We Love The Stars Too Fondly

Pigeons. “Sky rats.” They’re ubiquitous, commonplace, omnipresent in almost every urban environment.

Yet while I’ve always seen them everywhere around shopping centers, office buildings, restaurants, and so on, I don’t recall EVER in 40+ years seeing them in our yard or in the residential neighborhoods in West Hills. Perhaps I was just blind to them because they’re “background,” but that didn’t stop me from seeing the finches, wrens, crows, and other common birds.

Ever since we moved up to Hesperia and the Forever Home, I see them every day. But rarely, until about a week ago, in our yard or on our house. It almost seemed as if there were a flock of 15-20 of them that were nesting or roosting at a house down the block, to the point where I was seriously wondering if they were being raised there and kept in a coop in the back yard. Almost all of the other houses have anti-pigeon spikes on the rooflines and gutters. Our house only has it in a few places, like around the interior courtyard gutters and out on the back porch, but some of our neighbors have it all over the place, along all of the gutters and rooflines and near the solar panels.

Then, just after we got back from our Arizona trip, I started being woken up in the morning by the cooing of pigeons and scratching of their claws on the metal flashing of the chimney for the fireplace in our bedroom. If they’re sitting up there, the sound gets carried down the chimney and amplified. Then I started seeing them down on the ground underneath the bird seed feeders, up to four or five at a time, picking through the seed dropped by the finches and wrens at the feeders. The pigeons and squirrels seem to hang out together nicely when they’re scrounging through the astroturf for fallen seeds.

Most of the pigeons are the usual dark grey, with a bit of that purple iridescence around the head and neck when the sun hits it just right. However, this particular pigeon seems to be the largest of the bunch and has much different markings and colors:

I shall refer to it as Emperor Pigeon! I have decided that this one and the small group that have started hanging about and waking me up at sunrise every day (UGH!!!!) are a breakaway flock from the one down the street, establishing their own gang of rebel pigeons in our yard.

In other quick bird news from the yard:

There was a hummingbird at the feeder this afternoon. I think the ones here are more migratory than the ones from West Hills. Those were hanging about year ’round, but here, while there were dozens a day during the summer and fall, I haven’t seen one at all in probably four months. But there was one back today, which brought me joy!

The pair of HUGE ravens that hang out have discovered the grapes I’ve been dumping out in the front yard and where previously they would eat them in a few days to a week, my offerings to the Corvid Gods are now disappearing daily. I’m waiting to see if they start to bring me trinket gifts in return – I’ve heard that they often will.