So, I have this swallow family that lives under the roof on my balcony. Has for years. Suddenly this year a pigeon shows up and builds this mass of twigs on my deck and then builds a big ol’ nest on the same beam as the swallows. I figure, okay, more birds. Cool by me. Kind of a sexy pigeon too.
Then I notice the swallows are gone. Did they migrate away? Did the pigeon get all territorial, throwing her big pigeon booty around and staring the swallow down with those dead little eyes?
I look for the swallows. They’re gone. The pigeon remains in the nest, never flying away, just staring at me as a I look out the balcony window. This begins to grate. This sage green pigeon assassin has chased away my swallows, and this is not acceptable. I wait some more. Just the pigeon and that cold little eye following me around.
Enough. I scare the pigeon a away and take down her nest, thinking that if I get rid of her the swallows might find their way back. As I take the nest down, a tiny little egg falls out and breaks. Argh. Suddenly, I have destroyed a little pigeon family in the making. As I sweep the nest away, removing all signs of, I feel a strangely heavy karmic guilt.
The pigeon mother flies here and there, back to the balcony, away, confused, twittering, flapping about. She sits on the balcony railing and glares at me, flies away, comes back. I imagine this will go on for days. What would I do if a giant destroyed my home and killed my family?
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