pigeons = flying rats

I have been living in New York for ~6 years now. And I'm not a fan.

One reason: birds fly into your rooms.

No joke. A year ago, a pigeon come into my tiny 100 square foot dorm room. Now, if my windows were wide open and I had bread crumbs lying around, then I would have thought "This is my fault." However, my window was only slightly open, with a fan partially blocking the opening, and I had no food lying around in my room anywhere. The bird managed to squeeze it's way in, around the fan, and then freak out. It kept coo-ing and pecking the window because it couldn't get out. I woke up to the sounds of wings flapping and the sight of a big ol' fat pigeon fluttering around my window. My heart started pumping...fast. It was pretty scary, because they don't look very cute and clean up close. I had to go up to the window, grab and pull the curtain across my face to protect me (in case the bird decided to freak out and attack me), and open the window wider for the dumb thing. Sheesh, talk about a once in a lifetime experience.

So about 2 weeks ago, I had a dream about birds. And lo and behold, I woke up to the sound of flapping wings. My heart almost stopped. I thought, "This CAN'T be happening again!" (And I had moved to a different room!) I got up and cautiously approached my window and saw.... a sparrow! Thank goodness, it wasn't a pigeon, but what in the world was a sparrow doing in my room?!? The smart bird saw me, started flapping, pooped, and flew out the window. Yes, it left me a nice little gift. But at least, it knew where to go and I didn't have to get too close to it.

Conclusion:
Smaller birds have bigger brains.
New York City apartments should come with screened windows.

When I told Dave, he laughed and said, if I hurried up and got my butt over to San Diego, the cat would take care of my bird problems...