I always wanted to do that.

Feeding the pigeons in the park today was a team effort. I saw some kids feeding them something which wasn't seed, or even bread, so I went over to help and show them how it's done.

I started out by spreading some seeds out, to attract the pigeons around. Then I put some seed in my hand to get the pigeons to start eating right from my palm. I put more seeds down on the surfaces as needed to make sure the pigeons' attention was away from whatever came out of the snack food bags and onto the seeds, which didn't take much time or effort. The trick I found of slowly raising up my hand to pigeon chest height so they leaned over, then up above their heads so they had to fly up and land on my hand for the seeds there, also happened quick. Pigeons are fast learners.

About when the pigeons started landing on my hand, the kids came back over, proving themselves fast learners, too. A few boys, a couple girls, all of them together in a small group with a chaperone nearby, at least two sets of brothers from the hair, the faces, and how they talked to each other and to me - with one pair, the older repeating to the younger everything I said, even though both of them heard me at the same time, something genuine and deeply touching. With the other, he held his brother back from feeding the pigeons, explaining their parents wouldn't want him doing that.

I said I wasn't going to argue with their parents. I said I couldn't do anything about the pigeons, because they're wild and not pets and not under my control, and I wasn't going to argue with their parents and didn't give the younger boy of that pair of brothers any seed.

The younger boy of the first pair of brothers, the one whose brother kept telling him what I'd just said, he got seeds. I offered, and he accepted, and he kept getting scared and impatient, moving his hand away from the birds. But as I watched and as I kept putting seeds into his hand, he stopped shaking the seeds off and learned how to wait, a bit at a time, following instructions I gave him that he listened to when his brother repeated them, and after just a little while, he had the birds eating out of his hand, too.

And oh, how that little boy laughed. Absolute, pure delight.

Maybe because he had smaller hands, maybe because he was a smaller person, maybe because pigeons are good at reading body language and young humans don't come across as a threat the way adult humans sometimes do, maybe because they knew there were seeds around, they were much more tolerant of the boy's hand around them than mine. I could about stroke them, but he could get his hands around them and pick them up. One pigeon, a lovely red morph, he got into his hands more than once. I guess the bird didn't feel like it was too much of a problem.

I offered the kids seed without pressing or demanding, accepting 'no' as a complete sentence without needing any follow-up. I always asked if they wanted more when they ran out and kept sharing until I ran out of what I'd brought, at which point I got on the bike and went back off.

It wasn't until I finished up my bike ride that I realized I'd basically walked into these kids' life for a few moments, showed them something amazing, and walked back out again.

Realizing I've accomplished something I've always wanted to do - create that kind of strange, joyful moment in a kid's life - is even more wonderful than I'd ever dreamed it might be.

Though if this keeps up, I'm definitely going to need a pigeon icon.