Let's be clear - birds are disgusting. And the ones in this city are ruthless. They don't care where they fly, or at whom. They're happy to skim the top of your head & knock you completely off balance as they make their way to wherever it is that birds are always in a rush to fly to. Also, when I was about 7 years old, my parents & I traveled to D.C., where a bird pooped on my arm. This perhaps added to my trauma.
But even if I don't like them, birds in nature get a free pass from me because, you know, they're supposed to be there. What I don't get is this new District trend of carrying your bird around the city with you.
For example, while walking Adam's Morgan last week, I encountered this man sitting outside the police station with a birdcage. With a bird in it:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW5xgQ4hya7CO1de8jJsbZv6YOsn5miEvbSVcrKzJK6LSpSnU4t0w3tgxwltTSEg3-IL0pctHNKKReYG3nj6tFAMrdfPIhzJGz9QzGb9JVHbWjHa45f7r_cmduSmwiGIIuKkN07Y-wz-ab/s400/IMG_4087.jpg)
Question numero uno: Where could you possibly be going that would require you to take your bird on the road with you???
I assumed it was an isolated incident, but I assumed incorrectly. You know what they say about assuming - but in this card, I don't think it made "an ass of u & me" so much as it made an ass of these bird-toting weirdos.
Second spotting: At Bar Dupont on St. Patrick's Day, I observed (& a friend covertly photographed) this woman with two cockatiels - on a leash. Surrounded by people. On the patio of a bar.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHI3A6GD_2VUl7-mA0hTrf0p-96K3Bs6zJVX22byk5oIhnZZm1MLNB78_flfuox44kU-r9nH6MEHZ_6YNQKi67iYdYbGgKrs6753UDDzWIwl-PAxDxS058I6TPKpDXF-uu10gUdumuIU06/s400/IMG_0372.jpg)
There's no good way to end a post that grosses me out as much as this one does. FLY AWAY HOME. Do not take your birds out in public with you.