Splayed angelic pigeon wings
Today in my series of pictures from my travels: these inexplicable, angelic, rendered pigeon wings that were just sitting there on the sidewalk yesterday in London's east end. Link
Today in my series of pictures from my travels: these inexplicable, angelic, rendered pigeon wings that were just sitting there on the sidewalk yesterday in London's east end. Link
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Uhh...ick?
I think those are decidedly more demonic than angelic, but quite cool.
cat.
or fox.
nahh, raptor. They always leave the wings.
Yikes!
Weird. I saw the same thing near my place in Chicago a couple weeks ago.
Definitely a cat involved. A fox would have eaten the bones too.
London has kestrels, buzzards and sparrowhawks. I am sure you have similar in Chicago.
I can haz unicorn chaser?
I think the raptor thing is right, they often use them to deter pidgeons around large public buildings in london.
though in my head i'm thinking it's cannibal pidgeons
Oooo . . . pretty.
Actually not cat or fox, but rats. I've seen this done to some of my birds a few times. Sometimes they leave just the head too, lying around.
Hmmm, pigeon spare-parts. I think we're likely to see more and more of this on the streets of Britain.
The EU now mandates pigeon upgrades, but fails to provide for parts disposal. Conveniently, the black market promises to dispose of the old parts but don't ask where they dump them.
DV
Man, gotta love east London.
So... did ya keep 'em?
I used to see perfect sets of pigeon wings like this all the time, just a trace of spine left, lying on the ground around the Menzies Building (AKA The Ming Wing at Monash University. The Menzies building has a well-known family of hawks which nest on the roof.
I used to see these around downtown Seattle and came to learn they were the calling card of the Peregrine Falcon... certainly gave me pause until I found that out.
No way! About 5 weeks ago, I went to Tate Modern in London, and photographed this near the side entrance:
http://bp3.blogger.com/_azsqpJ-fvTU/R4ImXe32XuI/AAAAAAAAATM/WndxHkj6Me4/s1600-h/pigeon_bits.jpg
I see things like this quite often out the windows of my office; it's seagulls believe it or not. Vicious critters, pecking the pigeons apart...
I've seen this too. Toronto has started to use falcons to reduce the pigeon population, but I doubt a falcon could strip the innards like that. I've also seen just the head of one poor bird, upright and unblinking.
Those are done by Peregrine Falcons in Chicago. I saw a confused one once outside a downtown Walgreen's in the middle of the day.
He stood on the sidewalk seemingly baffled for a while and then took off. The take off was really cool - one second he (could have been a she - she was confused, after all!) was there, then straight up and gone.
Blargh! Not what I wanted to see during my usual round of the geek news sites during breakfast. Definitely need unicorn chaser.
When I look into the sky and trees, I frequently see hundreds of starlings, or here in New England, dozens of chickadees, sparrows and crows...but usually not more than 6-8 dead ones in the course of a year on the roads, walkways or in parks...where do all the birds go to die?
I blame pelicans.
There's a red-tailed hawk that lives near my house; I occasionally get garden treats of completely clean squirrel skeletons with an intact tail. Cats break the bones and leave more of the skin and junk behind.
This reminds me of the year I had a weasel living in my garden shed. Eventually, in the back there was a pile of about 50 mouse skins, neatly turned inside-out.
Those damned chavs!!!
Years back when my ship was docked in San Francisco, I found a lot of those around the pier. I snipped a set of them to get the wings only and taped them to my hardhat. Twas uniquely amusing and disgusting at the same time.
Bender: "I find everything I serve on the street. You get the toenail."
Birdie numnums
But the question is, was there another falcon standing by with his cell phone filming the happy slapping of this pigeon?
The raptors around here (NE England) leave a lot more mess than that- there's usually a halo of feathers around any bird carcass they leave.
A kestrel once killed a pigeon outside my window, and ate nothing but its brains...
I think I finally know how to cure the pigeon infestation problems that many major cities have. . . famine!
Should solve the rat problem too.
This, of course, is what London's Mayor wishes all pigeons looked like.
What can I say, I was hungry...
Look up to find the ledge the raptor is eating on.
I found a more complete pigeon.