Pigeon toed?

So yesterday as I was waiting for the train on the platform there were several pigeons bobbing their way around looking for French fries, potato chips and whatever else falls from commuters’ mouths as they jam food in their mouths before the train comes. I never really paid any attention to the pigeons before. The just strut around with their heads jutting out with every step which makes me rather dizzy to watch - wouldn’t that be really annoying if with every step you took your head pushed forward? Anyway….. So yesterday I actually watched them and I noticed that one was missing a foot and was hobbling around on the stump. I’ve seen this before. Several times actually but I never really thought about it. Then I looked at two of the other pigeons and they were all missing toes. One pigeon only had one toe on one foot and two on the other and the other rodent with wings had two toes on each foot. There was one that all its toes (hence how I knew that pigeons indeed have three toes per foot) but watching them walk I wondered, how? How does a pigeon lose a foot or even some toes? Isn’t that strange to you all?

At this point you may be thinking that I’ve really lost it. That maybe the pressure of finding a dress for Train Guy’s cousin’s wedding has sent me over the deep end or possibly being locked in my office all day with no social interactions besides my bathroom jaunts has made me crazy, but no! Seriously, how in the hell does a pigeon lose a toe or four?

It’s not like they lose them at the saw mill or in some underage sweat shop making t-shirts for Kathy Lee Gifford. A train certainly couldn’t have run over their feet. They aren’t sitting at a loom in India making rugs or even working in a factory applying thingamajigs to whoozamacallits. So how does it happen?

If you find out please let me know. I’m not losing sleep over it or anything but I am curious. Of course it doesn’t seem to be a real handicap for them. Those were some of the fattest birds I have ever seen. I could easily serve one up on Thanksgiving to a table of 20 and no one would know it wasn’t a turkey.