Pigeon Inn Bed and Breakfast, by Maria Miller

Maria Miller

Of the many animals populating my family’s home in Belize, a flock of pigeons was also included. A cast-off assortment from the previous owner, we didn’t really carry much affection for them but dutifully fed, watered, and let them out daily for exercise. They were rather unexciting pets, but looked lovely when they flew by all together. We also figured they helped keep some of the insect population down, no small virtue in tropical Central America.

Once pigeons have established a home nesting area, they will return nightly to it, despite being let free to fly all day. Our habit was to feed and water them, open the cage door in the morning, and then return to shut it in the evening after they were back inside – this allowed them to return to their food and water throughout the day.

Our perplexity began one morning after I fed and watered them as usual, and then noticed that there was one pigeon less than the day before. Figuring one was just left out during the night and would return the next morning, it was a little surprising when the following morning I again noticed that they numbered one less, and mentioned it to Dad. The consensus was that the pigeons must be getting taken down during the day by the hawks that circled around frequently.

The following evening, after again noting a missing pigeon that morning, we saw the pigeons clustered nervously on the roof of the pigeon house, long after the time when they should have returned inside. Finally and reluctantly, after dusk, they trickled in and I ran over through the clouds of mosquitoes and biting gnats and shut the door for the night, disgruntled at their unusual behavior.

The next morning, again noting a missing pigeon, I also noted something else: a small peek of a smooth green body up under the roof of the pigeon cage, nearly hidden from sight. A large green python had been making himself very comfortable in our pigeon cage, and currently was very sleepy from his latest large meal. The culprit at last!

I ran back to the house to get Dad. Dad calmly climbed up in the pigeon house, empty feed sack in hand, and grabbed the hefty python firmly. There was a huge bulge in its body where our latest unfortunate pigeon rested, on its way to digestion. The python was so sleepy it didn’t create much fuss, and was sternly escorted off the premises to the lagoon a mile or so away. We also double-checked the pigeon cage to make it secure and ended up just keeping the door shut all day from then on.

The next morning, our remaining (now somewhat neurotic and twitchy) pigeons were all accounted for. And we never had a reptilian guest stay in our pigeon house again. A week or so later we received a comment card rating our Pigeon Inn Bed and Breakfast – apparently the accommodations and meals were great, but we needed to work on our customer service.