Observing Wildlife

During the middle of rush hour traffic on a Friday afternoon, I stood waiting to cross the street at 40th and Ninth Avenue in Manhattan. A cacophony of horns blared as tempers flared; buses and automobiles were trapped in an intractable tangle, suggestive that no one was getting home early. Pedestrians stood transfixed by their phones, taking furtive glances to secure safe passage. Above the intersection, sitting on a traffic light standard, sat three pigeons looking down at the humans in their natural habitat. Each new horn blast brought renewed attention to the traffic by the three. I imagined one saying to another, “What is she doing?” to which the reply was, “Why didn’t you remember your binoculars?”