Why burden your beak when you can carry your scrolls in a JanSport?
Check out the actual story from NPR about how scientists are identifying dominant birds by placing GPS devices in – yes – backpacks. (Birds? GPS? Is this how they know how to poo smack-square on our heads?)
Forwarded by Elisabeth V.
Swiper no swiping this backpack or pidge will use his powers of radar poo!
The more she can carry, the faster she’ll be able to save up for that little nest egg.
If they can pack their own lunches, why are they always so interested in mine?
Would you call the backpack a pigeon hole? hehe!!
Speckled Jim!!!
During World War II the Allies dropped pigeons with parachutes into occupied France. Seriously, birds with parachutes. I’ll let you look up the details yourselves, because whatever you’re imagining right now is probably more interesting than the reality.
I saw this in my newsfeed on Facebook, and I squee’d. I’m glad it made it to Cute Overload.
I have since made it my mission in life to equip the pigeons who like to overnight on my balcony with tiny backpacks.
Dave T, I Also read that Pidgeons were trained, during WW ll as a guidance system, to peck on the cross hairs of an image projected on to a screen to keep a missile on line , they had been trained with slides of aerial photographs of the target and were rewarded with food, if they kept the cross hairs on the target.
When it was demonstated to the US office of reaserch and scienific developement they were amused rather than impressed and the project was abandoned, and of
course the poor pidgeons would have been blown up with the missile..
(sigh) About 2 years ago, my hubby & I were riding on our Harley back from Ohio. We stopped to stretch, and across the road I saw something fluttering around. After what my called an amusing chase, I grabbed the wounded homing pigeon. He got tucked into a zipup lunch bag (with an opening for air) and placed in to the cooler (with no lid, and a bungee cord over the opening) and 50 miles later, we were home. Poor guy had damaged his wing by flying into a house or a phone wire. I had Harley for 5 months until I found a lady who took care of damaged birdies. She had a coop full of them, and one little brown racer took a shine to my boy right away. Last weekend a gust of wind knocked down a perch & Harley died from a broken neck. Unless you spend time with these birdies, you’ll never understand how truly cool & amusing they can be.
(should have said after what my husband called an amusing chase…..)
Birds lingering too long in one spot will be pigeon towed.
But a pidgee would need another pidgee to open, close and pack/unpack the backpack, yes? Now I’d pay good money to see that!
I don’t like to disagree with the Prong but I would of guess a P.B and J with the crust cut off rather than a bolagna sandwich.
Pidge is rocking the look. *snap*
All the pigeon needs is a backwards baseball hat and it’ll look like any other high school teen.
Brilliant, Oakley. Brilliant.
@gizmo – and a pair of pants hanging down so we can see his ‘tocks?
I hope it’s not going to Iceland! http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Green/slideshow/photos-iceland-volcano-erupts-spews-steam-smoke-disrupts-10381520
Notice Hugh Laurie as the…barrister, uh, magistrate…in the Blackadder vid.
“It’s Hugh, it’s Hugh Bloody Laurie!”
Theresa — I was going to whine about being jealous of Fry & Laurie for having so much fun at their jobs, but then remembered I’ve worked for Cute Overload since, oh, 2006.
Yep. THIS GUY [double thumbs]
Da poo would be SPLAT-square on our heads or newly-washed vehicles. I had just finished washing my truck at one of those spot-free do-it-yourself carwashes and on the way home, a pigeon (had to be from the amount) pooped SPLAT-square on my windshield! UGH!
YAAAAYYY! Theo, ya lucky guy! I’m green with envy.
I just hope it’s not uncomfortable. ^.^
Mika, judging by the eating habits of the pigeons around this town, I don’t think it would care what was in the sandwich. I’ve certainly seen them tucking into remnants of fried chicken.
If you want to avoid pigeon poo, don’t park or sit under a place where they roost. Pigeons don’t poop whilst flying. That’s why there is so much poo on statues, ledges, etc but pedestrians aren’t covered in it.
Did anybody notice the second “Tag” attached to this photo???
(anyone, OTHER THAN Ferris Bueller or the CO Ed’s……)
Blackadder rules!
Aaaaah! I heard that story, and they said how cute they looked in their backpacks. So true! They also said the pigeons kind of pecked at the at first, but then didn’t seem to care… It was an interesting story about how flocks of birds make decisions about turns and so on.
@ pounce: ROFL, no seriously I am!
I love the backpack! So cute!! i wonder if it makes him a easier target for raptors! hehehe
Omg when you said “poop square on our heads” I totally thought that the pigeons are now playing some bird version of “foursquare” where they have to poop