What Pigeons Teach Us About Love - Issue 56: Perspective

Last spring I came to know a pair of pigeons. I'd been putting out neighborly sunflower seeds for them and my local Brooklyn house sparrows; typically I left them undisturbed while feeding, but every so often I'd want to water my plants or lie in the sun. This would scatter the flock--all, that is, except for these two. One, presumably male, was a strapping specimen of pigeonhood, big and crisp-feathered in an amiably martial way. The other, smaller bird presented a stark contrast: head and neck feathers in patchy disarray, eyes watery, exuding a sense of illness that transcends several hundred million years of divergent evolution. She didn't have the energy to take wing as I approached.