Okay, I couldn’t be bothered to go outside with my digital camera, so I hunted around online… I found one pigeon who has the very early stage of the toe loss (he/she has lost a good portion of the back toe). Then I did a quickie photoshop to show what I typically see here in the city when the pigeons lose all their toes or are “footless”. Sometimes the damage is even more extensive and they are practically hobbling on stumps closer to their ankles. CLICK HERE
(Note: I’m going to have to remove this from the server later when the thread dorps off the first few pages, unless someone wants to host the image somehwere.)
With apologies to Tom Lehrer (hey, you knew somebody would have to do this, right?):
Spring is here, a-suh-puh-ring is here.
Life is skittles and life is beer.
I think the loveliest time of the year is the spring.
I do, don’t you? 'Course you do.
But there’s one thing that makes spring complete for me,
And makes ev’ry Sunday a treat for me.
All the world seems in tune
On a spring afternoon,
When we’re hobbling pigeons in the park.
Ev’ry Sunday you’ll see
My sweetheart and me,
As we cripple the pigeons in the park.
When they see us coming, the birdies all try an’ hide,
But we’ve slathered all their perches with sodium hydro-ox-ide.
The sun’s shining bright,
Ev’rything seems all right,
When we’re crippling pigeons in the park.
Lalaalaalalaladoodiedieedoodoodoo
We’ve gained notoriety,
And caused much anxiety
In the Audubon Society
With our games.
They call it impiety,
And lack of propriety,
And quite a variety
Of unpleasant names.
But it’s not against any religion
To want to immobilize a pigeon.
So if Sunday you’re free,
Why don’t you come with me,
And we’ll hobble the pigeons in the park.
And maybe we’ll do
In a squirrel or two,
While we’re crippling pigeons in the park.
We’ll amputate their feet amid laughter and merriment.
Except for the few we take home to experiment.
My pulse will be quickenin’
With each phalange we’re clippin’
And take from a pigeon.
Each toe’s just a smidgin!
To cripple a pigeon in the park.
It’s ok, I believe you. I’ve been caught out thinking that seagulls have only one leg and then found that the other one was tucked up snuggly against its body. Obviously this isn’t the case if you can see the leg but no foot.
man and all this time I thought it was the SAME pigeon at Pike place market, hell I even named him stumpy.
seriously I am pretty sure it is the same one that comes up to me and begs for crumbs but I had no idea this was a common problem. I figured he was a little to slow one day while walking under a moving car and lost his toes that way.
I’ve noticed this with beach birds here in San Diego, seagulls and little sandpiper-type birds missing legs, and I thought about asking about it on the Dope. I watch them for a while and the leg isn’t tucked up, it’s GONE. With seabirds, I suspect their ocean lunch lunched on them first, but fishing line is a interesting possibility, too. They don’t have toe amputations, either - it’s usually a whole foot or leg.
The town I live in has recently seen an influx of wonky-footed pidgeons and I finally found out why. The city has started putting glue on the buildings downtown to prevent the pidgeons from nesting and crapping all over the place. The glue is intended to trap the poor things and they die a nice slow death from starvation. However, many break free from these traps by ripping off a foot or at least badly mangling it.
Thanks to everyone that replied. I found some of your answers amusing and others made me very sad. I to have found myself angry over pigeon poo on my car after my neighbor has finished feeding them but I see need for this cruel method of “pest” control. My prefered method is to watch the falcon I have seen a few times downtown ripping chunks of flesh off more than their toes.
