Dropping Thoughts: Pigeons and Man-made Crisis

Pigeons
©Nishand Venugopal

All of us are on a feeding spree,
The food thrown on the ground was given free,
Too many seeds and even more mouths to feed,
Infighting happens within the group in greed,
We assemble at the same point every day,
Thanks to the generosity of humans we, the pigeons are having a heyday,
We have the coos that can woo you,
The opulence of our iridescent feathers is a visual feast to those who view,
Many of our predecessors once served humans as messengers,
Earlier movies and cultural practices inadvertently glamourized the act of feeding us,
When abundant food is there then all we want is to proliferate,
Which we managed to achieve at an exponential rate,
Nesting and roosting in every nook and corner of the urban buildings,
It is unfortunate that you have to deal with our droppings,
Once upon a time our guano was used as fertilizer for farming in large proportions,
Now the same poop has become a reason for serious contentions,
Scientists say they have harmful pathogens,
This can cause harm to other birds and mammals especially among those who are
susceptible to allergens,
We say this not to put you in panic and fear,
Awareness is necessary and we want to make things clear.
Pavements, parapets, walls, AC vents – we leave the remnants of our feculence everywhere,
We repeat this without any break as we have enough to eat and we dare,
Not many predators exists in the urban space to harm our numbers,
It is easy for us to topple nature’s delicate balance,
Please don’t blame us as we too are victims of this unfair human charity,
It is not good for us to breed more than our capacity,
Competition and diseases are pestering us and clearly this is a man-made tragedy,
Many who tend to help us are unaware of the impending catastrophe,
Once upon a time our ancestors were domesticated and now we have gone feral,
The places where you feed us; the cleanliness is quite abysmal,
We can mind our own business if you let us do so,
As a scavenger there is enough waste in the urban area to eat and grow,
As time passes some habits need to change for the welfare of various species,
Otherwise the sustenance of ecology will face a lot of difficulties,
Each species has their specific role in nature,
It is better to know about them before you intervene in the future.

©Nishand Venugopal