(rshsdepot) Waiting for the A Train, The Sophisticated Pigeon

["Paul S. Luchter" <luckyshow_@_mindspring.com>]

N.Y. Times  March 6, 2002   Front page below the fold.



Waiting for the A Train, The Sophisticated Pigeon

by Randy Kennedy   [Tunnel Vision column]

[A photo by William C. Lopez of 3 pigeons waiting on an outdoor platform 
for the train]

  In the annals of strange subway stories--some pure urban legend, some 
alarmingly real--there has always been a menagerie of animals.

  Stories of alligators roaming the tunnels, of pet snakes loose on 
trains, of rats tough enough to survive the third rail. There have been 
eyewitness accounts of live chickens, on their way from poultry market 
to soup pot, escaping from sacks and running amok through cars. 
Recently, someone posted a story on the Internet about a man in the 
subway walking a dog that was being ridden by a cat, the dog and cat 
dressed in matching Uncle Sam hats. (The story was accompanied by a 
photograph to prove that it was not made up by Dr. Suesse.}

  But one subway animal story has been so persistent and widespread that 
it simply cried out to be investigated: the case of the train-riding 
pigeons of Far Rockaway.

  A little more than a year ago, a motorman and a conductor on the A 
line, which terminates at the Far Rockaway station, swore to this 
reporter that it was true. They said it was common knowledge among 
longtime riders and those who worked on the line. Pigeons, they said, 
would board the trains at the outdoor terminal and then step off 
casually at the next station down the line, Beach 25th Street, as if 
they were heading south but were too lazy, or too fat, to fly.

  The inquiry began the other afternoon, when the question was put to a 
car cleaning supervisor at the terminal. He appeared suspiciously 
nervous about the subject. "Oh, no," he said. "Our trains have no 
pigeons.

  But Andrew Rizzo, 44, a cleaner sweeping in a nearby train, looked 
around and smiled as if he were finally going to reveal his secret.

  The birds ride the trains all the time, he explained, motivated not by 
sloth but by simple hunger and ignorance: when the trains lay over at 
the terminal to be cleaned, for about 20 minutes, pigeons amble through 
the doors, looking for forgotten crumbs. But being pigeons, they do not 
listen for the announcement that the train is leaving, and the doors 
close on them. They ride generally for one stop, exiting as soon as the 
doors open again.

  "If you don't know what's going on," said Mr. Rizzo, pushing his 
glasses up on his nose, "you'd think they knew what they were doing. 
It's a little freaky."

  Mr. Rizzo has a soft spot in his heart for pigeons, who helped him 
make a living in Central Park in the late 1980's when he was less 
gainfully employed. He would wear straps with tiny cups of birdfeed on 
his arms and head and would soon be covered with pigeons, 
Hitchcock-style. He would put out a donation box, and pull in $200 a 
weekend. "I still; feed them sometimes," he said. "I feel bad for these 
little guys." But he also admitted: "I run them out of the train. I 
don't want them to make no mistakes, if you know what I mean." Despite 
his efforts, they make many little mistakes.

  Mr. Rizzo and many of his fellow employees at the terminal have become 
amateur ornithologists. They said that pigeons--known vulgarly as air 
rats, more elegantly as rock doves--ride trains at several outdoor 
terminals and stations, like the Stillwell Avenue station in Coney 
Island.

  Francisco Pe=F1a, a conductor on the A, said he watched them step off 
his train and promptly fly back to the Far Rockaway terminal. Perhaps 
not quite as impressive as the blue homing pigeon reported to have flown 
7,200 miles from France back to Vietnam in the 1930's, but still, Mr. 
Pe=F1a said, not bad.

  Frank Maynor, a car cleaner, noted how the sparrows and seagulls, also 
plentiful at the terminal, are never bold enough to venture into the 
cars. The sparrows can be seen hopping onto the threshold, looking 
longingly inside. The gulls loiter outside like thugs, waiting to tear 
pizza crusts from the bills of unsuspecting pigeons as soon as they 
carry them out.

  "They shove the pigeons around," said Mr. Maynor, disapprovingly. "But 
they're going to evolve and start going into the trains, too. They're 
giving up a lot of food to the pigeons."

  On the subject of evolution, Sarah Canty, another cleaner, said she 
had noticed that the pigeons might be evolving into more alert 
straphangers. "When the bell goes off, you watch them," she said. "They 
know the bell like we do." And indeed, when the next bell rang, 
signaling that a train was about to depart, several pigeons could be 
seen high-stepping it out of the trains.

  But there are those who have either not learned or are yearning to 
break free of the nest. And at 10:45 yesterday morning, it finally 
happened: a dark, plump bird with iridescent purple feathers around the 
neck took a ride. Alone with the bird in the car was Eduard Karlov, a 
retired procurement officer for the United Nations.

  Mr. Karlov, originally from Moscow, glanced over at his fellow 
passenger and smiled. "He does not bother me, and, in fact, I find him 
rather amusing," he said, adding, "I cannot give you any more details 
with respect to pigeons, however."



[3 more pictures, vertically downward: The pigeon waiting inside the A 
train subway  car, seemingly aloof, looking pensive, between the two 
poles, with the light coming through the subway door windows, the pigeon 
sunning itself in the upper pane's sunlight. The second picture shows 
the pigeon departing the train as the door has opened, the Beach 25 
St/Wavecrest  station sign on the platform it is departing onto. The 
bottom picture is of the pigeon, it looks like it is deciding what to do 
next looking up the platform away from the train, its door still open. 
The caption reads: "With no tokens to its name, a pigeon that got on the 
A train at the Far Rockaway station in Queens pondered its next move, 
top. Workers say pigeons often board there and exit one stop later."]




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