One Legged Stance

Stepping out for some chores one fine day, something grabbed my attention. It spotted a pigeon  sitting on a window frame. Nothing worth noticing, i thought. But then I had to turn my head once again as I felt  there was something was strange about that lone bird. It was a quite day and my presence, to that bird, was noticeable as I was on the stairs right in front on it. But it seemed calm and unfeathered by any human presence. Not that pigeons care. They are in the bottom of my birds list as a nuisance more than anything else. They are stubborn, unskilled and uncaring for their own kind. All they seem to do is mate, poop and occupy concrete spots they can claim and fight over. And yes, they are damn noisy. 

But this one was calm, alone and, for lack of any other understanding, observant. Mostly looking around perhaps for a good spot, I thought. But wait! the poor thing was standing with just one leg. Wow! A one legged bird. Not very often do we get to see that. I had to take a picture and so I whipped out my cell phone. Interestingly, it was still not bothered by my constant stare.  

 

It was a dumb camera phone, but has been quite reliable for me for so many years to capture so many interesting moments when I wanted to frame them into. Sp please forgive the quality of the image.

As I tried to focus on the bird, it sprang another surprise to me. It brought down its other leg. It was not one legged after all. But at least I had snapped it just in time when it was in that stance. Why was it one one leg for such a long time? I have seen pigeons sit and spread their wings in the sun to get rid of bugs in their feather. But never such a behavior. This bird again lifted its leg and made it disappear, as if to show me how it performed the trick on me. heh! This time though, it didn't last that long as something distracted or perhaps attracted its attention. It had to sign off. So it pulled out its other leg, as if to tell me that I think too much, turned around and flew away.

As I stared back at the phone to see the image I got, I was wondering how small insignificant things in life are both puzzling and pleasant, if only we take our time out to see or perhaps observe.

PS: If anyone knows why a bird (assuming its a common behavior) stands on one leg, do comment below.