Flying pests

Our apartment is on the top floor in our apartment building.  And in Turkey some streets aren't that far apart.  One side of our apartment faces another apartment building and the space between the two seems very small.  Our place is one level higher so when we look out our windows or the balconies we see the roof.  In the beginning of the year we noticed a man who would stand on the roof and walk around.  We had a lot of speculations as to what he could be doing.  He could be the gardener for the mini-potted gardens on the roof.  He could have been checking the chimney's, making roof repairs, retired and nothing better to do than to stand on the roof

Well one day we saw Him running around and flailing his arms.  We were so curious and a little concerned about his actions.  We went to the balcony so we could see better and we realized he was chasing pigeons!  He was a pigeon man who's purpose on the roof was to keep pigeons off.  He would chase them, they'd fly away then come back to another part of the roof, so he spent his time running from one end to the other.

This went on all fall and started again in the spring when the pigeons came back.  One day as I was washing dishes I saw the man had two pigeons in each hand by their feet.  He walked over to the edge and threw them off the building only to have them fly right back on top of the awning where he couldn't reach them.  How futile and frustrating for him, but fairly entertaining for us.

Well two weeks ago I noticed a cat on the roof with a little kitten following her.  The man or apartment building had purchased a cat to keep the pigeons off the roof which seems to be a lot more effective and efficient.  But that ended our conversations and updates of pigeon man and his tactics!