Pigeons

Friday 16th Nov.  On my way to work I spotted this. The bird on the right is dead and its entrails were spilling out onto the ground..it had plainly died horribly.  I have heard that pigeons can mate for life and the sight of the live one on the left keeping vigil over a perished partner was so touching that I moved in to photograph the scene.  I thought that it might make a good image for a St Valentine's Day card.  The picture is from some distance.  Encouraged by the apparent lack of concern at my presence, I moved in for a better shot.

As I got closer, the live bird tried to take flight.  And so did the dead one. Some thin cord was entangled in the claw of the live pigeon and around the neck of the dead one...and so when the live one tried to take off, the weight of the dead one dragged it back down.  And so it sat down again, dejected and exhausted.   Its  grim cargo had all but drained it of energy.

So they were not hard to catch.  

With the help of a passer-by I managed to separate them and did what I could to untangle the cord from the live pigeon's foot.  But it was so embedded in the flesh that I could do very little except shorten the strands so, at least, it would not snag any more partners.

When I let it go, I was hoping for a symbolic moment...the bird, free at last, soaring up into the azure.  But it just fell back on the ground and sat there.  Must have been so tired and has probably been eaten by a cat.  Or perhaps not.