Pigeon Condominium

Pigeons (or vermin as I call them) are a fact of life in the New York metropolitan area. Somehow they manage to survive harsh winters and scary food, and do it with a sort of dogged detachment that might under other circumstances be inspirational. Mark loves the pigeons and thinks of them tenderly as New York ducks. His heart aches to see one suffering or in trouble (but I think he’d kill me if I brought a sick one home to nurse!)

At Tower West, we live in a condominium, but we also have a Pigeon Condominium on the side of the building. I suppose some might find this disgusting as the pigeon residents don’t have housekeeping staff to keep their place nice. However, there is something inspirational about it to us.

Here they are, on the north side of the building under the patio that surrounds the building. I learned recently that this interesting bunch of hutches was not created for the birds, but rather is a leftover artifact from a heater and cooling system that was replaced. So they just closed these holes from the inside, and the pigeons moved in! It’s just delightful.

This close-up of one of the condos with two residents shows the long drizzle of dung (not to mention the big pile that’s nearly crowding these two guys out of house and home!) But they don’t seem to mind; they are placid and happy in their safe little house.

And another sweet photo of some others in their houses.

The resident on the lower right seems to have brought in some bedding for a nest – perhaps now we will find out for real where pigeons come from.

We had a sighting of a dead pigeon in one of the condos, but the body seems to have gone away now. It’s just like the rest of the building – the human inhabitants. We come and we go. One of life’s hard but real lessons that we’ve learned up close here in Tower West.