Meet the Lunch Hour Birds

These animals are "pushy" because they live daily with the struggle to find enough to eat to avoid starving. Something the overweight masses of city humans obviously don't have to deal with.

The guys at the three-card monte games always call me that under their breath when I walk by.

Okay, spirit. I get it. You're a pigeon, aren't you? That's what this is all about, isn't it?

:)

great illustrations!

You're disappointing me even more. First you were guilty of only ignorance about doves, first saying that pigeons aren't doves then saying pigeons are rock doves, and not knowing what kind of doves were white or what kind of bird is released. Now you're saying all those misstatements were just you being facetious. BTW, you don't see homing pigeons in the city because they're homing pigeons. They have a home to fly back to after they're released. You can have a preference. But why not just state that preference instead of writing all this? I expect this from the resident idiot trolls, but I expect better of you.

OMG, spirit, if you really think I'm taking things that literally, I give up! I'm being light-hearted and you're practically accusing me of bird racism! my goodness gracious!

And am I really obliged to like poo-colored birds, just to not hurt their feelings? :) We're talking about birds that are classified as vermin, here. I don't see homing doves in the subway or gutters, by the way.

My personal favorite bird is the starling, anyway, while I find dove (white, poo-colored, or grey) sounds to be highly annoying and I shoo all dove species away from my window.

Also, I maintain that I have the right to a preference. What's wrong with that?

What a riveting comment stream. Also love Jen Carlson's wry, ever-polished copy.

Here, if you don't believe me, read it from the American Dove Association.

http://www.doveline.com/release.html

You're confusing mourning doves with white ringneck doves. Stay away from the books. Years ago, in another life, I actually owned doves, so I know a little about them. Also, the brown pigeons are nothing new. I've seen them for decades and I'm sure they predate me by centuries if not millennia. You want to divide by subspecies? You think that for some reason, some pigeons/doves will be cleaner than others just because they're white, even though they walk on the same NY streets? Your last paragraph says it all. People adore and accept "doves" only because of their white color. Speaking of which, the "white doves" you see released are actually white homing pigeons. White ringneck doves are not released because they have no homing instinct and can't fend for themselves. Reputable breeders won't even sell you any for ceremonial releases.

Actually, pigeons are "rock doves", and they're bigger than the white "mourning doves." They also have a different shape, and different legs. You should have a look at a book on birds, and you'll see.

And not distinguishing between the two subspecies is like not distinguishing between brown squirrels and grey squirrels. They're different, or else they'd look exactly the same! :)

By the way, has anyone seen the new, poo-colored pigeons walking around? There are some diarrhea-brown ones, and some that are mostly white with brown poo stain-like markings on them. I've seen them walking around Central Park, midtown, and up in West Harlem.

Isn't that all we need in this city? Crap-colored pigeons?

And you're not going to tell me you want those at your wedding, are you, Spirit? A flock of big-ass poo-colored "doves"?

Nothing but a difference in color.

From Ask a Scientist:

The terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used interchangeably in the common names given them.

Wikipedia will tell you the same thing. Plenty of more citations. Just Google "pigeon dove" and you'll find a ton of them.

If they're the same, why don't they use pigeons at Olympic openings and weddings? Eh? :)

Can you imagine that? Yuck!

It's right there in the attribution. The artist put it on Flickr. Somebody probably forwarded the link to Gothamist. Although the artist really should learn that pigeons and doves are essentially the same.

These are great drawings. How did you find them?