get it" about that thing a person can share with an animal. You can talk to them when you feel no one else will listen to you. There is a calming effect being around animals. They are genuine. You will always know where you stand with any animal; it's people you have to wonder about. For me, they are a break from the world, such as right now and this pandemic. Hanging with Gulliver, there is no covid in that moment. It's just me and this bird who has come to visit me. Yes, it is mostly for a feed, but he will spend longer moments with me some days, just sitting on my hand, looking at me, looking at the world around us (with me). I'm a quiet guy for the most part so it's a comfortable silence hanging out with him.
Gulliver and the other's haven't been around since Friday due to a cooper's hawk that has been hunting the backyards lately. Thankfully with Gulliver's absence, our other (and newest) backyard star has returned. That is the eastern screech owl. He disappeared just after that big snow storm last Monday. He has returned as of Sunday and showed up again on Monday. I will miss any weekday sightings since I am at work when he surfaces at the hole of the box any time after 4:30 PM.
Having a backyard owl is, well, simply put "freaking awesome". They can be very difficult to see out in the woods so having one in plain view from the kitchen window rocks. Plus knowing we are providing a safe, quiet, shelter for this little owl warms the heart. So many owls around Toronto are taking a constant beating from birders and photographers alike, it's just fucking crazy. Even when people are visiting the owl just for a few minutes, multiply those few minutes by 40, 50, or more people per day, also throwing in those who spend an hour, maybe even two or more on the owl. It's just no rest for these birds. Remember that many of these owls are nocturnal hunters and roost during the day, resting and conserving energy for the nightly hunt.
Our visiting owl stays hidden in the box until late in the day. We may get a 10 minute view before he leaves the box to hunt, although a couple days it's been up to an hour. For the most part Angie and I watch from the window. I have gone out a few times for photos or just to get a clear view from the back deck instead of looking through our dirty window. The view of the owl for the most part is just like the photo I am adding. He sits, almost motionless for a lengthy amount of time, with his eyes as slits. As it gets darker, the owl becomes more active, eyes open more, he looks about the yard and beyond, most likely taking in what other creatures are still out there, where they are, what may make for an easy meal, any signs of danger... We have witnessed him fly out of the box, if we have sat at the window until dark. I can watch this over and over again because A) this is still all new to me B) I don't know how long he is going to stay with us. He showed up just before Christmas for 3 days. He disappeared for 9 days and then suddenly came back. He's been here most of January now, minus a couple days and this recent 5 day absence. We're just enjoying the little owl show while he is here, while still giving him the yard when he appears.
He blends in so well with that bark I put around the box hole.
