Backyard Drama

Instead of a traditional garage, we have a large carriage house. However, like many traditional garages, it has a basketball hoop on the front. Unfortunately, this creates a cozy space in which pigeons have been building a nest for many years. We have tried numerous means of getting rid of the pigeons nesting behind the backboard, but nothing has worked...not the plastic owl...not the rubber snake...not multiple occasions when my husband has destroyed the entire nest.

On Saturday I looked out the kitchen window and noticed that the current resident of the nest was sitting up on the backboard with two young offspring. The young ones were stretching their wings thinking about trying them out. The mother pushed against one of the birds moving it towards the end of the backboard. She pushed again and again until finally the young bird was clinging to the last inch of space.

Underneath the backboard watching every move were...not one...not two....but three neighborhood cats. One was sitting ready to pounce, one was standing with tail moving slowly from side to side. The third was laying on his back with eyes fixed on the activity above him. I imagine they were all salivating.

I was thinking that pigeons aren't very bright. She was about to push junior off and turn him into an early Thanksgiving dinner. But, after pushing the young bird to the very edge, she flew off, and a short time later, the young bird flew off too. Later I saw the mother and both young birds perched on the barn roof. Either she is lucky or smarter than I thought.

The cats had wandered off. I expect they were deeply disappointed.