I’ve never been a bird person. I always thought birds were, well, weird (sorry, bird lovers!). When my teenage son saw a pigeon the the HSHV website and declared he wanted to adopt it, I first tasked him with research, figuring he’d lose interest. Instead, he presented a Google doc full of facts like “Pigeons are almost as smart as primates” and “Pigeon poop doesn’t stink! If you can smell the poop, the bird is sick.”

After that, I decided to take him to HSHV under the guise of meeting the pigeon and asking some questions, with the plan to convince him to instead adopt two guinea pigs I’d seen on the website. And you know what happened? We adopted Fiddle! We instantly fell for this curious, funny little bird. Fiddle loves mirrors and bells, and their happy coo reverberates through our home. It’s been so fun getting to know them, finding bird treats they like best and helping them get acclimated to “pigeon pants” (which allow them to free-fly in the house, without making a mess, like a diaper but so much cuter). Pigeons mate for life, so now that Fiddle has settled into their forever home we are now on the hunt for their forever partner to join them (and us!).