Originally posted in 2020.
Pigeons hang out in the complex where I live. They hang out in flocks, make a mess, are noisy and are somewhat the rats of the bird world. There are so damn many of them. This morning, the last Sunday of the year of 2020, I took my coffee outside and was absent mindedly watching those creatures on the grounds. I noticed amongst them a more unusual type of bird. I live in the desert. I’ve seen a roadrunner or two, but the sightings of them standing still are rare enough that I always marvel. This particular roadrunner was young. Probably the youngest, smallest roadrunner I had ever seen.
It was amongst them, but not near any single pigeon. I watched as it first hesitantly, then determinedly walk towards each pigeon which first moved away and then flew away. Each time a pigeon flew away the roadrunner stood and looked after it. Then, it looked around. Then, it selected another pigeon to approach. At one point, in what I took as frustration, it jumped from a rock to the outside of a ground floor air conditioning unit and fluttered its wings rapidly. It could not join the pigeons in the air.
Anthropomorphic as it might be, the roadrunner was so methodical and determined, that I surmised it didn’t realize it was a more remarkable bird. It only realized it was alone and these were birds, like him or her, were they not? It reminded me of the children’s story “Are you my mother?” When every pigeon had flew away, the young un turned and walked away. Then, the pigeons returned. I hope the roadrunner find its kind soon.
