Is this not the ugliest example of any bird that you have ever seen?
This wretched example of feathered flight flew into my office / workshop the day after Araminta announced the theme for our photo competition and just sat atop one of my cupboards.
And it sat, I spent a minute or two finding the camera and still it sat, I took one or two snap shots (with flash) and still it sat! I then spent another couple of minutes looking for a suitable container to catch it in and still it sat. I eventually found a shoebox, approached with the lid in my left hand and box in my right, and still it sat. With a sudden clapping motion I brought the lid and box together and had it suitably contained, out the front door and it flew off!
If there’s ever been a photograph of an uglier bird I’ve yet to see it, this then is my entry for our current competition.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Soutie: the street pigeons of San Francisco are still uglier. Often disfigured and filthy they often struggly to fly, their feathers so matted with filth and grime.
Howzit Christopher
We don’t have very many here, I hate them, I consider them a pest just like rats, unusually I freed this one, he must have got me on a good day 😉
I don’t think this little chap is ugly; just a bit ruffled by the experience. 😉
Minty: true. I actually find the little chap endearing.
Ah bless! What a poor little bedraggled sweetheart. No critters are ugly in my eyes, Soutie. 🙂
Is there something wrong with its beak?
He is, Christopher, and a worthy entry into the competition. 🙂
Of course he will never know how famous he is!
Slightly dishevelled, but not ugly.
In culinary terms you know I am pretty catholic, but even I would draw the line at putting that in the pot. Which is not to say it does not have a certain ugly-ducklling charm in front of the lens.
OZ
Morning all 🙂
Hee hee, ‘ruffled’ ‘endearing’ ‘bedraggled’ ‘disheveled’ I’ll go along with those 🙂
Bilby, it sat atop my cupboard for so long I was able to take quite a few pics of him/her, here’s a cropped profile showing the beak
G’morgen, Soutie. Beauty is in the eye….etc. Nice pics.
Thanks, Soutie. Poor thing looks as if it has some ghastly disease, and that is not a normal pigeon beak.
Well I haven’t a clue about bird’s beaks, however breasts, thighs and legs I fancy myself as a bit of an expert, but beaks I’ve no idea 😉
Soutie
Ara’s been googling madly and it looks as if this is a young pigeon; they have much longer beaks and the scruffy effect is because it’s not fully fledged.
I have never seen an almost fledged pigeon here. They are either dead squabs which have fallen out of the nest or fully fledged birds.
I’m no expert in Pigeon- beauty, but I think this one must be somewhat lacking in the brain-department. Most birds wouldn’t hang around to be photographed…
Again, not being an expert – he looks a little over-weight. So perhaps he was too fat to fly off!
Seriously – I’m with you Soutie – pigeons are pests – the rats of the air.
It’s only a baby, Boadicea, but I don’t think pigeons are particularly intelligent, although they must be doing something right; there are an awful lot of them. I don’t dislike them, actually.
Hmm! An awful lot of not-particularly-intelligent species manage to breed well!
It was probably sitting their transfixed, totally aghast at how ugly it thought you were!
After a fair bit of investigative work it appears that we can add ‘young’, ‘half fledged’ and ‘scruffy’ to ‘ruffled’ ‘endearing’ ‘bedraggled’ and ‘disheveled’ I can go along with that 🙂
Just a thought, this wasn’t a small example, is the half fledged appearance a moult? We are of course almost in the middle of winter here, do they grow a winter coat?
Do you mean this kinda thing, Soutie?
From here
Yep, that’s precisely more or less sort of exactly what I was thinking 🙂
Thanks for the techie help, Soutie. 🙂
It looks rather baffled to me 🙂 Maybe young and baffled, looking you in the eye and saying ‘whatever’ as a cover up?
Well done on winning 🙂