Is it mad to be mates with a pigeon?

[AngelasLastEgg]

I’ve been working in the same place for three years and I’ve seen a very distinctive looking pigeon (mostly white with bits of grey on him) almost every day. I really love seeing him and called him Lord Westbourne as he has an aristocratic look about him (I suspect descended from dove gentry) and he lives on the corner of Westbourne Grove. I always see him in the same three places and have shared a bit of sandwich or cake with him on many an occasion.

Then he went missing for nearly a month, I was gutted and kept looking out for him every day. Well today he’s back!! Just bobbing around as if nothing had happened. Luckily I had a little pre-wrapped Madeline in my handbag that I was able to share with him and the couple of mates he was with.

I know I probably sound unhinged (it has been said) but I really love this pigeon having a slightly rough time at the moment trying to conceive and honestly seeing him today really warmed my heart.

Anyone else notice random birds or animals and look out for them?

Please, no pigeon haters. No one say ‘flying rats’. If you don’t share the pigeon love kindly move along

[shumway]

Aw that's lovely. I like seeing squirrels on my way to work - no idea if I see the same one every day though.

[plixy]

I'm the same!
I work on the 3rd floor and a couple of pigeons use the little ledge outside as a rest spot. It was always the same two and I named them too.
There is a petshop a couple of doors down from work so I buy them food and throw it out the window for them. Initially they would fly off when I opened the window and watch from over the street, but it got to the point where they would come towards me instead of flying away. Made me so pleased, which is ridiculous really!

[BillywigSting]

I mean it's a bit bonkers but in a very sweet sort of way.

Crack on op, I'm quite certain you're pigeon friend appreciates the odd bit of madelene

[AngelasLastEgg]

Aww plixy please tell me their names!

[TaxTheRatFarms]

Op this is the loveliest thread I have read for ages

(It also makes me feel a bit less daft for learning bits of Romanian, so I can speak to my Romanian neighbour’s super cute cat.)

[justanotherneighinparadise]

Were you socially distanced though?

[Iggypoppie]

Love pigeons they have a funny walk and they are so interesting to watch. There is not much wildlife in the city so I'm glad they're here to remind us about mother nature is all it's diversity.

[AngelasLastEgg]

TaxTheRatFarms that’s so sweet and totally something I would do!

I used to say ‘hello’ to a little dog I’d see in his front garden when I worked in Italy, he’d always ignore me, and one day I said Ciao and he looked up and wagged his tail I was so happy and wondered why it hadn’t occurred to me before that he didn’t speak English

[Sexnotgender]

It’s fine, start filming and sell it to Netflix with a sad story about your pigeon teacher.

[SquishySquirmy]

A bit mad, yes but I'm worse.

We had a massive spider in our house, who didn't move very much when watched but kept popping up in different parts of the house. (s)he generally hung around on the ceiling, so when we first saw him/her we couldn't be bothered to catch them.
Then I became rather attached and gave the spider a name. Kept seeing "Sam" around the house.
Until the day I saw two Sams next to each other. And realised that there were in fact several Sams.

[pastandpresent]

My dh is the same. He loves pigeon that comes to our garden. He says hello to them. I can't blame him, I don't particularly like pigeon but I would say hello to my beloved robins.

[Nackajory]

Being friends with a pigeon is perfectly normal of course
I've got friends who are ducks and swans. They're very good company.

[ApolloandDaphne]

We have a pheasant called Pete who comes to our garden a lot. Even the dog is mates with Pete and doesn't try to chase him. He went AWOL for a while which was worrying, but he is back now. I love him.

[LittleMissLockdown]

Perfectly reasonable. When I was at uni the house we lived in was an absolute hole but it came with a group of 3 bats living in the roof. I called them Winky, Blinky and Nod and spent many hours writing assignments in the evenings whilst watching them go about their business. Depsite being super glad to move into a more habitable property upon completion of my degree I'm not ashamed to say I was sad to leave them behind.

[rorosemary]

Please, no pigeon haters. No one say ‘flying rats’. If you don’t share the pigeon love kindly move along

Rats are very intelligent and lovely pets so flying rats wouldn't be an insult in this house 😁. Can't tell you a pigeon story but my mum befriended a seagull once during a drought. He came each day at the same time and she fed him and put water out for him to drink. He hung around her after that each day for a while and she talked to him. It was really cute. It was just one summer though, never saw him again after that. We hope that he found himself a nice girlfriend the year after.

[tappingintherain]

@AngelasLastEgg Laughed when I saw the title and went 'aww' after reading. It's mad and unhinged, some would say but I love it. My kind of person.

I hope Lord Westbourne showing up is a sign of more things you've been looking for showing up in your life too.

[GoneScone]

There's a set of allotments near us where people keep chickens and ducks. Through the first lockdown me and my daughter walked through it most days as part of our daily walk. We got to know them all their characters and made apt names for them all It got very exciting in spring when lots of new tiny chicks and ducklings appeared. You've inspired me to do that walk this weekend with DD

[Seatime]

One of the highlights of my summer was sharing a piece of cake with a pigeon on the street. He had a cheerful and appreciative look in his eye. We just connected.

[VienneseWhirligig]

As a child on holiday in Torquay, I saw a huge seagull with one leg, one eye and an aggressive nature which I named Captain Stumpy. Saw it every morning outside the hotel, and still remember him clearly now. In fact I did keep an eye out for him when we holidayed in Torquay with DS when he was 10 - about 20 years after I first saw Captain Stumpy - but didn't see him. No idea how long disabled seagulls live but he was so fierce that I could imagine him being immortal!

[plixy]

@AngelasLastEgg they were Clara and Watson. Named after characters from Pigeon Street, my favourite cartoon when was a kid

[TaxTheRatFarms]

AngelasLastEgg

That dog must have been so impressed that you finally got the right word!

So far the cat’s reaction to me speaking Romanian is just a blank stare, but I don’t think cats do “impressed” very well at the best of times!

[isthismylifenow]

No, not at all.

Can I suggest you watch My Octopus Teacher on Netflix.

[MrsT1405]

Do you think its a lady pigeon and was on nest sitting duties?

[SoupDragon]

It also makes me feel a bit less daft for learning bits of Romanian, so I can speak to my Romanian neighbour’s super cute cat

We had cats rescued from the Moscow State Circus once (they weren't performing cats!) and used to call them in using Russian.

[YouveGotMeWhosGotYou]

My octopus teacher on Netflix is amazing. I want as many people to see it as possible,which might lead to a decline of folk eating seafood. Animals are amazing, we kill trillions every year but each and every one had the compacity to be so much more than an ingredient.