Wet pigeons are cuter than pigeons that aren’t wet.

An atmospheric river storm hit Southern California, this weekend, and it felt like a much-welcomed event, especially looking back, a bit, to this past year’s wildfire season, which claimed much of Pacific Palisades and Altadena homes in those areas. On a lighter note, however, a rain storm is an opportunity to catch photos that are rarer, in other circumstances.

Pershing Square, lately, has been seeing impressive numbers of pigeons show up to hang out on the stairway to the main plaza level of the park. 

I had a great idea come to me, from my Amazon Vine product reviewing gig, in the form of a clip-on telephoto / macro 2x mobile device lens, by Veedzoens, for this rainy day, seeing as how the birds had been showing up in such large numbers at Pershing Square, almost like they had taken over the place. What better photogenic opportunity could there be, for capturing some of the flock on camera using my telephoto lens?

The sparrows were the gatekeepers, as I approached the pigeons’ daytime roosting and hang out spot at the nearby stairs.

Now, the lens was made specifically for the iPhone, which has a different sized lens, and different on-device lenses, from my iPad Pro, but I was able to adapt it fairly well, to my device. As you can see, there’s some of the inside of the lens that got captured; this happens when the camera is zoomed out. Aside from that, the optical zoom feature of the lens offers a sharper image, and better close-ups than my standard iPad Pro cameras, which max out at 12 megapixels, for the rear camera.

My new 2x telephoto lens. There’s an attachment that goes with it that the lens screws on to, which is a clip for mounting the camera on the rear camera of a mobile device.

I ended up going out, twice, yesterday, in the rain, for the sake of feeding the pigeons, as it was a lot of fun to have a rainy day, with so many photogenic birds present, and I got to make use of my new telephoto lens for most of the photos captured here, from this day. 

I was finally able to get some good close-ups of Muffin, one of the new brown-ish colored pigeons of this flock of birds.

The birds are truly a landmark feature of this part of town. At various several times, during the day, such as after a meal, the pigeons will all fly up in to the air, and follow the leader, as they circle around the high rises, sometimes whisking around to the next street over (Broadway), and some of them fly back over some of the buildings, and they end up roosting back at their lofty places, such as on an apartment building’s ledge, or at the traffic signal. This daily ritual, featuring around 150 birds, or so, at a time, is a signal, at times, to other flock members situated on Broadway, who branch off, from there, to check out different feeding and roosting spots on the next street down, while others may recognize me, and they return to the staircase at Pershing Square, awaiting their meal. 

The birds are truly in their top form, when they’re out in the rain, and it’s a rich sensory experience to observe the pigeons as they work out eating their meal, as a flock, as well as during their post-meal socialization moment, and their flying in formation is a beautiful sight to behold. 

The pigeons perch on the traffic lights, as it’s one of their favorite spots to wait around for meal time.

Muffin, in the Rain (fan art, inspired by Clifford and Rosemary Ellis’ Antiquaries Prefer Shell, 1934)

Lady Gaga and Muffin, from the Beats1 Zane Lowe interview.

October 11th, 2025 Downtown Los Angeles Pigeon Flock Updates.

 Today’s pigeon feedings in downtown Los Angeles started out fairly typically; I stopped and fed three flocks on 5th near Los Angeles Street, at Pershing Square, and underneath the Figueroa overpass at 4th. I had scratch seed and grain mix for them, and I prepared some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, once I reached and fed the last flock, on the other side of town, from where I stay. Then I went to Whole Foods to purchase some more peanut butter and jelly sandwich fixings, since I had run out, after preparing the sandwiches. 

I headed back over to the flock at Pershing Square, because I only had so much feed for them, the first time around, and there were well over  hundred hungry birds there. I approached them, high flying in unison form, circling around the block’s intersection to maintain flock conformity. I proceeded to feed them their sandwiches, by tearing off little bite-sized chunks and tossing them in to various spots around the huge crowd of birds, to make sure that everyone had a chance at getting a bite of the sandwiches to eat. Once they had finished the sandwiches, they performed a few more flyovers, in unison, as before, landing back on the staircase, once they had made their rounds. I went through my bag so that I could offer some of them a final bite of dessert, since I had found a cheese danish, once the way back over to visit the flock. 

Good news! Today, some of the braver pigeons, and even a sprightly sparrow, came right up to me to nibble away at the cheese danish. A few pigeons even made it a point to jump up on my hands and legs, as I sat there, and they ate directly out of my hand. I wasn’t able to feed them and capture footage of the scene, today, but this is a very promising development for the sociability and tourism value of the pigeon flock at Pershing Square. This flock had been a particular challenge to tame, because of the large size of the flock, owing to flock conformity influence upon the individual birds’ behavioral boundaries. Since it was not a common behavior, jumping up on the feeder was not seen as acceptable, previously. Other than that, there was a new graham cracker-colored pigeon at Pershing Square today. I named him Muffin.

Muffin, the pigeon, in light brown. 

Another photo of Muffin the pigeon. 

Other news is that there is a young squeaker at the 5th and Los Angeles Street flock who is in need of some prayerful support and positive thoughts. He’s been injured, on his head, such that he’s bald on his head, and he’s got scabs that were near bleeding, on the back of his head and neck. 

Some other bird must have been bothered by the baby’s presence and picked on him. In addition, there’s another poor pigeon over in Pershing Square who has very severely swollen club feet, from having had string tied around his feet, cruelly. Some of his toes, on both legs, are turning black, with necrosis. I’m not able to help him, and I don’t know of anyone else who is in a position to help him, but at least, with necrosis becoming apparent, the nerves and cells die, in the affected area, and it might possibly hurt less than might be expected, for such swollen feet, but at least it’s a sign that he’ll be free from the pain, at some point, and although he will be a cripple for the rest of his life, he’ll have less stress on him, for losing his club feet, and he’ll always have daily meals to look forward to. 

Golden hour at Pershing Square (photography).

 I was out at the library, doing some remote work on the computer consoles, for a gig that I had just started, recently, and the daylight was ideal for photography at the time I left the library, for dinner. On my way home, I captured some endearing moments of the pigeons at Pershing Square, in bright and vivid colors of Springtime. 

I love how the bright florets of bougainvillea frame this pigeon’s disposition, at Pershing Square Metro Stztion. 

A family of rats munches on some mud, to get a drink of water, after maintenance hosed the place down. 

Pigeon Box Art and Pigeon-Related Art Commissions Around the Greater Los Angeles Area. [Updating: now, with Pigeons and Friends]

An ongoing online exhibition featuring visual odes to the pigeons that I've discovered, or happened upon, as a trekker of many streets and locales in and around the Greater Los Angeles area. 

Box Art is a trending artistic expression form that sprung up, several years ago, as a seemingly ordained vehicle of artists' aspirations for public recognition (I'm not sure of the origins or certifying agency behind the legality of painting on public sidewalk utility server boxes). 

The pigeons, being the endearing young explorers and ambassadors to the town that they are, have merited several works of art dedicated to them over the years, in the lives, works, and hearts of artists and art lovers all across several locales around the Los Angeles region. 

Update: 02/17/2025:

It must have been someone local, who had taken note that Pershing Square had, in recent months, been taken over, it might seem, by flocks of pigeons who are well-fed, on a daily basis. Here, we see a miniature fiesta scene, with pigeons adorned in Mexican garb, eating mariscos (seafood). This begs the question as to whether or not the pigeons actually do eat shrimp, and I tried it out, with some shrimp cocktail.

Update: the pigeons don’t like shrimp.

The South Pasadena Metro Station

Los Angeles Trade Tech College Murals

 

The Martin Luther King Blvd. at Harbor Freeway 110 Underpass Murals.

The Ernst and Young Plaza Poetry Pigeons; Curious Over a Fried Egg - Cast Metal Statue

Santa Monica Pier re-opening welcome banner.

Update: 01/24/2022: 

While out working on some more recent developments, of about a year-and-a-half since I’d last made inclusions and updates to this blog, I’ve come across a previously unknown, or previously non-existent - charming mural rendition of some of the Friends of the Pigeon: a sparrow, and what appears to be perhaps a baby seagull, with a characteristically youthful withdrawn stance, about the bust (breast, neck and head) of the bird, of which would suppose a more socially-shy and unsure fledgling addition to a flock, amongst adults, in a similar manner in which a puppy reserves it’s tail in between its legs, as an ostensible sign of submission to the elders and authorities of the pack, or family unit. This mural is located in the Playa Del Rey area, which is part of the expanse of public works projects that include a nature reserve designation, of sorts, that encompasses the Los Angeles River, which begins, winding further up the road, and around the bend, a bit, feeding in to channels that comprise the Venice Beach Canals (which are an upscale series of channeled waterways that mimic the Classical Canals of Italy’s Venice; thus Venice Beach, CA, is rightly named as, such that it would suppose a proper nod of the hat towards a facet of our Western heritage and culture, here in America; Venice Beach, largely known as a small, yet concentrated locality of the West Coast, in attracting many professionals and patrons of the Los Angeles, CA artistic culture and of progressive minds and lifestyles, and the area is, therefore, rich in diversity, arts, and spirituality. The Ballona Wetlands, as it is known, further up in to this current area, known as Del Rey, bordering on Culver City, in this instance, is a rehabilitated natural and native wetlands plants reserve, where the river flows inland, turning, at some point, several miles up the road from the beach, and winding its way through Los Angeles, as a large concrete ditch, perhaps anywhere from 20-30 feet deep, and, at times, anywhere from 30-75 feet wide, perhaps more, in some cases, as a watershed management development of the larger systems of society and government, and it is rumored that, at some point, the development project is projected to expand the entirety of the lateral expanse of the lower 48 states of America in coming decades.

Somewhere, 

at the edge of two localities, the river becomes a great wash basin, capable of handling a significant flow of water, perhaps, someday.

Hollywood, CA - YMCA building.

The Hollywood YMCA, in the heart of Hollywood, CA, features an external mural and protective wall (since there’s sometimes small civic uprisings that find their way in to Hollywood, lately, at times [mid-late 2022]) featuring black and white birds, perhaps pigeons, that they could be. 

The life of baby striped-wing pigeon: photo blog.

 This baby pigeon is developing a notable curious personality around his human caretakers. See some of the developments of him and the flock, after they settle in, for a bit, after a meal, when they mingle about and show off their virtues, as birds, in preening themselves. It is both social hour and development time, in the nurturing environment setting, and with how intelligent birds can be, attaining a publicly-accessible wild-to-domesticated flock characteristic seems to be within reach, given some dedication over the coming years. 

Just today, I rescued this baby pigeon from having string tied around his feet. He was trusting enough to allow me to nab him and hold him close to me, as I carefully removed the string around his feet. Fortunately, the string wasn’t that tight. It symbolizes a significant milestone in the flock’s collective tameness and trust, which is, essentially, a call for mercy and grace for the pigeons, outside of the times in which I am present and feeding them. Desiring to own the birds, as they become more near to what would considerably be a pet, is an obvious lure, for some, in having little experience in handling birds, yet it takes efforts of some and various sorts, in public relations, I would imagine, in establishing appropriate boundaries and rational considerations for what’s best for ourselves, as well as the birds of DTLA; here, the location is Pershing Square, where I’m giving a relatively large and common flock of birds food, water, and socialization care, several times a week, or every day that I can do this task. 

The older birds will never attain domesticity amongst humans. This is the important thing to keep in mind. The foundling period, post-nestling phase, of the ecology of the flocks and breeding pairs of birds, is a most vulnerable time in the pro-sociable health and development of the flocks of pigeons. In this stage, in a pigeon’s life, the babies come out to eat and explore, with feeding the birds, and watering them, being the traditional and formal greeting of the flock for humans. In this small locality (Pershing Square), an afternoon feeding is common, and on occasions where I had stuck around, for a while, a venturesome squirrel appears, and he enjoys a slice of bread, as well. 

Curious baby pigeon stands out, amongst the crowd.

Update: 

For those of you who don’t follow along on my Twitter so much, I’ll update you on my latest developments of the day. I started working on the curious baby pigeon stands out amongst the crowd vectorized, posterized, film noir stylized ink brush illustration [and subsequent print out, for display], and it’s looking fabulous, after about 6 1/2 hours work put in to it.