Pigeon Mating

Has anyone else seen this? Near where I live there are a bunch of pigeons that just hang around all day long and pick at bits of crap on the ground. It’s fun to run through them with a loved one causing dozens of dirty gray streaks to flutter up into the air and say, “It’s just like Venice!” (whether or not you’ve ever been to Venice with a loved one or not).

Recently I’ve started noticing some new behavior in their complex picking and flying away maneuvers…and after some internet research I’ve confirmed my hunch that the fluffy feathers and hopping around is indeed pigeon mating dancing.

I like watching the pair walk aimlessly around the sidewalk with the male all tall and puffing out his neck feathers. He tries really hard to get the female’s attention who usually just walks away with a blank expression of disinterest in her beady eyes. There’s some polite cooing too from the male and he follows the female relentlessly…until a stroller or taxi bears down on him and sends the love dance into escape flying.

I have to say if I were the girl bird I wouldn’t really be interested either. Pigeons are dirty with mixed matched feather colors and half of them lack two full sets of toes. I think the females hold out as long as nature allows hoping for a confused blue jay to come and sweep them from the filthy streets. I saw a blue jay in a tree above the pigeon enclave the other day. All he did was poop and screech and fly away. Too bad.

Union Square

A girl in a lime green scarf wails homemade lyrics with her guitar; a man wearing a sky blue cap dances and performs air drums; a German art student discusses her new camera with a friend. An old Jamaican lady proselytizes with a worn Bible; a parade of Chihuahuas pull a tall blond girl; some preteens scream about a spilled Jamba Juice…these are just a few of the people I saw today in Union Square.

I walk through Union Square every day and it has become one of my favorite spots in the city. Just north of NYU, and between the East and West Villages, Union Square is a meeting point for a wide variety of Gothamites.


This is Nicholas the Cat with his human friend. They appear mostly on the weekends and calmly walk around the area to the amazement of all who see them. When I took the photo I was asked by Nicholas’s friend if I could spare a few dollars. I didn’t realize their Sunday constitutional was primarily a way to earn a buck. Since I took their picture, I of course helped them out a bit.

There’s a lifeguard stand in the middle of the open square facing 14th Street. I think it’s an advertisement for NYC lifeguards (apply today for the summer!) but mainly people use it to perch themselves up above the masses and do some lofting people watching. Evan and I hung out up there for more than an hour and saw some Jewish guys “save” (?) the blanket violinist dude (I don’t know their names, I just observe them and give them straight forward nicknames). The Jewish guys go around asking if you’re Jewish and then inviting you to Jewish events if you are. The blanket violinist plays most days somewhere in the square and is always seen wearing his blanket poncho and head scarf.



There are also hip hop dancers in purple hoodies, hacky sack players in shorts, police officers with crackly walkie talkies, and gothy teenage girls giving out free hugs (they had a sign). The diversity is endless and very inspiring and I love watching who passes by and eavesdropping on their conversations (eavesdropping is a NYC pastime!). Trust me, there’s a whole cast of characters for almost any movie or novel you’d want to write (especially if it’s some sort of drama series). I sometimes take a step back and realize that I’m also just a random person someone else is watching. That’s when I want to dress up like a superhero again and run around yelling, “CRY HAVOC!” Maybe when the weather warms up.

The horrible intercom mistake

New York has lots of things I’m not accustomed to yet. One of these things is the whole ‘apartment building intercom buzz-in’ thing. When you go to visit your friend, you approach the front entrance, push past the people smoking by the door, and find your friend’s apartment number on buzz ‘em list. Once you locate the correct number/name, you hit the button, announce your presence, and then get buzzed in past one or two doors of security. It’s simple, really, but as we all know from out life experiences, simple is often the best catalyst for disaster.

I was going to visit my friend who lives between a dumpling shop and Dunkin Donuts just down the street. There is a single door up to his apartment with a simple metal box containing all the apartment numbers and buzz buttons. One this particular day I went up to the door and hit the appropriate button.

Buzzzzz
Intercom voice: Yeah?
Me: Let me in!!!!
Intercom voice: Who is it?
Me (annoyed at the delay): It’s a murder come to kill you!
Intercom: What?
Me (weary of an exchange I believed to be my friend teasing me): Open the door! I have bloodlust! Roar!
Intercom: Michael? Michael, geeze. Sigh.
Door opening buzzzzzzzz

I entered the building and went up to the third floor where my friend lives. But something wasn’t right…the stairway was different…the doors weren’t in the same place as I remembered. Realization began to dawn on me…I was in a different building…which means that wasn’t my friend on the intercom…which means I had just threatened a total stranger that I was a dangerous killer…oh dear.

I gracefully dashed back down the stairs and out the door. I then saw that I had gone into the doorway just before the dumpling shop, not the one after it. Oops. Lesson learned.