Thanks to the long lens of my DSLR, I was able to observe the eyelids of a
pigeon who stopped by
my rooftop garden and sat on a pole which supports my
string lights. Yes, I said that this bird sat on a pole supporting my string lights.
Stanley Tate (in a column) proclaims,
"Pigeons sit on top of something rather than grip a perch. Their feet are fatter and shorter and their toenails are less curved."
This seems to be the case with the pigeon who visited my place the other day as evidenced in the photograph directly above as well as in the one directly below.
However, I wouldn't say that my visitor didn't "grip," for he/she seemed to do some gripping as evidenced in the next series of photographs.
The way in which this pigeon alighted on my pole was not the only action that caused me to be curious re his/her behavior, as states in my introduction, I initially noticed his/her lids were nearly closed; as seen in the first picture included within this entry, and the one directly below, my first thought was that he/she was about to take a nap.
However, since I couldn't be certain this pigeon's eyelids indicated he/she was about to snooze, I did some research re the eyelids of pigeons and discovered some interesting facts. According to an unnamed general web-page in my Google search,
"Pigeons, like humans, can see in colour, but unlike humans they can also see ultraviolet light, a part of the spectrum that humans cannot see. As a result, pigeons are often used in search and rescue missions at sea because of this unique sense combined with excellent all-round vision."
It's hard for me (and it seems Stanley Tate feels the same way) to comprehend why pigeons are so marginalized. Tate proclaims,
"Although there is no objective dividing line between the two, people tend to separate them in their thoughts and attitudes. Doves are seen as clean in feather and in heart, gentle, peaceful, calming; and they have pretty blue eyelids. Pigeons are viewed as grimy, poopy, pestilential, and they are utterly common. But the birds we call doves are no cleaner than the ones we call pigeons — even the most urban pigeon is scrupulously well groomed, iridescent, and tidy. Tar on its coralred feet, perhaps, but no dirtier than a country mourning dove."
Perhaps I identify with pigeons being marginalized because of the way I've been sidelined as a result of my physical appearance as a result of having been born with
Neurofibromatosis as well as four eye ailments (
Keratoconus,
Monocular vision,
Optic atrophy and
Staphyloma).
