I rarely see dead pigeons. I know this must be true as I remember each one I've seen over the last decade. I'm not sure why this is. Perhaps they tend to die on rooftops, or perhaps foxes and other carrion eaters are so quick off the mark they spend precious few minutes on the streets and squares of our cities. Whatever the reason - they are a rare sight in my experience.
The first one I remember seeing was not just a dead pigeons but also a live pigeon. I was standing at the tram stop, waiting for a tram. There was a pigeon pecking away at something on the road. It was so entranced by the baked goodness of whatever it was pecking at that it ignored the bus the drew up behind it. Alas, it didn't pay attention when the engine tone became higher, indicating the bus was about to pull away.
The bus pulled away just as the bird was pecking at the ground. Its head fell beneath the bus's tyre and came clean away. The headless bird continued to wander around for a minute of so after the bus had departed and then fell down. No doubt, whatever it was that kept the pigeon walking after the loss of its head was a little confused.
The second pigeon (pictured below) was a brace of birds that seemed to be a religious offering of some kind. I walked past them on a Sunday afternoon in Montevideo after a very long flight from Amsterdam. I've never been quite sure why people would want to decapitate a brace of pigeons are serve them, uncooked, on a bed of popcorn. If you can explain it, please leave a comment!
Finally, this afternoon's dead pigeon. This one still had its head attached to its body, although it had a far less glamorous resting place than its family in Montevideo. I found it around the side of my apartment block and I can only hope that some cat or fox makes a meal of it before it starts stinking the place up.
I'm almost tempted to get out a recipe for pigeon and start looking for some fresh pigeon meat from a farm. I'm sure a smoked pigeon breast would make a tasty starter and a couple of pigeons could make a tasty casserole. Mmmmm.
