CTA Tattler

CTA needs a method of collecting the fares from the pigeons.

P.S. I wondered what the plastic spikes on the top of the beams in the Linden station were for; now we know. I thought that the pigeons were riding on the car roofs, but the article says that they are in the cars.

Maybe some bird is a predator who can eat the roaches reported on the Diversey bus.

Ever look around in the Davis station? It's pigeon world headquarters. Last time I was there, a pigeon was standing at the top of the steps to the platform and acted like it was waiting for me, then it led me over to where the whole heat-lamp area was filled with sleeping pigeons. I appreciated the bird's implied invitation (to take a warm snooze among his or her pals), but it was a bit eerie. I almost expect next time that the customer assistant's booth will be manned by a pigeon wearing a fluorescent yellow vest.

My building has a pigeon couple roosting next to the living-room windows; I checked them out one day and noticed that they're happily living on a set of pigeon spikes. D'oh!

Scott, it sounds like the pigeon gave you much better attention/assistance than most CTA employees. Perhaps investing in some tiny yellow vests isn't such a bad idea.

Am i the only one that actually enjoys seeing pigeons ride the trains with the rest of us? Personally, it makes me smile to watch these little guys strut around the aisles, seeming completely at ease with all the others in the car. Hey, they got places to be too.

Yeah, yeah...i know..."rats with wings" and all that. But ALL birds are inherently filthy, so what's the big fuss? Ever look within a 6-foot radius of a parrot cage? Food, feathers, crap, piss and anything they can get their claws into; spread all over. Filthiness is just a trait with our avian friends. One bird by itself isn't going to turn an entire train car into a septic tank on rails. I'd leave that up to the inherently filthy fellow CTA customers.

I've seen the birds ride at least a half dozen times and the only time one ever flew around the car was when some human moron felt the need to kill it and started yelling and chasing the poor thing.

Hell, i've never even seen one crap on the train. Unfortunately, i can't say the same about CTA customers.
Yes, really.

You know, most people seem to hate pigeons. Admittedly, I wouldn't want to grab one and caress it and they can be a pain when they get underfoot and crap all over everything (Then again, humans are basically crapping on the planet as a whole, so who's more disgusting?).

There is something admirable about them though. They adapt and survive. They even clean up a lot of our mess. Sometimes, they are even kind of cute. Like when they bum a ride on the El. Or yesterday, I noticed that several dozen had congregated around the toasty fire of the Kennedy memorial flame in Daley Plaza. They reminded me of lazy sunbathers, or maybe visitors to some Icelandic hot spring.

Maybe familiarity does breed contempt for a lot of people. Personally, I've come to appreciate pretty much any creature that graces us Chicagoans with it's presence. That goes for the occasional peregrine and coyote, but also the foxes, racoons, squirrels, and rabbits scurrying about. It applies to the robins, pewee, crows, ducks, geese, parakeets, cardinals, butterflies and sparrows fluttering around, tree to tree, gabbing with one another or hopping in packs, looking for food. Even the centipedes and ladybugs that visit my apartment occasionally. And the pigeons, for me the pigeons count too.

I'd love to see a pigeon walk on the train, hold onto the post and look up at the sign to see what stop to get off.