SO WHY IS THAT PIGEON PUFFING UP LIKE A BIG FURRY BALL?

(Ed.'s Note: How cold has it been these last few days? Well, cold enough to bother the downtown pigeons to the point where they puff up their down and feathers to ward off the frigid north winds. We had never seen that before, but apparently this is a natural reflex for birds. The Smithsonian web site states that "just like the coats people wear, birds tend to get puffier in winter. A bird’s body heat warms the air between its feathers. So birds fluff up in the cold to trap as much air in their feathers as possible. The more trapped air, the warmer the bird.”

Our reader who sent us this photo said that he approached the bird thinking it might be hurt, and the bird depuffed (?) and walked away, but soon moved next to the wall and puffed up its feathers again. Between the cold weather and the migrating avian predators that hunt in the downtown alleys, a pigeons's existence downtown can be pretty hazardous in winter.)