The Silence of the Pigeons
I don't think my city is unique in having a pigeon or seagull population but I ponder whether or not it being a coastal city has an influence on the amount.
Let me tell you all a short story.
Growing up in the 90's, my city had an absolute ton of pigeons. I can vividly remember spotting their strange greenish, purply, greyish, plump selves pecking away at crumbs on every main and side street within the city. Pigeons roamed the city with such prevalence that they blended into the cityscape. As far as medium sized birds where concerned, it was pigeon city.
Now, gulls existed at this time as well. Coexisted. Seagulls that is. They offered city dwellers diversity of bird species.
With eyes wide open I missed the swap. The decline in pigeon populations that simultaneously coincided with the surge in seagull populations.
I woke up one day and realized there was like no pigeons…..
City dwellers never seem to pay much attention to the skies, trees, birds or the bees. When prompted, my fellow citizens would deny or downplay. Some would laugh. Others would point out that there are still indeed pigeons.
Yeah, pockets. Pockets of pigeons. A few hotspots within the city that they all stuck together around. Maybe a dozen at a time.
My guess is that the gulls bullied the pigeons out of resources. I have also read that seagulls do eat pigeons from time to time. They eat their eggs too.
So now, the seagulls run the city. Our pigeon population reduced to a sporadic reminder of a time past.
That’s not the end of this story though. Because they are so well fed, because they dominate the cityscape, they are becoming huge. Our seagulls are larger than small dogs. They look inflated. I parked in a parking lot recently and it dawned on me that these birds are evolving into dinosaurs and that if I let my guard down, and the seagulls wanted, they could leave me seriously injured.
What does this mean for the city moving forward in terms of bird population? Well, the only logical conclusion to this line of events is that the seagulls take over the city and become humanities overlords. Making us build elaborate nests for them and bring them food all day. I’m joking but one thing is for sure, unless an intervention occurs soon, my city will no longer house pigeons. Somebody call Mike Tyson!
-Ecudes17
