I found my own personal pigeon friend.

 Yesterday, when I was out feeding the pigeons, I noticed that one of the pigeons stayed behind, while the other birds left, after their meal. He was puffy feathered, which indicated that he might be under the weather. I tried picking him up, and, surprisingly, he let me pick him up. 

I'm not sure why he's not flying away, but I took him to another pigeon-feeding spot, and I let him wander around, with the new pigeons, and, after their meal, he let me pick him up, again, so I took him home. 

He's an adorable puffy pigeon. He slept next to my bed, and I gave him a water dish and some cookie crumbs, while I'm out, for the day. 

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep him, for the long term, just yet. I have to figure out if his condition is temporary, or not, and see if he stops letting me pick him up, after a few days, or so. He seems fairly healthy, aside from the puffy feathers, and he might make a good housed pigeon, for me to keep. 

Update: the pigeon succumbed to whatever was ailing him, and he passed away, 2 nights ago. I had one day with him, which was nice :)

Some fond memories of my adorable little black puffy pigeon:

If you're interested in adopting (purchasing) your own personal pigeon friend, yourself, I recommend Farid's Pet Shop, at the corner of 6th at Maple in Skid Row, Downtown Los Angeles. He has a variety of pigeons, from time to time, and he currently has some pigeons (Late October, 2024) in stock, I saw them just yesterday. It's a good start to establishing your own small pigeons and avian pet friends hobby, with hand-feeding the young, as the next step in having a tame bird as a pet. As you can see, pigeons are adorable birds!

The new and updated Sticker Time October 2024 complete series (48 pieces).

 These are all images that have previously been shown and published, here on iPigeon.institute, and elsewhere; it's just that I set out to do as complete a collection as I felt would be appropriate, considering the recent art work in imagery I've done, as well as examples and images from my earlier years in image, photography, and illustration creation.

My latest, most complete Sticker Time set yet - I decided to do a small run of prints for nearly all of my Sticker Time images.

The Sticker Time Collection is a (currently) small novelty art, Generative Artificial Intelligence imagery, and photography series, which is in ongoing development, for the sake of popularizing and reawakening the connections we have, as humans, with birds; a colloquy which brings some of the cute things about birds, and our imagination and bond that people have, with regards to the human endeavor, in exploring the potential that we have: a life enriched, when we have an inclusion of bird friends amongst us, captured in the miniature form and artistic medium of 2-inch stickers, which, individually, portray some small aspect of birds, brought to light.

The project is still in it's early stages, as my artistic aspirations and hopes for this collection are expansive, with regards to differing mediums, with which to present the art, as well as that I'd like to explore more themes in creating numerous amounts more stickers. 

Pigeon-watching hotspots to see around town #9: DTLA Flower at 9th Street Flock, at Starbucks

 This flock has been developing ever since the 7-11 moved in to town, just up the street. Although the birds perch and hang out in various small nooks along Flower, and sometimes, in front of Ralph's, today I observed the birds hanging out at the side of the Starbucks cafe, and I felt like this was the perfect location to start establishing a regular visiting spot, for the birds to come and congregate, for a meal. 

The 9th at Flower locale pigeon flock, in the spot that I fancy, next to the Starbucks cafe.

Another view of the pigeons, with the Starbucks in view. 

Recipe: chocolate clove (mint) flavored cigarettes.

 With the battering that the flavored tobacco industry took, in California, it's prudent to begin flavoring cigarettes on your own.

On one hand, the industry was very youthful, with hundreds of flavor startups vying for a market share in the smokeless tobacco industry.

Cigarettes just "feel" better (when smoked), with natural and organic flavors added to them.

Vaporizers, while nice, just have a bit of something lacking to them, compared to the enjoyment found in a nice cigarette, especially a flavored one.

USP nicotine is a strongly toxic chemical to wield around, and to entrust someone else, in a youthful industry, to manage appropriately, in vaporizer solutions.

Chocolate clove (mint) flavored cigarettes have a mild, relaxing hit to them, with a pleasurable flavor and experience, throughout. Simply order some simple ingredients online, and prepare your tobacco, upon settling in, for the night, after purchasing a pack - this project does take some foresight. 

Flavor concentrates versus fragrance components:

- some flavor concentrates are dissolved in a solution of propylene glycol, which is favorable for adding to both nicotine salts solution concentrate (vaporizer) mixtures and directly on to cigarettes, alike, although, when working with tobacco, in this case, the residues from the unevaporated propylene glycol, which is a food grade antifreeze, and which imparts the effect of "smoke," when used in a vaporizer, just might be additional fluff, so to speak; unnecessary, in other words, in a tobacco smoking setting. Fragrance ingredients are nearly all mostly volatile compounds - their volatility is actually intertwined with their worth, hence, the fleeting and transient nature of fine fragrance, whereas a lingering scent becomes a headache, in many cases. 

- fragrance ingredient extractions are time-worn and standardized procedures, with some manufacturers and supply chains practicing stringent, internationally and historically recognized, traditional chemistry procedures. Not that this isn't the case with flavor ingredients, as well, it's just that we don't "smoke" inhale our food; food is eaten, drinks are drunk, and tasted, whereas there is a fragrant aspect to smoking which could come in to consideration, in this context.

The Cocoa absolute, being a somewhat scarcely found product, is well-to-do, to be ordered from Liberty Natural. Their ¼ oz. size comes in a good, deep-well container, to which solvent may be added, to make concentrations varying from 50% to 10%, depending on the virginity of the solvent solution. I chose isopropyl myristate for my solvent, which is, essentially (or nearly) a fragrance-free version of isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol. In addition, IPM is fully volatile, and it will evaporate completely, while also dissolving a good portion of the fragrant and flavorful components of this Cocoa absolute. Just note that the solution is a fully liquid thing, so dampening your cigarettes, with some slaked-on droplets of solution will make the cigarettes fragile. I recommend doing this project when you're calm and settled down, for some long stretch of time, given a day or more, of productivity, by comparison.

The clove bud oil, which I like, as a throwback to Djarum "cigarettes," (they're actually labeled as cigars), gives a nice, mild and satisfying smoke, when directly applied to a cigarette (white paper portion).

A pack of Djarums.

The oil does not need to dry, before lighting up, but if you add the Cocoa absolute with IPM, I would strongly recommend fully drying out the cigarettes, in front of a fan, or under gentle heat, as inhaling isopropanol-type compounds, acutely, can cause temporary blindness, an unpleasant and hazardous condition to bear. For my choice of supplier: in this case, I went with Whole Foods' Aura Cacia Organic Clove Bud Oil, which came out to around $8.50 or $9.00, or so, after a 28% Amazon Prime member sale discount, from around $11.00-$12.00, or so. Just one or two droplets will do - no need to overdo it, and try to make a saucy, soaking cigarette, here. The flavor and fragrance components, here, are well concentrated, on their own merits.

That's it! As far as a mint flavoring - it would be nice, but I just haven't implemented it, in my flavoring outsets, just yet, so I won't jump the gun and write on it, for now. 

Update: some time had passed, and there was some discussion on the topic of mint, such as:

"I know you know what the best mint is, ... what is it?"

It took a while for me to recall the name of this special mint oil, but I knew that it was something good. Rich, fresh, smooth, and cooling. Then, I remembered that I was particularly fond of cornmint, which I had ordered from Perfumer's World, a couple of years back, or so. I believe that Liberty Natural stocks cornmint oil. Yet, even so, someone had commented that an oil of mint isn't all that agreeable, and that menthol crystals themselves ought to be used. This brought up the discussion of flavoring tobacco to a more primary sense, and someone mentioned cigarette filter crush balls, which are akin to the formerly stocked crush cigarettes, which, in southern California, were mainly Marlboro NXT and Camel Crush. I've tried this configuration, recently, in a cigarette butt that i picked up, to smoke, and it came out tasting just like the original crush ball cigarettes. I don't quite recall where I saw the crush ball flavoring pods online, maybe it was Amazon or eBay, or something, but I'm also not sure if the pods can be ordered and sent to a California address, due to the legislation that banned flavored tobacco products such as crush cigarettes.

Update: I traced back my previous browsing find, regarding end-user, DIY cigarette filter flavor pods. I found this machine on eBay for $10, that will insert the flavor capsules in to the cigarette filter, so that the cigarette can be flavored. There is also a link for 2,000 flavor pod capsules, priced at $40.00. I'll definitely try out this product solution, at some point soon, and I'll keep people updated as to how it works out.

The eBay listing page for the cigarette filter flavor pod / capsules installer machine, which has a link to another listing for the flavor pods themselves, as well.

Enjoy!

Some lightly dampened Cocoa and clove cigarettes, drying out, in front of a portable waist fan - an essential step, especially if you're in a hurry.

Announcement: Pigeon Learning Knowledgebase, via Pigeon Journal Article of the Day Threaded Serials. № 1 - Identification and Difference in the Pigeon's Perception and Psychological Experience. (Updating)

  The pigeon, from it's heritage as a partner in our nation's (and our British allies; pre-dating us) armed forces, to more recent roles in surveillance and intelligence, to more urbane task-bearing notable uses, for the bird, such as in the messenger pigeon - all are fine, rich contexts for animal intelligence studies and modeling of psychological experiments in our hometowns and neighborhoods, internationally, whether the settings be urban, suburban, or rural in nature, whether the birds begin, as study subjects, as wild flocks, farmed, fancy, or domestic, the pigeon is a mark and a symbol of the pigeon fancier's pride and skill, in display arts depicting the successes of interaction and cooperation between species: us, being humans, and pigeons, which fulfill our ages-old fascination with flying; what could be learned from a betterment of our understanding and experiences with pigeons, being the core and fundamental basis of this learning series.

The blog article series starts off with an anecdotal experience and observations  of behaviors in the local pigeon flocks that I work with and feed, on a daily basis (as best I can) - behaviors that recently (re)surfaced in some of the birds, in the context of that they could demonstrate that they could identify me, as well as modify their individual and collective behaviors, thereby influencing the socialization profile of the larger unit of the flock, based on embedded conditioning that had been established through my routine interactions with the birds, in feeding them. 

The article I reference, to begin this study series, dates back nearly 50 years, in the Science publication:

Pigeon Journal Article / Thread of the Day № 2: Clicker Training.

 The first  entry in this set of serial / threaded entries, intended as an aide to the academic study (or abstract review, at minimum) of pigeons, or, perhaps broader contexts, such as poultry, or avians, as a whole. The sets of serial entries are gathered and examined for the sake of extending the knowledge base and references / resources available for the sake of bettering the flocks and understanding their progress, potential, and current status in behavior, learning, sensory experience, genetics, and other pertinent subject areas, as the threads and series sets procure added and new material for review and study. 

On this day, I brought out my animal training clicker (I have two), and I signalled to the bird flock outside the local public library, where the birds have become accustomed to being fed, when I show up and haunch myself up on the ledge, in front of their lofty perch, above. Subsequently, the birds have developed identification and discriminatory perceptive capabilities, and they have routinely adjusted their behavioral customs, progressing from observing and waiting for food to be thrown out, to predicting that food will be thrown out (by me), and, thus, they now demonstrate a more pro-sociable behavioral custom, in flying down, around me, in anticipation of being fed. Identification and discrimination (which will be my second entry, or "zero" entry, since I'll be referencing a past article and related practical study, dating back one day. I'm simply starting the series with the second day's thread) was the initial (first) thread, which I haven't written (yet), but, chronologically, that subject was first examined, for the sake of reference and documentation purposes, for this series on my blog. 

An Autumn Equinox Eve Hydrosol Elixir (Fragrance Recipe)

 

An Autumn Equinox Eve's Hydrosol Elixir 

This composition is for a 2 fl. oz. spritzer.

The starter oil was a bottom-of-the-bottle ring of leftover oil from a trefle magnolia citrus hydrosol. It had an impression of a fresh shampoo.

I added, to begin with:

2 drops of patchouli oil

This shifted the composition to heavily woodsy. I wanted to make a light, feminine, playful floral citrus fragrance, out of it, with a touch of spice:

6 mL IPM

50 mL water

14 drops magnolia

¼ mL Calibrian Bergamot BF

½ mL 10% Tonka bean absolute in IPM

¾ mL 10% Cocoa absolute in IPM

⅛ mL 10% blackcurrant Bud Absolute in IPM

5 drops Rose Otto

2 drops Carnation essential oil

7 drops cashmeran

⅓ mL coniferan

¼ gram Ambroxan 

¼ gram Exaltone

⅓ mL Limetol

¼ mL Fixateur

4 drops Anther

⅛ mL Canthoxal

1 slight drip vetiver oil

2 drops Cinnamon Flavor (maybe try 1; I used 2, and it's a bit prominent)

½ drip Black Hemlock Absolute

⅙ mL Rhubofix

2 drops 10:1 Water to Lavandin mailette Absolute Oil

⅒ gram Prismantol

⅓ mL Coumarex DB

This composition was fairly satisfactory and nice smelling, perhaps a mellis fragrance, citrus fresh, with rich, sweet, and sensuous floral effects to it. I found that spraying it a sensible amount didn't quite feel like enough, so maybe it has some stimulating and addictive features to it.

After carrying the fragrance around for a couple of hours, the fragrance oil, which had grown from ¼-⅓ band of oil on top of water, in to the ⅔ band of milky emulsified lipophilic layer, in water, as pictured.

If you get around to creating this fragrance, yourself, enjoy!