That's me on the corner
That's me in a
Street
Fight
Losin' to a pidgeon
sporting a beak-shaped bruise
and i don't like the constant cooing
i fed them bread too much
i hadn't brought enough
i fought through the awful flapping
i caught all their awful wings
i think i lost the fight-or-fly
Tesla walked to the park every day to feed the pigeons. He began feeding them at the window of his hotel room and nursed injured birds back to health.[205][206][207] He said that he had been visited by a certain injured white pigeon daily. He spent over $2,000 (equivalent to $34,970 in 2022) to care for the bird, including a device he built to support her comfortably while her broken wing and leg healed.[31] Tesla stated:
I have been feeding pigeons, thousands of them for years. But there was one, a beautiful bird, pure white with light grey tips on its wings; that one was different. It was a female. I had only to wish and call her and she would come flying to me. I loved that pigeon as a man loves a woman, and she loved me. As long as I had her, there was a purpose to my life.[208]
Tesla's unpaid bills, as well as complaints about the mess made by pigeons, led to his eviction from St. Regis in 1923. He was also forced to leave the Hotel Pennsylvania in 1930 and the Hotel Governor Clinton in 1934.[205] At one point he also took rooms at the Hotel Marguery.[citation needed]
