By Carol Tannenhauser

Why are pigeons, arguably our city bird, widely “loathed,” according to Colin Jerolmack, a sociologist, who wrote a book on the subject? And why are people who feed pigeons demonized?

Easy — because both are associated with rats.

Must I explain our aversion to rats? For me, it has a lot to do with their spindly tails, but disease and fast, furtive scurrying play important roles. If pigeons are “rats with wings,” as they are often called, then rats are oversized, outdoor roaches. I live in dread of seeing either one.

But back to pigeons being “rats with wings.” When and where did that infamous phrase, that slur, originate? What is the root of our distaste for this abundant bird who lives so freely and openly among us? Actually, the pigeon’s moxie may be precisely what’s giving it a bad name, Jerolmack contends.

Rats hide in bushes and sewers. Roaches disappear behind walls. But pigeons strut among us. They invade (and poop all over) our so-called civilized spaces. An article in Audubon, which quotes Jerolmack (the sociologist and author), offers more eloquence in its analysis.

“There’s a border that separates clean, orderly civilization and wild, uncontrolled nature.”

“The pigeon-as-pest … is a symptom of people’s idea that the environments we build are separate from natural ones. In what sociologists call our ‘imaginative geography’ of cities, there’s a border that separates clean, orderly civilization and wild, uncontrolled nature. ‘That doesn’t mean there’s no nature, but ideally, the city is the place where we invite nature in in ways that we control,’ Jerolmack says. ‘We cut out little squares in the concrete, and that’s where the trees belong. We don’t like it when grass and weeds begin to grow through cracks in the sidewalks, because that’s nature breaking out of those boundaries that we want to keep it in.’

“Pigeons cross those boundaries frequently and visibly, inhabiting the spaces that we think of as our own. ‘More than most other urban animals, they prefer concrete and sidewalks and ledges over grass and shrubs,’ Jerolmack says.”

And terraces.

Pigeons were dubbed “rats with wings” not by Woody Allen in the 1980 movie “Stardust Memories,” as is commonly thought, but by NYC Parks Commissioner Thomas Hoving in the early 1960s. The context was a couple of cases of meningitis that were mistakenly blamed on pigeons. Truth notwithstanding, their reputation was ruined, and the catchphrase repeated in nearly every story about pigeons ever since.

This will be the Rag’s last pigeon story. It has run its course. To fill you in, here’s what I think is going on: I overcame my fear (see Pigeons, Part IV) and went out onto the terrace, avoiding the poop, and peered under the table. I think I saw an empty eggshell! That fits in with my question about why there have been two males emerging from underneath the table lately: Pat and Pete had a son! He and his father often emerge together on mornings, though Pat is nowhere to be seen. In fact, she’s been gone for days. This morning, Pete was sitting on the ledge, quiet for a change, just looking out over the city. His son, Pepe, joined him. For a few minutes, they sat together, with Pete pecking at Pepe’s feathers, either kissing or grooming him, or both. I think pigeons make good fathers.

I leave you now with two thoughts: (1) let’s give pigeons a break from their bad pr, and (2) whatever you do, don’t feed them!

Cartoon by Bob Eckstein.

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