Pigeons at the Ballpark

The Giants were getting a huge beating

and announcers, Kruk and Kuipe seemed, maybe, bored

Lucky for them that pigeons landed on the field during a relief pitcher's warm-up

Dwayne Kuiper immediately recognized two of them, possibly, as husband and wife

How did he know?

Were they cooing and nibbling at each other's neck?

or were they billing?

The practice of the husband putting his beak into. into the wife's open beak, and regurgitating food to her

I'm trying to recall if Kuiper referred to them as Bill and Linda

But at the time, I did remember thinking of Jackson Brown's song, "Linda Paloma"

significant for two reasons

One because Paloma is the Latin word for Dove, a relative of the pigeon

The second reason is that Picasso painted many pictures of which contained pigeons in them

and included Paloma in their title

Getting back to Kruk and Kuip

After the two pigeons left for a bit, they returned in a group of six

This is important because Krukow referred to them as a couple with their children

This had meaning to me because I believe I have read pigeons have very close knit families

When the game resumed, these pigeons flew away, and our anouncers went back to talking baseball

But later when another relief pitcher was brought in, pigeon talk started up again when more birds landed

This time on the dirt portion of the infield

Dwayne and Mike must have looked at each other in confusion when they said in unison, "What are they looking for in the dirt?"

I could think of two possibilities

Either the pigeons were searching for seeds to eat which had been spit out by the ball players

Or, they were collecting bubble gum wrappers and sucker sticks for building their nests

Pigeon talk continued til the bottom of the ninth, when Giant hitters pounded two homeruns

Then this was spoiled by the regular appearance of hundreds of pigeons toward the end of the game

A time if persons stay til the end, they will notice popcorn, parts of nachos , etc to eat, and wrappers for building nests

People might also gaze in amazement, as many pigeons entertain them by performing back flips

The fans still present, probably enjoyed this performance since the Giants lost to the Mets 11 to 4

As this day ended I wanted to say this game went to the dogs, but would have to instead say that this Giants game went to the pigeons

W.E. Maurer

(C)

July 20, 2019