More thoughts about birds
Parrots and pigeons
In further adventures of quirky Valencia things — parrots. Wild parrots live all over the city. I’ve been told they’re descended from escaped pets, but they might have just found their way here some other way. They’re bright green and tend to be much more seen than heard.
During a recent workday, I had to clear out of the Hobbit House to make way for a yoga class, so I spent a few hours at Dream Coffee, our chosen cafe nearby. Some time around mid-afternoon, the parrots got excited. They love the bright pink flowers that grow in certain trees, looking like some kind of Dr. Seuss creation, kinda lily-orchids in garish pink. The parrots seem to eat the base of those flowers, so they tear the petals off and throw them to the ground, arguing with one another about whose flowers are whose. The image above is the aftermath: flower petals, looking like silky pink tongues, strewn all over the cars and the park and the bushes. Somehow, the combination of squawking parrots and heavy pink blossoms flopping to the ground made boring work meetings way more fun.
Also on the subject of birds in the city, I’ve been hard on the pigeons. They’re pests, but I’ve been noticing lately that being a pigeon in Valencia must be more difficult than it looks. I’ve seen a pigeon that limps and one with a missing toe. However, the most alarming by far is the one that has no feet. I don’t understand how, but it’s still walking around in that distinctly pigeon-like way, except that its legs end in stubby stumps. Do pigeons have some kind of social structure that supports this little guy, or is it really just a complete bad-ass? Who knows. I can say the foot-less pigeon pesters customers and dives onto empty tables to scoop up abandoned plates of peanuts with as much gusto as it’s pals, so I suspect it’s just a pigeon bad-ass.
