Last Tuesday I went out to run some errands and since most of my errands take place within or close to strip malls, I took my camera. I nabbed the pano above at a shopping center at the northeast corner of the intersection of Lawrenceville Highway and North Druid Hills Road. Usually there's nothing too noteworthy about that shopping center (save the two awesome Indian lunch buffets within), but on this occasion something, uh, magic happened.
I had parked in a distant part of the lot to get a good perspective for taking multiple shots to stitch together. At the moment I opened my car door it was engulfed by pigeons, about twice the amount in the picture above. I popped back in and zipped to another part of the lot, no pigeons were harmed. I made my way to another spot that I deemed safe for photographing. About half-way through the process, the same flock of pigeons buzzed me a la Top Gun. I was a little freaked out, but managed to get all my shots. Later, when I was getting ready to leave, I saw a minivan zipping through the parking lot headed straight for the flock with its horn blaring.
I then recalled that the huge cavity in the strip mall used to be an Indian super market. Not too remarkable, but I always remembered seeing a lady out there in front of that market throwing massive amounts bird seed out for the pigeons. Now I'm no ornithologist, but I'm pretty sure these pigeons have been conditioned to hang out there and, perhaps, have been trained to attack graduate students who are trying to get some inspiration for their masters project. That and they're probably pissed about malicious minivans... what's left to do than become a renegade pigeon?
