Pigeons and their Resilience!

Pigeons are strange creatures- arguably among most resilient and even most invasive.Who knows, they might be thinking same about us Humans! This article comes from an entirely personal experience of mine.

Pigeons are almost ubiquitous in cities like Delhi. More often than not, they are a sheer nuisance in case they chose to reside in spaces of your home- more particularly, if over the Air Conditioner! Let me start a brief overview for the context:

Since second half of the year 2018, I along with my cousins (while preparing for Civil services) rented a furnished flat in Delhi. Naturally, we got an AC (window AC) pre-fitted. And since past more than one and half years, we haven't been able to use that AC even once- thanks to some uninvited guests- PIGEONS! 

It is not that we never tried to get rid of the pigeons. I tried every possible way to scare them away. Even searched on the internet about ways to get rid of pigeons. In fact, once We covered the entire space above the AC with a black sheet- just for a temporary respite. At last, We put up a nail-bed over the AC, so that they never sit over it. But to our surprise- they adapted to the nail bed as well! Quite a resilient species!

 If you have an experience of pigeons(uninvited) in your homes, you would connect with me about how clumsy and annoying it can get. If they lay eggs over the AC, which they definitely do once they settle in, they would wait desperately for the younger ones to be born. Then, for the younger ones to be able to fly. And the cycle continues! And what is remarkable about pigeons is that they multiply so rapidly. 

So, once they lay eggs, you can try every method-(except for killing them or throwing away the eggs: that would be so brutal of you!)- they will not budge from the place until the eggs hatch and, new ones are born, fed, nourished and ready to take a flight into the new world. Meanwhile, you will have to tolerate every nuisance of theirs. They would shit over all the place. In disgust, you would try every method to scare them away. But, the mother pigeon is a very resilient creature. (In fact all mothers are like this only). Neither it would leave the eggs, even putting its own life at stake, Nor would it leave the younger ones, until they are strong enough to fly and chart a future of their own.

In the meantime, the father pigeon would take the role of a clever bodyguard. It is the first to fly away as soon as you scare the birds. You might get a false feeling that it is the most coward among the entire lot, and most desperate about its own life. But no!, you are miserably wrong. In fact it is the most clever among them all. It will fly away as soon as you try to scare the birds, giving you one illusive sense of achievement.  Then, you may focus your attention towards the mother pigeon-but in vain!

Meanwhile, the father pigeon keeps you busy with its own tricks. It will fly to some place nearby, return back, fly away as you scare it away, turn back...and the cycle will continue until you give up for the entire day. The next moment the family will be together happier as ever! (But their Gutargoo is among the most annoying sounds that I have heard).

The next day, you wake up, step outside, just to find the pigeon shit lying all over the floor. You may again determine to get rid of them- all futile! Finally you clean the place, cursing the entire pigeon species.

Once the mother pigeon lays eggs-it resolutely sits over them until they hatch and young pigeons emerge. In that course, you may try any degree of torture up til the verge of literally killing the bird- it won't budge from its place. Then begins the process of the nourishment of the younger ones until they take their first flight.

In fact the story behind their first flight is no less dramatic; there is whole preparation done for this feat. The father pigeon would always try to fiddle with the offspring to assess whether their wings are strong enough for the flight! Then one fine day, it would get help from 2-3 of its friend pigeons who would come, scare the baby pigeons until they take a desperate first flight towards safety. And yo! they are into an entire new world, where they are no more confined to 3*3 AC, they have an entire world of their own!

Meanwhile, you would feel helpless, frustrated while cleaning their shit from the floor. You finally are able to scare the entire lot away, as they don't have any investment left to secure. You momentarily enjoy your sense of accomplishment- until you find that one fine day, again a pigeon couple has chosen your AC as their new breeding space!

P.S: I didn't have the option of removing the AC as it is fixed, and second that it is house-owner's property. Moreover, I wouldn't be able to experience what I experienced and learned about the pigeons. 

And, as my cousin says: 

Panchhi Nadiya Pawan ke Jhoke, Koi Sarhad na Inhe Roke... !

(Birds, Rivers are like gusts of wind...No border can stop them  (Song from Refugee Movie)

image credits: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/