Meet Lovey

Lovey the Dovey, to be exact. It turns out that Feral Rock Pigeons like Lovey are actually related to doves.

Lovey was found on the shoulder of a busy expressway. He / she appears to have fallen out of his / her nest, and was too young to fly the 20-odd vertical feet back to safety. Not being the brightest of God’s creatures, Feral Rock Pigeons who find themselves in these situations will essentially do nothing — meaning they won’t eat, drink or seek alternative shelter. At best, Lovey would simply have starved. At worst, he / she would have flown into traffic — or fallen prey to insects.

And so, at the urging of Mrs. Driver, The Driver found himself on the shoulder of a busy expressway, chasing down a reluctant but flightless Feral Rock Pigeon with a cardboard box. Moments later, Lovey found him- / herself in a twelve-by-twelve-foot courtyard with a makeshift bird bath, three squares a day, and several very confused and frustrated hosts — namely The Driver family’s two dogs and extremely surly cat.

Lovey still had his / her baby feathers around his / her face and head, giving her the appearance of an older, wiser bird. As more feathers fell out, the remaining ones assumed the look of human hair on the scalp of someone coping with male pattern baldness. In other words, Lovey briefly resembled Krusty the Klown (or Danny Elfman during his Oingo Boingo days).

Our hope was that, given a safe place, food and water, Lovey would naturally learn to fly — and would soon return to the wild on his / her own. To aid in the process (since he / she had no peers around from which to learn), we were advised by an animal rescuer to pick up Lovey in our hands, then slowly but firmly “drop” them away from the bird. The falling sensation caused Lovey to instinctively flap his / her wings and “fly” to the ground. Some days, Lovey would allow this — even perching on our fingers before we lowered our hands. Other days, we figured his / her flapping around in an effort to escape was exercise enough.

Soon, Lovey began to fly from flowerpot to flowerpot, then from flowerpot to patio chair. We often found him / her standing on the patio table, attacking a potted cactus. Later, he / she took a liking to the Weber grill. The more places he / she found to roost, the more time The Driver had to spend hosing off the Feral Rock Pigeon leavings. We could tell that Lovey was getting restless (and that he / she was well fed).

Meanwhile, the pets hoped they would get their courtyard back. Especially the surly cat — who spent what seemed to be hours crouched at the window, silently cursing his captive existence and lack of opposable thumbs.

We debated taking Lovey outside for some flying lessons, but we were concerned that if he / she got away from us and couldn’t return to the courtyard, he / she wouldn’t be able to fly enough to take care of him- / herself. So we hoped his / her flapping around the courtyard would be practice enough. And we hoped we would be home when he / she finally decided to check out the world beyond our condo’s Limited Common Area.

This morning, we found Lovey perched on the cedar trellis at the top of our courtyard wall. It was the first time we had seen him / her roosting any higher than the patio table. It was obvious what was about to happen.

As Lovey looked out on the endless expanse of the outside world, we frantically scrambled for the camera. Then, we frantically scrambled to free up memory space on the camera. Who needs that kid’s first birthday pictures, anyway?

With the last 16 seconds of disk space, we captured this:




The rest of the day was bittersweet. We were glad that Lovey had learned to fly. We were glad that we were able to rescue him / her and provide a good — albeit temporary — home. But we had gotten used to his / her being there — even if the two dogs and the cat had not.

That evening, The Driver saw a pigeon perched on the roof of the neighboring condos. We grabbed some binoculars and stood outside on the front porch to get a look. Turns out it was a morning dove. But then, at the same instant, we heard a familiar flapping sound. We stepped back into the courtyard and looked up. Sitting there on our cedar trellis was Lovey him- / herself. We quickly put out some food, and he / she fluttered down into the courtyard. After a meal and some water, Lovey settled in and stayed through the night. We asked Lovey all about his / her big day. Lovey didn't offer much in the way of a response.

The next morning, The Driver went outside to feed Lovey and to say, "Hello." Perhaps it was The Driver's attempts to pet Lovey, or his efforts to feed him / her by hand. Or maybe it was just time once again for Lovey to go. But Lovey flew up to the top of the courtyard wall, then took off into the wild. This time, he / she has yet to return.

There's still a dish of food out for Lovey. The local sparrows (and an occasional blue jay) have enjoyed the free buffet. And we continue to keep one eye on the top of our courtyard wall.