Pigeon Love

It started about a month ago on Alki Beach, where I live. The pigeons decide that Spring and love are in the air, and thus I am awoken somewhere between 6:30 and 7:30 to the insistent cooing of the amorous pigeon. It is a sound that propels me into action.

Several years ago, I found a nest, complete with egg and pigeon, on my lanai. It is not an experience I want to have again. Thus, when the pigeon love started on my lanai in the following years, I was determined to make sure it didn't lead to eggs. Or even thinking my lanai was a good spot to hook up.

Thankfully, I seem to have trained even these most microscopic of bird brains that my lanai is a no mating zone for them. It was the Super Soaker that did it. I'm almost positive I've never even gotten a drop of water on the pigeons who tried to make my lanai their love shack, but the motion of the water coming towards them is more of a deterant than anything else. And, unlike the Tupperware 8-cup measuring bowl I'd tried prior to buying the water gun, it's more manageable on every level.

This year, I've not had any amorous pigeons on my lanai (at least, none that have attracted my attention), but they have been scoping out the area a floor down, outside my window. And thus, I leap out of bed, grab my Super Soaker, and make sure they don't get too cozy.

I've lived here on the beach for 7 years, and the pigeon population seems to have expanded tremendously. I blame the people who come to the beach, feed the pigeons, and then go home to a nice, quiet home where the pigeons aren't cooing them awake before their alarms go off. So please, don't feed the pigeons. Otherwise, eventually, you may find yourself in pajamas, Super Soaker in hand, disturbing some pigeon love.