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Thread: Pigeon Chicken?

  1. #1
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    Pigeon Chicken?

    I was under the impression that there was an unwritten law handed down from generation to generation of pigeons that explained the laws of pigeons and cars...

    As car drivers when faced with a pigeon in the road, our side of the deal is not to intentionally speed up, and perhaps to slow down a tad to give them a chance to get off the ground and out of the way.

    As pigeons when faced with a car coming down the road towards them, their side of the deal is to make the effort to get out of the way as quickly as is pigeonly possible.

    Lately I have noticed that our local pigeons are not keeping to their side of the arrangement.

    In the last week I have realised that pigeons are now playing chicken.

    Instead of making any attempt at all to avoid the danger of the oncoming car, they are stoically standing their ground and at the last possible moment are simply stepping sideways the smallest possible distance to avoid contact with a wheel. This has been happening more and more over the last few days.

    On one road I was faced with two pigeons placed so they would both be hit simultaneously by my front tyres and they stood their ground. They faced me as I drove towards them and refused to move. My poor friend sitting in the passenger seat was screaming and covering his eyes with his hands whilst bringing his feet up to his chest, so convinced was he that we were going to hit them - even I had my eyes closed! When I managed to pluck up the nerve to look in my rear view mirror they had simply taken a couple of steps to the side and were already heading back to their previous positions to terrorise the next unsuspecting car driver!

    My daughter who has not long passed her test came in totally traumatised the other morning having hit a pigeon. She is convinced it was also playing chicken as it had plenty of time to move out of the way. The worst part of her trauma stemming from the fact that she had her window open and was convinced she'd been splattered and harboured fears of spitting feathers for weeks - not to mention the cleaning she was going to have to do to the car!

    Is this a local phenomenon or are they just particularly fat and lazy at this time of year?

    Maybe we have the Rambo's of the pigeon world in this area?


  2. #2
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    Re: Pigeon Chicken?

    Your daughter has reached stage one... Next stage being a rabbit, then a cat, and then a dog... quick tip though (close the window first)

    [On from that, get a bull bar fitted first]

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    Re: Pigeon Chicken?

    Quote Originally Posted by SnowWhite View Post
    I was under the impression that there was an unwritten law handed down from generation to generation of pigeons that explained the laws of pigeons and cars...

    As car drivers when faced with a pigeon in the road, our side of the deal is not to intentionally speed up, and perhaps to slow down a tad to give them a chance to get off the ground and out of the way.

    As pigeons when faced with a car coming down the road towards them, their side of the deal is to make the effort to get out of the way as quickly as is pigeonly possible.

    Lately I have noticed that our local pigeons are not keeping to their side of the arrangement.

    In the last week I have realised that pigeons are now playing chicken.

    Instead of making any attempt at all to avoid the danger of the oncoming car, they are stoically standing their ground and at the last possible moment are simply stepping sideways the smallest possible distance to avoid contact with a wheel. This has been happening more and more over the last few days.

    On one road I was faced with two pigeons placed so they would both be hit simultaneously by my front tyres and they stood their ground. They faced me as I drove towards them and refused to move. My poor friend sitting in the passenger seat was screaming and covering his eyes with his hands whilst bringing his feet up to his chest, so convinced was he that we were going to hit them - even I had my eyes closed! When I managed to pluck up the nerve to look in my rear view mirror they had simply taken a couple of steps to the side and were already heading back to their previous positions to terrorise the next unsuspecting car driver!

    My daughter who has not long passed her test came in totally traumatised the other morning having hit a pigeon. She is convinced it was also playing chicken as it had plenty of time to move out of the way. The worst part of her trauma stemming from the fact that she had her window open and was convinced she'd been splattered and harboured fears of spitting feathers for weeks - not to mention the cleaning she was going to have to do to the car!

    Is this a local phenomenon or are they just particularly fat and lazy at this time of year?

    Maybe we have the Rambo's of the pigeon world in this area?

    That's odd - I would have thought with all of the additives in the food they manage to scavenge that they would be more alert and move faster.
    Is it breeding season yet? maybe all the umm... "breeding" has slowed them down a tad.
    If in doubt - honk your horn at them and freak em out a little bit so that you don't hit them. Aside from hitting them, they'll then know that you've upped the challenge.

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    Re: Pigeon Chicken?

    The thing to do is buy Jaguar Pigeon;s do not like cats. DTA XXX XXX

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    Registered User Lynn's Avatar
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    Re: Pigeon Chicken?

    Quote Originally Posted by Martin View Post
    [On from that, get a bull bar fitted first]
    I read that at first as 'get a gull bar fitted'! Well we were talking about hitting pigeons, anyone ever had the same problems with gulls?

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    Re: Pigeon Chicken?

    OK be prepared, I'm about to be really boring...

    There has actually been scientific studies carried out as to how far away a morsel of food has to be before a bird will fly to it rather than walk. It turns out that, conciously or not, they judge how much energy it'll take to fly rather than walk and then chose thier mode of transport accordingly.
    So maybe, pigeons are just getting smarter?! Maybe they have realised that they will be just as far out of the way if they walk a few steps as if they fly away - as in either way they won't get hit - and that they will use less energy by walking a few paces?

    Who knows, maybe they're just being fat and lazy, but i agree it's becomming more of a problem - especially when as a driver you're trying not to run over innocent creatures but you can't see whether or not it's safe to proceed.

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    Re: Pigeon Chicken?

    I've seen several pigeons who lost over the last couple of weeks - more than I'd expect...

    Sean

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    Re: Pigeon Chicken?

    Quote Originally Posted by SnowWhite View Post
    Is this a local phenomenon or are they just particularly fat and lazy at this time of year?
    Now you come to mention it, I've noticed it too!

    And not just with pigeons either, there seems to be 'roadkill' all over the place at the moment

    My sister lives out in the sticks, and to get to her house, you have to drive down a long lane between 2 fields and it never ceases to amaze me, the amount of creatures, from rabbits to pheasants, pigeons, foxes and even the odd deer, who attempt to commit suicide under my tyres, on that particular stretch of road
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    Re: Pigeon Chicken?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lynn View Post
    I read that at first as 'get a gull bar fitted'! Well we were talking about hitting pigeons, anyone ever had the same problems with gulls?
    A guy that worked beside me in my first job in the RAF hit a gull one night on the way home in the dark to Lossiemouth. He was driving a Ford Escort (admittedly at some speed). When the recovery wagon dropped him off later it looked like he'd hit a lampost, the whole front of the grille was pushed back and the bonnet peeled up. So avoid the gulls if you can and keep to hitting pigeons.

    We've got a couple of fat cats in our close that don't want to get out of the way either but regardless of how fast I drive in I can't seem to hit them.

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    Re: Pigeon Chicken?

    A fat pheasant tried to leap out of a hedge and outrun my BMW many years ago.
    It failed, but it managed to smash in all 3 sections of the front grille and dent the bonnet.

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