Pigeons on the Subway

Mar. 9, 2002 — This week, The New York Times followed the flight of a pigeon — or at least its commute. Reporter Randy Kennedy delved into reports that pigeons routinely waddle onto waiting A trains on the outdoor platform at the Far Rockaway station and ride the line a single stop down to Beach 25th Street/Wavecrest where they toddle out, sniff the air, and flap on back to Far Rockaway-`as if they were heading south,’ wrote Mr. Kennedy, `but were too lazy or too fat to fly.’
I’ve ridden the A train from that stop a couple of times and recalled seeing pigeons. They struck me as fellow strap-hangers. The birds don’t pay their fares, and I don’t like it when you catch them leaning over your shoulder to read the gossip page of the New York Post — that would be, by the way, just about every page — then turn away when you look back with what I take to be a feathered shrug of aviary superiority, as if the pigeon was saying (in falsetto voice), `Oh, sorry. Didn’t realize you were reading such trash. I was just looking for Tom Friedman’s column.’ On the other hand, I’ve never heard a pigeon call out to the entire subway car, `Let me tell you all about the Church of Scientology.’
That was a bit old, but ever so relevant. In case you were wondering, that picture is of a certain London mayor who in 2006 went on a campaign to rid the city of the dirty birds. Where did I find all this out, you ask? Why, from a somewhat dated post on www.killthepigeons.com, of course.
Posted: January 22nd, 2008
at 9:33am by Black Ock
Categories: hood status,life,too good to be true
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