Good news!

Rodrigo is alive! Something told me to go to the plaza by the Metro station tonight. I walked around looking at the Pidges, and then I looked up and saw him:

A Pigeon sitting on a street lamp.

He recognized me, that’s for sure, because he was studying me intently. At first I thought he had lost his leg entirely, but when I put down some birdfeed, he flew down and used both feet and I was able to confirm it was him by his injury.

He’s still limping, and I tried to get him to take him to the vet, but he’s skittish. Can’t say I blame him, as it’s a somewhat busy plaza and not all humans are kind. So I just sat there for about 40 minutes putting out seed, sitting on the ground, sitting on a wall, holding my hands out gloved and ungloved, and just letting him get used to me. By the end of the evening, he was getting within a foot of me, and he gave me a wing and leg stretch, which is a sign of welcome and acceptance. But I still couldn’t get him, so I’ll have to try another night. A young woman must have been watching me because when I turned and saw her, she smiled and said “You’ve got this!” I told her a little of the story and how Rodrigo and I knew each other, and I was trying to catch him to get him to the vet for an evaluation.

Another Pidge joined him and Rodrigo puffed up and fanned his tail out, but more in rivalry than friendliness. It seemed he was tolerating the other bird, and occasionally he would give a little chase. Then they had a slapfight! Ever see a Pigeon or Dove wingslap? It’s hilarious, but you don’t want to catch one yourself because they sting.

Here they are in a calmer moment, Rodrigo on the left.

Two Pigeons walking on pavement.

I didn’t see Isabella, though. A Pidge couple has been coming to my balcony again, and the female looks like her, but is a little bigger, so I’m not sure it’s her. Plus a smaller, brighter Pidge comes to the balcony alone, and Isabella had pretty bright feathers, so I need to take some photos and compare the two females to make sure. The male of the new couple looks so much like Rodrigo, I might have thought it was him but that his feet and legs are healthy. He’s a little smaller than Rodrigo, too.

I know Pidges usually mate for life, but they can also get divorced. If the female with the new male is Isabella, the male may have run Rodrigo off from her. (And she must like the tall, dark, and handsome type.) Or maybe if the smaller, brighter Pidge is Isabella, she may have abandoned Rodrigo if he couldn’t mate with her because of his injury. I’ll have to sort all of this out.

And now for a little stump speech.

If you let your kids chase birds or other critters, you’re an asshole and I will correct your kids for you. Consider it my participation in the village.

A girl of about 6 or 7 and a boy of about 3 were running around the plaza barefoot while their moms/aunties ate at a nearby table. They stopped short when they saw the Pidges a couple of times, and I just knew they wanted to chase them. I continued to feed the birds, hoping the kids would observe and learn how to be kind to our feathered friends.

No such luck. They noticed me noticing them and they ran off, and the smaller one, the boy, must have stubbed his toe or stepped on something unpleasant because he stopped short and started hopping on one foot, all the while screaming and crying bloody murder. I’m just diabolical to snicker to myself because both of them had been causing chaos, yelling, running around and nearly into people who were walking through the plaza or sitting on benches having a snack and trying to relax. They also ran around a couple of unhoused people, waking up one who was asleep in a chair and startling the other as she was rummaging through her things. I mean, come on. Pay at least as much attention to your kids as you are to your margaritas and gossip.

And letting them run around barefoot in a city plaza? That’s just gross. You know many bugs, bird poops, rat poops, and bits of food they must have run through? It’s only a matter of luck that they didn’t step on glass, and their feet were completely black on the bottom. Their mother made them put their shoes on and all I could think was “now the insides of their shoes are filthy, too.”

I sat with the Pidges until they finished eating what I put out for them, and when I stood up, Rodrigo wandered off and then flew up into a tree. The other Pidge walked around a bit and the boy came over and started following him. He was just about to start running after the Pidge so I gave the boy a serious but flat and not loud or scary “No.” He stopped and looked at me like he was putting two and two together, and I guided the Pidge away from him until that Pidge also flew up into a tree. Then I headed home.

Seriously, watch your kids, make them keep their shoes on while they’re on city pavement, and teach them to leave wildlife alone. If you can’t do that, then you have no talking room when someone corrects them on a good day, or heaven forbid snatches them on a bad.

As for Rodrigo, I’ll keep going back and trying to catch him. If he had a big infection, he’d have passed by now, but his injury is bugging him and maybe the vet can do something to help him like remove dead tissue or set the leg if it’s dislocated. Other than that, he seems to be in decent health, has energy, has blood flow to the foot and remaining toe on his injured leg, eats well, and doesn’t take any guff from other birds, so overall, he’s a survivor and a strong little Pidge—especially after coming through all of the noise and air pollution from Drumpf’s excessive and stupid fireworks display at half past midnight last Saturday. Still, if Rodrigo is in pain, I’d like to help him. Maybe tomorrow will be the day.

Isabella

Isabella showed up today alone.

With the heatwave and the state of Rodrigo’s infection, I think he’s gone because they were inseperable, often preening each other and canoodling. Certainly he would have joined her, as he was flying beautifully on Friday and mated with her on the rail, and when I saw them later that evening, he was courting and escorting her as male Pigeons do. That was the last time I saw either of them until Isabella returned today.

When I peeked out from beneath the shade, she saw me and studied me for a moment. She looked a bit thinner than usual and seemed ravenous, more signs to suggest that Rodrigo is gone. If she was mourning, she may have stayed by his body and not eaten for a few days. Like all birds, Pidges have emotions and personalities that affect their behavior and make their relationships as real and as true as any of ours. If Rodrigo is gone, Isabella has known sorrow.

She walked along the concrete on my side of the railing, stopping between each pair of bars for a second before stepping through the widest space at the end and flying off. True to her species, she’s intelligent in ways humans rarely give anyone but themselves credit for. She’s also young and strong, and with that comes resilience. She’ll eventually find a new mate, though it may take some time, and though she has a flock for social interaction, she’s likely coming here to flee from new suitors as much as for food and water. For now she’s doing her best to survive by herself in a world not built for her, but at least she has a haven on my balcony.

A pigeon sitting on a ledge in front of a balcony railing.
Isabella, May 2026

The Plight of the Pigeons

Meet Rodrigo:

A one-legged pigeon standing on a ledge
Rodrigo, June 2026

His wife Isabella has been coming to my balcony since early May, and he joined her a few weeks ago. Here they are together on Friday:

Two pigeons standing on a ledge. The one on the right is preening the one on the left.
Rodrigo and Isabella, June 2026

If you look closely at the first pic, you’ll see he’s standing on one leg. That’s because he’s wounded and holding the other one up. It looks like he has stringfoot, a condition where string or hair gets wrapped around a bird’s leg, foot, or toes and cuts off the circulation. They can’t get it off, and they can lose toes or feet to it, or get infections. He had already lost two toes and it looked like he was about to lose what remained of his rear-facing toe. In addition, his leg was swollen compared to his other one, and the nail had already started to separate from the remaining forward-facing toe. It looks like there may be black thread around the upper part of his leg, just under his body feathers.

A close-up of a pigeon's wounded foot.
Rodrigo’s injury, June 2026

I called Inigo’s old vet and they said they’d be happy to look at him and go from there if I could catch him. Once the couple flew off on Friday, they didn’t come back to the balcony. I saw them a couple of blocks away at the metro station a few hours later while I was out running errands, but I didn’t have the right gear with me to catch him.

On Saturday I went to the station with some feed, towels, gloves, large grocery bag, etc., but even though I got a bit mobbed by the flock, many stayed up on the ledges of the tall buildings and I didn’t see Rodrigo and Isabella. I tried to capture another Pidge who had some hair around her ankles and couldn’t walk in her full stride, but I only succeeded in getting pooped on by one of the other Pidges in the mob. Goodness, they’re fast when they want to be!

Neither Rodrigo nor Isabella came to the balcony Saturday, Sunday, or today. Given that they had been coming every day for a few weeks, I fear he may have succumbed to an infection and she is by his body grieving. However, I will continue to put birdseed out as other birds also come around, and if I can get him, I’ll give the vet a call. The woman who used to drive Inigo and me to his appointments is standing by to give us a ride down to Fairfax. I know Pidges can manage with one toe, or even no toes. I’ve seen plenty like that. But again, his foot looked rough and possibly infected.

I really hate how Pigeons are treated. We domesticated them and then when they were no longer useful to us, we abandoned them. They’re gentle, sweet, social birds, as all birds in the Columbidae (dove) family are, and despite a common misbelief, they are very clean if they have access to water.

Because Pidges are feral and not wild, they cannot survive on their own, which is why they don’t just fly out to the woods. They live in urban settings because that’s where we are, and they rely on us, our trash, and our mercy to survive. They are not pests or “flying rats.” They are homeless. They deserve our respect and compassion, as all living things do, but they deserve extra from us because their situation is our fault. So please, be kind to them.