Saturday, January 15, 2011

Pigeons in Winter

There was snow today, as promised.  At least, there was snow falling this morning, a couple of inches worth.  My drive to Zumba class was slow and careful, as it was just after 8 a.m. and the plows hadn't been out yet and there hadn't been enough traffic to carve tracks into the snow in some places.  But by mid afternoon, it was all over and the melting had begun (which will come to an abrupt halt tonight, as we move back into "extreme cold" temperatures, lower than minus 20C - brrr).

Ever wonder where pigeons go when it's cold and snowy outside? If they live in Toronto, apparently they hang out inside Runnymede subway station.  Yup, that's right, I said "inside".  Here's the proof:
Notice how puffed up the ones outside are, with their little heads hunched down into their shoulders, trying to stay warm?

Here's another shot - I was lucky and caught one of them in motion.  They seemed a little disconcerted that I wanted to stick around and take their picture.  I like the wistful look of the fellow on the right, as if he was wondering what it would be like to be on the other side of the glass:

When I came back four hours later (after another wonderful visit to Bizzy B, which I shall tell you about tomorrow), only a solitary pigeon remained, on the outside.  He seemed quite happy to see me and walked quickly over towards me as I approached the entrance, perhaps thinking he was about to be fed.  Or maybe he was hoping I'd hold the door open for him so he could come back inside.

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