Back to feeding the pigeons.

The flock underneath the Manchester at Harbor Freeway (110) overpass is doing really well, with some newcomers to the roost, and a cute baby being watched over by its parents. 

The notion of "wall-pigeons" had passed through my mind, in fact, recently.

I found the wall-pigeon, of real life to be (in this case), only one such a pigeon. 

Was he hurt? Confused? Somebody's escaped bird?

I stayed with the bird for a while, and I tossed him some soaked bagel, in case he was hungry. 

It turned out that the pigeon was a young one. There are many youngsters out and about this year; apparently the feeding and supplementation efforts have paid off in progeny of the birds along the major locales. 

As it turns out, the wall-pigeon is a young bird, and perhaps he couldn't make it to the cross-border rooftop perch, nearby the location, Immanuel Presbyterian Church, which (I believe), commonly feeds the homeless, in addition to attracting this pigeon flock. 

I hadn't been getting out to the Korea Town-area pigeons in recent weeks, because of the severe heat, and a lack of sufficient resources to feed the birds, on account of a small and limited budget; moreso towards the end of the month, at times. 

This summer had proven to be a significantly hot one, yet good for overnighting, on a jaunt, as I most definitely appeared as such, carrying a clear and large(r) plastic bag, rather than the common large black trash bag sort I would typically have, and be seen collecting recyclables with, in the DTLA and USC areas. 

With the day behind me, and Labor Day ahead of me, I was excited to fund my monthly budget considerations, as General Relief benefits come in on the 2nd of the month, this month happening, also, <superscript>[the 2nd of the month]</superscript>to be Labor Day - a notable partying day for young people; and for shedding off contexts of earlier times (short time-span-perspective, such as in the tradition of no longer wearing white while out and about. 

I found a white shirt. It was of decent quality, although slightly stained by splatters of stuff. Good enough for me; I work with splatters as a basis of work, as a recyclables collector and pigeon feeder - slash ( / ) blogger. 

I went out to the beach, originally; somewhat as a romantic notion; as I felt like I was highly visible and getting too familiar with [perhaps] locals, etc. (perhaps I might be seen as rude, for overachieving in collecting recyclables for too many days in a row) - sort of thing. 

The beach was packed and bangin', as I arrived. Thousands of people packed the several blocks from the Downtown Santa Monica Station out to the pier and the beach. I felt nervous, though; something was a bit fearful of me, as myself. 

Probably my iPad. I definitely have a bit of heat on me for having finally wrought through the challenges of previous months and years by purchasing an iPad. 

Anyways, I left the beach without much glory. Just digging through the trashcans on the beach and finding recyclables to stuff in to my bag. The point of the day (hey, actually beach was... 

... Hmm :-/ well, it was somewhere during the weekend; I still haven't slept.

So, I purchased an Apple Pencil, a transaction which I had arranged over the early hours of the morning on craigslist and on Facebook. It turned out that Facebook sellers were more responsive than craigslist sellers, and the one that responded from CL was really aloof in answering what the price was and one other question. He managed to tell me his name, though, and he never followed up to pursue me as an impulse buyer as a responsive person, within seconds.  

Given all of that, I'm getting old, and perhaps the new generation is more sold on alternative merchant retailing and self-starter initiative outlets like Facebook Marketplace, Google Shopping, Amazon, etc. 

By the way, I started also partnering with Shopify as a Shopify Partner, and I'm really excited over the features they offer and of the dynamic content and client / partner / app development designers and etc.; various tasks and occupations that connect Shopify as a brand to the merchant and as well, the developers and designers of stores. 

I'm set on working towards earning my certifications from Shopify Academy and attending more events. There's no small crimes robbery feeling about that whole aspect of life, as a prospect life persona to fulfill. 

Fwewwwwoooshhhh... That's what I'm dealing with, aside from feeding pigeons. 

Thankfully, I found a rolling luggage bag in Pasadena, and I hit Target's lighting sale, with bravo colors.

My newly cleaned kitchen and associated lighting.

 With all the luxe of the rolling luggage bag, I was able to shop maybe 7-10 times on one outing over the weekend, which totally kicked my endorphin meter wild. 

Anyways, here's some more pigeon photos, and I adjusted my take on how I might go about some future plots as to a standard day's schedule (somewhat). 

To be updated...

The Harbor Transitway (110 freeway) at 37th Street Metro Station pigeons are a charming feature.

Typically, along my recyclables-collection route that I do for some small dollars and change, on most days (that I’m able to; recyclable glass gets heavy), I end my evening from out of downtown Los Angeles, (CA), over through the University of Southern California, where there is plenty of student-pedestrian traffic offering recyclables to the collector. 

Typically, I would make perhaps $5-$10, with $15 being a rare thing. Any more than that would be a most rare day of collection. 

The 37th St. at USC Station [somewhat] marks the bordering end-point corner of the USC campus, although Exposition Park also largely is used for student events. 

The station’s freeway underpass features a long-survived and charming flock of perhaps 2 dozen pigeons.

Here, you can see the pigeons roosting on a ledge. Just another day for these pigeons, although I usually arrive here at night, when they’re seldom out, as a group. 

People who had long-followed my blogging and social media would perhaps recall the night I found a box of pizza here, along with the pigeons fortunately being out and about; as I could not possibly eat the whole pizza myself, by this time of the evening, and at that, I found it a fortuitous and serendipitous moment for a photography composition called “Late night pizza pigeons.” Here’s the photo.

These pigeons got a big and tasty meal that night. Other people tend to this flock regularly, as well; as there is a water bowl for the pigeons at the corner of the station. The pigeons had learned to drink and bathe in the bowl of water. This flock is a well-taken care-of flock, and they breed regularly. The birds are somewhat accustomed to human interaction and attempts to feed them, at this point in time.

I’ve discovered another pigeons’ roost.

Here, at the 4th St. underpass at Figueroa in Downtown Los Angeles. This one fills in some of the blanks as to where and when flocks could be found; importantly, if I or no one else has gotten around to feeding them for more than a day or two, or more.

Once again, I discovered a low-lying ground scout, out and about, pecking around, as a simulation of eating. I had just found some extra food about a half-hour ago, so I was well-prepared to feed the dozens of birds here, nearby the lawn outside of the American University Preparatory School.

Someone was particularly appropriate today in an in-trashcan finding (for the pigeons).

I found this great bag of next-day's doings for the pigeons - 

A bag of white bread, some smoky sausage and hot dogs, and a recyclable bottle of Sprite. Thanks!

I was happy to see this left out for someone. Thanks again!

A common day’s routine of morning pigeon feeding in DTLA. (A photoblog).

Pigeons, in an urban locale, have many various micro-localities and behaviorisms, to be seen, of expositional formations of a flock in garnering a meal, hopefully, from the public.

This sole avian creature, I might imagine as the “scout.” This is the first seeker, or perhaps he was left out of sufficient food enough, from the previous day. Other birds loom and perch nearby as they keep an obvious eye on this one.

After observing the fortunes of this one, having been tossed some breadcrumbs, or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, broken up into pieces, (pigeons, at this stage in cross-species socialization with humans, [late August, 2019] are tentative about eating from ‘particularly’ human food resources.

A tentative pigeon?

Upper left.

The tentative pigeon, as one of the ostensible pigeons that might be encountered in attempts to feed or tame the birds, as feral pigeons. 

A tentative pigeon.

Perhaps the flock had been roused or rough-housed by some passersby, prior to this (most ostensibly, this type of thing does happen in Los Angeles). The tentative pigeon sometimes serves as the scout for the rest of the flock.

I hadn't fed the popular (and large) Broadway, between 5th and 6th, in a week or more, partly because of cost concerns, and also because I was keen on making gains in taming the smaller flock of pigeons and sparrows by the Grand Park Children's Playground; also to be found at the LAPD Central Division Park on some afternoons, this time, on account of there being music, dance, and performance events for the summer, at the park.

The LAPD DTLA Central Headquarters, next to City Hall and Grand Park, and Little Tokyo and the Arts District, (on the other side), features a popular dog park; potentially pigeons and sparrows like it also, after events at Grand Park, where I had become accustomed to feeding them in recent weeks.

Here's the LAPD lawn and popular dog park, where I spotted the pigeons and sparrows of Grand Park, after they fled, due to a series of evening and daytime events for DTLA revelers and partiers.

There's a pretty white-feathered pigeon; a mottled pigeon, and plenty of feral pigeons and sparrows that follow them around, as a dual-species flock in the area and neighboring locales. 

Back to the Broadway on South 500-600 (mostly there, anyhow).

I noticed that there was a great deal of bird physical size variance here; most obviously due to age, as it was perhaps breeding season recently, and this large flock would inevitably feature the new young birds in town. It's grown to what might appear to be nearly a hundred birds, or so. A daunting task for keeping them all fed. Thankfully, the nuns at the Sisters Disciples of the Divine Master and some of the shop owners where the pigeons flock and roost toss the birds seeds. At this point in time, it seems like the birds don't prefer or differentiate between one sort of food, or another. The other feeders must be keeping them well fed, at a sustainable pace.

The pigeons here on 500-600 S. Broadway eat their meal, then, with a powerful flutter, fly away in formation, a theatrical move to complement their considerate societal behavior.

One tentative pigeon remains, perhaps he just hasn't learned, as the rest of the flock has.

Today was cookie and tortilla day for the pigeons.

I cooked some peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie chunks up in the oven at my apartment early this morning. I couldn't sleep last night, and I definitely didn't want to finish an entire two packs of cookie dough. I found the tortillas out on the street this morning.

The birds identified that cookies are particularly tasty, and they pursued an incensed flurry of feathers flapping to get to the inside of the action forming around where the cookies were tossed.

A baby pigeon flaps its wings, early on in the out-of-nest feeding phase of growing up. A very young pigeon will squeak "Bay!! Bee!!" in an attempt to get fed by its elders.

It's oftentimes a competitive duel between the grownups as to how the food gets to one and each other.

Today was a particularly hot competition for food, given the weather, and that it was cookies being tossed at them.

Here, at the Los Angeles Mall, there is a drinking fountain where the birds have established a mid-afternoon (1:45 p.m.) routine. I figure that I might find them here more regularly, if they're not at the park lawn.

In this next photo, Old Ironsides entrusted the food by me on the ground, as I was sitting on a bench; I, perhaps, might some day be able to adopt him and take him in on a more restful place to roost, rather than that he has to use his one-footed leg, the other one cut off at the knee, giving him a limping hard time walking around, which is important for pigeons in their societally-capable lives.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf DTLA got a new(-ish) out-front recycling dumpster. (A photoblog).

The DTLA Central Branch Los Angeles Public Library birds got a special treat this morning.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with milk. 

A crosswalk perspective of the pigeons vulturing outside the LAPL Central Library at the corner of 5th at Grand; a favorite pigeon haunt, as it features one of the busiest intersections in DTLA foot traffic.

The birds at the park-side (west-end) of the library got a huge midsummer belly's-full of nearly a whole loaf of bread's worth of PB & J sandwiches today. 

Today I served the pigeons Kombucha

Target now has a 48 oz. Kombucha for $7.99, which is a relatively good price.

A 48 oz. GT's Kombucha from Target is very refreshing during exercise to replenish the alkalinity of the body.

 For those who are unfamiliar with the drink, Kombucha is a raw tea, typically, made from a bacterial and yeast mushroom culture, stilled in a tea with flavorings. 

I've notably gotten a refreshing flush of pH cleanse by gulping down some of the drink; and the price of the large bottle at Target attracted me to purchasing it, after some time of doing without. I am going out and jogging more resolutely, lately. 

Sunmaid Raisin Bread? 🍞 mmmm.... with Kombucha? Refreshing. 🦉

The Harbor Transitway at Manchester underpass features an aux hocs-fait-ón-dú flock of pigeons. They are a family, with some new young ones, from recent months!

A view of the underpass, where I get on and off of the Metro bus line (460, 910, 950)

A panorama of the Harbor Transitway at Manchester underpass. There are bird fences for the young in the little lofts by the stairs here. There are several families of pigeons at this location. 

Next item on the list is getting the birds some salt for fortitude and energy. I know they'll enjoy tasting some salty eggs. 

Preparing the pigeons' feed for the day - Peanut Butter and Jelly Pidgin Cheese Sandwiches.

Pidgin Cheese? 

One might wonder...

What does pidgin cheese taste like?

This cheese, which I'd been preparing since late Fall, 2018, is a warming, savory, salty and sweet, all-in-one ad-hoc condiment complimentary to grain and dairy dishes, such as plain corn flakes cereal, yogurt and granola, or something similar. 

I became fascinated with the advent of Whole Foods DTLA offering rennet, for cheese; having been a former "cheesez of Europe" aficionado as a consumer in years prior.

Come to think of it, actually, the discovery came in the summer, when I procured the rennet first of all, and I created a pigeon guano moldy butter cheese that smelled fantastically like Cheez-its. This second go-round with cheese came possibly around Halloween, when Ralph's started offering eggnog. I felt it was a good base to start a cheese on, and months later, after letting the culture sit out warm, sealed(-ish), and raw, I decided to turn it in to a custard cheese, to continue.

I added about a dozen egg yolks, (possibly more), and some fresh rolled red peppercorns, yellow and black mustard seeds. Then I boiled the mixture lightly, not yet solidified, but I added red icing topping for cakes to the mixture, and pink Himalayan salt, 8-10 ounces. It turned out a significantly salty cheese concentrate.

The custatd cheese salty-sweet admixture proved to be an excellent topical skin care product, as well as good for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches soaked in milk.

I gave some to the pigeons, as well.

Try it out! 🦉🐔🏆🍽️

Q

A great day for charity for pigeons and people alike.

 With pigeons being noted, yesterday, as "the homeless person's pet, a good and many people showed out in downtown Los Angeles, CA, USA in and around the civic center areas, as well as Pasadena. 

These birds were a hungry bunch, as the day started early, and, as people know of the lovable birds, they are a fat bird, at that. 

There was everything from sandwiches, to sushi, to noodles, and birthday cake!