December 6, 2016

A Flock



As I head to the pool every morning, there’s a large flock of pigeons being flown right overhead.  As one, they circle round and round…a thousand or more of them.  I’m mesmerized, and I’m fascinated by the thought that we have a pigeon man here in this very urban neighborhood.

It’s like the buffalo on the hill, unless you stop and think about what you are seeing, you won’t see beyond the surface.  I’d never thought about the Catalina buffalos.  Nor, for the last fifteen or so years, did I realize that the pigeons going around and around over my head were guided by a human hand.

Pigeon flying and racing is a New York subculture that I’d never considered.  Now here it was, right over my head.  Brought over from the old countries, pigeon flying has been adopted by the African American and Hispanic subcultures mainly in New York.  Someone had brought their flock here.  I often wonder who now.





9 comments:

  1. At one time we had a man nearby who trained birds for weddings, etc, and we would see them circling and returning. A friend of mine had doves at her father's funeral that flew out and away (but returned surreptitiously to their trainer after we walked away).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What a memorable touch to such a sad occasion. Lovely...

      Delete
  2. So interesting. I would never imagine that the pigeons were under someone's control.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Glad I read carefully this post (a bit Yoda)...because I was going to ask you about he phrase "being flown.' in the early part of your post. It is a fascinating hobby.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I wish I could let my parrots fly like that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pigeon flying may be over your head, but many things are over my head.

    ReplyDelete
  6. When the pigeons invaded my back yard, I had to stop feeding the finches. Sad.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ummmmm.... a thousand pigeons overhead would not make us happy since they often leave things behind.

    ReplyDelete

postcards

Celebration of Life