Song for Jasmine

This is my newest friend, a pigeon I call ‘Rover’. Why do I call him that? Because of the way we met.

Dweezeljazz and I go for a walk most mornings. About a week ago, we met Rover. We’d not been walking long, and had only gone about 200 metres, when a pigeon came flying out of nowhere, right past my face, and landed on the ground at our feet. He didn’t seem to be fussed by suddenly being so close to two humans, so we exchanged pleasantries, and went on our way.

He started to follow us. I thought it was just a coincidence, but then he flew to catch up, landing just behind us, and walking determinedly in our direction. This happened a couple of times until we got the message, he wanted to be with us.

Why he chose to follow us, we don’t know, but we figured there must be something not right for that to happen. So we turned round and headed back home, to see if Rover would follow us. He did! He kept pace with us back along the road, into our car park, past two cats that were not sure what to make of it all, and onto our terrace. I felt like I’d just taken a dog for a walk, so I decided to call him Rover.

Rover stayed for some time, happy to be near us and avail himself of some of the birdseed we put out in the mornings. When we came indoors to leave him in peace, he made a point of looking up to see if we were still there every few minutes, as you can see in the photos.

We could see that Rover had a small injury on his right foot, and what looked like a bump on the head. He also seems to be very young, many of his feathers are not fully developed yet.

I guess he’s recently fledged and finding his way in the world, and has had a near-miss of some sort. Why he should turn to us for help I do not know, maybe word has gotten round that birds are welcome in our garden.

Rover made himself at home, even settling down on the ground to sleep right next to us. Eventually, he decided to move on, and flew away. We wondered if we’d see him again, and sure enough, he came back that evening.

He’s become a regular visitor now, morning and evening. A couple of days ago we met him on the street again, when he tried to land on my hat as we were returning from our walk. I think he likes us.

He shows no fear of us, though he is still wary of sudden movements and noises. He is quite happy to stay on the terrace while I put out fresh seed for him if there’s none there when he arrives.

A few days ago he even flew in through the open terrace doors, landed on the coffee table, and proceeded to make himself at home! You can see him here, perched on a painting on top of an easel, calmly looking at me standing right next to him (sorry for the grainy photo, the light was dim and we didn’t want to turn on more light in case it scared him).

He proceeded to investigate much of the living room, flying from one place to another. We had some difficulty persuading him to leave, I’m sure he would have happily spent the night if we’d let him. Eventually we coaxed him outside, where, after a decent meal, he flew off into the trees.

He’s been back since, and I hope he continues to visit. I don’t want him to become tame, that wouldn’t be fair to him, but I do want him to know that he’s safe and welcome here, and that we’re happy to see him.

Pigeons have something of a bad reputation, but once you’ve met one in person, you realise that they’re every bit as pretty and elegant as other birds.