Barcelona Birds

Being devoted to research, the BWN Blog sat on a bench in Pla?a Catalunya to observe and take notes instead of rushing through or avoiding it altogether.  But I still can?t muster much enthusiasm for it. It?s shapeless, messy, noisy, stressful,  undistinguished, forgettable, horribly crowded, pigeon-infested and more a bus terminus now than anything else - oh, and a hotbed of pickpocketry. 

You can?t even see the star design of the mosaic floor of the square proper - where you?re more likely than anywhere else in Barcelona to get pigeon-shat upon - except from the top-floor restaurant of the Corte Ingl?s. But there isn?t really anything to ?see? in Pla?a Catalunya unlike what you would expect in the main square of a capital city. I remember seeing it described in some guide book as a ?hinge? between the old city and the new Eixample. The only real meeting place is the Cafe Zurich, if you can fight your way along the pavement and/or out of the Metro to actually get there. Years ago, I wrote an article for the Metropolitan about Animals in the City. Pigeons are classified as peridomestic animals - those that live around or amongst us, neither vermin nor pets - along with gulls, the green parakeet things that have colonised the city?s tall palms, semiferal cats in the inner courtyards of the Eixample, and so on. I talked to the public health people as part of my research. There?s no way you can get rid of the pigeons, they told me. Even if deliberate feeding of them stopped, and despite the city being pretty clean, there?s still too much organic waste around for them to be eradicated. Every so often, the washing hanging out on our balcony gets spattered in bird shit and has to be done again, especially when they have parties in the kids? playground down in the interior d?illa. Once when I was crossing Pla?a Catalunya, there was a protest march marching along Fontanella. An ear-splitting fire cracker went off and thousands and thousands of pigeons took to the air, circling and flapping ? la Hitchcock?s The Birds. And all the tourists cowered in terror. Does anyone remember the hilarious song by Tom Lehrer recorded sometime in the 1950s? Have GREAT fun with this video. Sadly, the only time pla?a Catalunya was free of pigeons was during the Civil War, when starving citizens killed every last one for food. Valerie Collins is co-author, with Theresa O?Shea, of In The Garlic: Your Informative, Fun Guide to Spain.