Monday, August 27, 2007

Rats, part deux


During the responses from this photo, I noticed that Steverino said in Chicago that they refer to pigeons there as "flying rats". Well here you go, the Parisian version. Do you think they vary that much from city to city, continent to continent? I'm guessing they do, but only a pigeon expert could tell. I do know that they all seem to do their business the same way all around the world!

24 comments:

  1. I don't agree that they're flying rats. They're quite gentle, as birds go. Not too smart though. They have a bad habit of misjudging their flight relative to passing motorized vehicles.

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  2. rats volants ... ca se dit aussi a Paris.
    Dans ma cambrousse, les pigeons c'est des tourterelles immaculees qu'on a envie de caliner, mais je parie que la vie urbaine de Chicago les rendent au moins aussi deguelasses que les infects avions a germes parisiens.

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  3. Pigeons are a messy nuisance, but they do clean up garbage on the streets, just like rats, mice, squirrels, and stray dogs. Like rough fish in lakes. They serve a purpose, in other words, including food for predators. They exist in cities everywhere. The difference between pigeons is that in Paris, they eat scraps from baguettes. In New York, bagels. In Chicago, sausage buns.

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  4. They are gross, dirty, carry diseases and their shit destroy paintings and everything made in steel (like american bridges' foundation). Without them and rats eating garbage, well the garbage would still be cleaned up by the garbage collectors.

    That's why most cities regularly kill a huge bunch of them with nets, spikes and poison without the population being aware of it. I wish old people would stop feeding them and that we could just get rid of them all.

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  5. They look terribly similar to the pigeons of Sydney and Avignon!

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  6. Bonjour!
    Je trouve ce blog très bien réalisé!
    Je l'ai découvert à partir du figaro.
    Et c'est vrai que quand on prend le temps de découvrir sa ville, on a toujours des surprises!

    ....Un Français vivant a Tokyo, et bien heureux de pouvoir observer a distance cette fantastique capitale

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  7. I was at a wild life exhibit last week at the Dutchess County fair in NY state. There was a cage full of pidgeons-many different kinds of pidgeons-who knew? one was quilte exotic-can't remember the name -from somehwere in Africa! he looked mor like a pheasant!

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  8. In NYC that are also referred to as flying rats. But I heard on a news show yesterday that they are not as dirty as people think. In fact, they carry no more diseases than other birds. In other words, they got a bum rap!!!!!

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  9. Why did the pigeon need to get out?

    He was cooped up at home all week.

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  10. i think they are the same in chicago and paris. they do get a bum rap, but some are kind of evil- i saw one try to dive bomb a server outside yesterday!

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  11. Hello Eric. I look forward to getting caught up on last week’s posts later on today.

    Ahh, pigeons, yes they do vary, in size and color, but it’s hard to notice when we are busy dodging them as we walk in plazas, squares, streets and sidewalks.
    Or while we say a silent prayer we won’t be a victim of an aerial attack.
    Personally, I have nothing against them, but my niece from North Carolina, developed a healthy hate for the ones in Seville, Spain, the year she did her internship at the University. As for me, well, always striving to be a peace-maker
    and with a tendency to mostly see the cup as half full, reminded her
    that things can always be worse. Imagine if cows could fly. :)

    Salut tout le monde, et bon debut de semaine.
    Loraine

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  12. I agree that pidgeons do get a bum rap. Sure they leve droppings in inconvenient places, but that's only because we are everywhere! Who's worse, pidgeons or us? And where do we leave out shit (not just the bodily kind)? I never see pidgeons discarding their styrofoam cups and plastic can rings and old worn out tires and newspapers etc, etc, etc in rivers, lakes, in the middle of a park, etc. I've got nothing against them.

    Sorry about the rant. I seem to have woken up with a bit of a fire going in me.

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  13. Hello Français de Tokyo et bienvenue!

    LOL Michael ! ;)

    Well, I'm surprised nobody has yet said that these Pigeons from Paris are kind of romantic ;)

    As much as I dislike these city birds, I have to admit they are rather "nice" birds, not at all agressive - unlike these nasty little black birds we have around here as well. All they want to do is eat the massive amount of garbage we leave behind everywhere. One thing I don't care for, however, is when they go to the bathroom, and especially on my car, and when they fly too close to me. Eeeeww.

    For those of you who want to know more about pigeons, there is a website alled "Project PigeonWatch"


    http://tinyurl.com/y3yr8o

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  14. And let's not forget the story about a certain 'Lost Generation' American novelist in Paris capturing pigeons for food. Pigeons surely are a Moveable Feast for some. (Unless they're all cooped up.)

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  15. Well yours look a little darker but the real expert is Olivier (he loathes them lol)

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  16. Hmmm... I think "sky rats", as I like to call, them look pretty much the same the world over. I also hate it when people feed them!! Don't they know they're pests and not pets?

    Here in Jackson there aren't many, but we do have an overpopulation of Canadian Geese. It seems they don't migrate anymore and just stay down here in the south and breed. Then they attack your favorite golf course and poo on the greens - ick! My nickname for those creatures is "poo makers".

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  17. By the way, are you laying on the ground again, Eric? ;)

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  18. Yes, I've heard of pidgeons being known as "flying rats" and have also heard of squirrels as "rats in a fur coat" The scariest former pidgeon hang out that I've ever seen was Trafalgar Square! Pidgeons and poop surtout!

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  19. Those look very similar to brazilian pigeons!
    My whole life I never quite liked any kind of bird, they kinda scary me.. But 2 years ago I also started hating pigeons, after being hit in the head by one in PARIS! So i much more mickey mouse friendly! From my point of view they look a lot nicier!

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  20. Feathered rats is fair. We have laws against feeding them in SF, but like many of the laws in SF..they are ignored! Tsk..tsk..tsk!

    What about those "flying cows" in the Luxembourg??? Use caution when walking under those trees, that is all I can say!

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  21. In Korea, we called like that, too!!!

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  22. Flying rats? Funny, when they're white and they're released at weddings, they're called "doves"! Perception is everything!

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