Tragedy strikes
Herr Doktor has been raising 2 young pigeons downstairs (different than the racing pigeons we have in a coop out back) so that they could be released back into the outdoors. When he got them, they were fledglings and couldn't fly; otherwise he would have done this much sooner. But now that they're full-grown we decided to release them in Laurelhurst Park, one of the larger parks in the heart of Portland. We figured there was plenty of food and shelter there and it's in a residential area, so not much traffic immediately nearby. Pretty safe, right?
Everything looked just fine to start with. Although he had to physically reach into the carrier to get them to leave, once they were out they flew up into the neighboring trees. We were really heartened by this since it showed that their wings hadn't atrophied too badly from being in a cage. However, as we were watching the smaller of the two fly from branch to branch, a reddish brown and black flurry came down and snatched it out of midair. All we could do was gape helplessly as a hawk flew off with the poor pigeon in its talons. It was awful. HD tried to console himself by saying that "well, pigeons are basically made to be eaten," but it really sucked to see after caring for them for so long.
I guess it's just a matter of perspective, though. A couple came jogging by about the same time and saw this happen. The woman looked at me with awe on her face and said "wow, did you see that?" And I don't blame her. If I had witnessed this randomly I probably would have been pretty impressed myself because I think birds of prey are beautifully powerful animals. It just hurt to see after having grown attached to those little guys.
Everything looked just fine to start with. Although he had to physically reach into the carrier to get them to leave, once they were out they flew up into the neighboring trees. We were really heartened by this since it showed that their wings hadn't atrophied too badly from being in a cage. However, as we were watching the smaller of the two fly from branch to branch, a reddish brown and black flurry came down and snatched it out of midair. All we could do was gape helplessly as a hawk flew off with the poor pigeon in its talons. It was awful. HD tried to console himself by saying that "well, pigeons are basically made to be eaten," but it really sucked to see after caring for them for so long.
I guess it's just a matter of perspective, though. A couple came jogging by about the same time and saw this happen. The woman looked at me with awe on her face and said "wow, did you see that?" And I don't blame her. If I had witnessed this randomly I probably would have been pretty impressed myself because I think birds of prey are beautifully powerful animals. It just hurt to see after having grown attached to those little guys.