NOK PHIRAP

NOK = Bird ~ PHIRAP = genus, pigeon

Our condo building has lots of balconies and lots of nooks and crannies on which the ubiquitous pigeon can roost and many of them take the opportunity to do so. The suite next to ours is empty and so its balcony has become a quiet, regular hangout for a group of them. They occasionally drop over to leave their indelible mark on our balcony which we definitely do not welcome.

One day whilst walking through the market Noni and I spotted a lovely handcrafted mobile made from straw. It is several unicorn like creatures that prance gaily about in the slightest breeze. We bought it to put up on the balcony to ward off the pigeons. I rigged it, watched as it whirled & twirled in the wind and thought, 'that will do it.'

The next morning I opened the curtains and saw a group of pigeons sitting on the rail admiring it, cooing to it  and treating it as their new found friend. 'This won't do!' thought I and I decided right there and then to build a big mobile that would swing and sway in the wind and definitely scare the messy critters away.

I have very little in the way of tools to work with, some mini screwdrivers and an x-acto knife is pretty well it. I decided the mobile would be made just from found objects and a walk along the riverbank yielded lots of little goodies to play with. I found some thin pieces of bamboo, some wire, a piece of styrofoam, popsicle sticks and skewers from someones picnic lunch. I picked up a washer and a strip of shiny metal that came from who knows what and various coloured soda straws. I brought them all up to my balcony workshop and started to assemble them into a fearsome, beautiful pigeon-frightening piece of art.

Two strips of bamboo were glued together and bound with string to make the main pole and a skewer was sanded down to a narrow shaft using an emory board rescued from an Air Canada courtesy kit. The skewer was put into a hole I worked into the main pole with a screwdriver and wired into place. Using the same little screwdriver I put a hole in another strip of bamboo which serves as the horizontal cross arm and put it onto the other sanded skewer. I lubricated it with some olive oil from the kitchen. It worked. 

To this horizontal arm I attached an array of items using dental floss & pieces of wire, always maintaining the delicate balance that would keep it swinging in the breeze. The piece of styrofoam served as a tail; the silver lining paper from a box of crackers cut into strips flaps about at one end; the washer clinks against the metal strip; an accordion folded piece of heavy paper on a soda straw whirls madly in the slightest breeze; 2 keys from a broken padlock pink, pink against the peel off top of a can of peanuts; a popsicle stick knocks back & forth against small mini tubs from yoghurt giving a delightful bonk bonk sound. And the whole thing spins and twirls and seems to be in constant motion. I fashion a base out of 4 plastic water bottles held together with masking tape and set the whole thing into the unused planter box on the balcony. It is a truly admirable piece of found art and I fall asleep that night hearing the various soothing sounds it makes.

And I hear the same delightful sound when I awake in the morning. And I hear a soft coo cooing sound which is not so welcome. I slowly part the curtains to see what's happening.

Just my luck to get involved with the local 

Pigeon Art Appreciation Flock. 

Night market art gallery