Torontoist: Wild Toronto: Pigeon

January 31, 2008

Wild Toronto: Pigeon

Wild Toronto is a new bi-weekly comic strip about the animals and plants that make a living in our city. Rosemary Mosco of Birdandmoon.com makes the comics, and would love to hear your suggestions (in the comments!) on wildlife to be profiled.

By Rosemary Mosco in Culture | Link | Comments (20) | Recommend this! (15) |

Tags: animals, biology, birds, Comics, nature, pigeons, wild toronto

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Comments (20)

[1] | 01/31/08 03:18PM

Wow. I am constantly impressed by these. They're not just good, they're really good. And educational too. I love the clean, graphic, soft edged style. Kudos Rosemary!

[2] | 01/31/08 03:27PM

Pigeons are definitely great to have around. Maybe we would have a huge rat population eating all the food on the ground if they weren't there.

Hopefully someday someone will genetically engineer a beast that eats only discarded cigarette butts.

[3] | 01/31/08 03:28PM

how come one never sees baby pigeons

[4] | 01/31/08 03:36PM

I like it - especially the love birds

[5] | 01/31/08 03:38PM

RACCOONS!

They're my favourite Toronto-bound wildlife! They don't have them where I grew up, so they still seem mystically mischievous to me.

Also, I once saw what seemed to be a forty pound raccoon just casually ripping up a backyard shed's roof, so he could sniff the moss underneath it. They are the kings of destruction.

Remaining animals in Phill's Favourite Wildlife:
1. Sparrows
2. Seagulls
3. Squirrels

[6] | 01/31/08 03:46PM

Kevin - I've thought about that too. I think their young must look like a completely different species.

I hope Subway Mice are up next.

[7] | 01/31/08 03:54PM

I vote for subway mice too. It's always a bit magical when you see them waiting for your subway home after a crappy day.

[8] | 01/31/08 03:56PM

If you've ever lived above a store in one of those long and narrow 2nd story apt's on a main downtown street, you've glimpsed a baby pigeon. And cursed the heck out of them. They're noisy. And messy.

This comic rocked, Rosemary.

[9] | 01/31/08 04:01PM

Haha, Ked, thanks, you've made me feel less crazy for actually liking the subway mice. Watching for them is my fave train-waiting past time. ;)

[10] | 01/31/08 04:06PM

Count me in as a fan of these. I absolutely love them!

I mean it'd take a pretty damn good comic to make me no longer want to kick pigeons (the "yess" illustration in particular).

[11] | 01/31/08 04:39PM

i love pigeons and this illustration!
(and also subway mice... but subway pigeons make me sad, i am always so worried they will fly into a train or something..)

as for the baby pigeon thing, i think that Urban Decoder answered that a while back, and if i recall correctly, it has to do with the rock-platform nesting.

[12] | 01/31/08 05:13PM

I saw baby pigeons once (in Dublin, not Toronto). They look like baby pigeons.

[13] | 01/31/08 06:52PM

Thanks, guys!! I really appreciate all the kind words.
Baby pigeons look kind of like doves with fluffy yellow hairs sticking out all over. Ugly, but cute at the same time.
I'll do a mammal next :)

[14] | 01/31/08 07:57PM

On the walk to work yesterday, I saw five dead pigeons along the route and my carbon monoxide alarm was beeping with a low level warning (I have nothing that emits CO in my home). I started to wonder if I should be heading out to the country or something.

[15] | 01/31/08 11:31PM

Nice drawing, Rosemary
Have you featured the raccoon yet?
If not, I'd also like to see you do them. I hate them yet I'm in awe of their fearlessness.

[16] | 02/01/08 08:01AM

"Yess"

I LOL-ed. Classic!

[17] | 02/01/08 11:55AM

Let's start up a subway mouse fan club. I don't know what it would involve, but I would certainly be a member. They are soooooo adorable!
Also adorable and a rodent: the thing I saw in a park in London this summer. It was about as big as my thumbnail. It was the worlds tiniest and most adorable mammal. I wish we had those here, all though I'm not sure if it was a dormouse, or a shrew. Or maybe a vole.

[18] | 02/01/08 12:09PM

re Baby pigeons comments:

You don't see baby birds because they don't leave the nest until they are old enough to fly. Once they are that old you would recognize them as the brown adolescent pigeons.

[19] | 02/04/08 03:52AM

I really love this series.

[20] | 02/18/08 06:18PM

these comics are great for reminding us to stop and look and see the life around us.

I got to work with orphaned pigeon and squirrel babies as a wildlife volunteer at the Humane Society--a fun and rewarding experience!

Rosemary, I love the cartoons...maybe you could profile the life inside a compost heap for earth day? :)