The other day I was wondering why, with all the millions of birds in the world, you never hear of anyone being splatted with bird doo-doo. Maybe people have always talked about this and I just never noticed. Or maybe by thinking the thought I released some kind of fowl energy. Whatever, since the moment I had the thought I’ve been bombarded with bird talk. Take, for instance, the conversation of the folks at the table next to me this afternoon at the sidewalk cafe:
“It’s a hawk,” said the man.
“No, it’s a pigeon,” argued the woman.
“Hawk.”
“Pigeon.”

Pigeons roost wherever they can find a nook
This went on for some minutes while I scanned the sky for said bird. No sign of it. I checked out the roof of the building. Nothing. Mind you, I was trying to be unobtrusive and act like I wasn’t listening to their conversation, so I didn’t want to look directly at them to determine WHAT bird they were talking about. Finally, out of the side of my eye I realized they were looking up. Everyone knows that it’s impossible NOT to look up when someone else is craning their necks, so of course, I looked up too. Perched in the tree directly above me was the biggest darned Pigeon I have ever seen.
I wasn’t even surprised when it happened. Splat! A direct hit on the big toe sticking out of my sandals. I did the best to wipe it off with the crumpled up napkins left over from my
lunch and headed off for my afternoon hike around town.

Birds on a wire
Within a few blocks my toes stopped feeling squishy and I resumed taking photos but at every turn I was confronted by birds. The building in
the above photo apparently has been fighting a battle of the birds for a long time. Every eave and gutter is lined with spiky metal prongs designed to deter the birds but it didn’t stop this Pigeon from making a tidy little nest – look at him checking me
out as I snap his photo, almost as if he is daring me to come up there and chase him out.
A little further along I chanced on this scene, straight out of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds.” Getting WAY too freaky now – I think I’ll just go home and think happy thoughts the rest of the evening.



























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