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The day a pigeon ruined my mortar mix on a job in Portland | Bricklayers - SMM Buzz

The day a pigeon ruined my mortar mix on a job in Portland

I was working on a retaining wall in this backyard near Hawthorne last summer, had my mortar all mixed and ready to go. This fat pigeon just flew right into the bucket, splashed mud all over my arms and the fresh bricks. I spent 20 minutes fishing it out and remixing while the homeowner laughed from her porch. Has anyone else had wildlife mess up their day on a site?

3 comments

3 Comments

averywilliams4mo ago

Oh man, that is brutal. I feel for you, birds are absolute chaos agents on any job site. I once had a squirrel run across my wet concrete slab and leave little paw prints all the way across, had to trowel the whole section smooth again. At least your homeowner thought it was funny, mine was just irritated I was "wasting time." I bet that pigeon was totally unbothered too, just flew off like it owned the place. Hope the rest of the wall went smoother after that disaster.

holly_walker764mo ago

And that's the thing about animals on site, they have zero respect for your schedule. Like you said, @averywilliams, they just waltz in like they own the place and mess up all your hard work. The worst part is when you've got a whole crew waiting on you while you're chasing a bird out of a freshly painted room. I swear they know exactly when you're on the tightest deadline too. Glad your story at least ended with a laugh, because half the time you're just standing there wondering how your day went sideways so fast.

grayc273mo ago

That story about the squirrel and the concrete slab from @averywilliams reminded me of something I read in a trade blog a while back about pigeons specifically being drawn to fresh mortar because of the lime content or something like that. Apparently they think it's some kind of mineral supplement, which explains why that fat bird was so determined to dive bomb your bucket. I've seen way too many videos online of pigeons just waltzing into open bags of cement too, it's like they have a sixth sense for finding the most inconvenient spot to land. Your homeowner laughing from the porch is the best case scenario honestly, because most clients would be standing there tapping their foot while you're picking bird feathers out of your mix. At least the Portland pigeons are just messy, not aggressive like the ones I've heard about downtown who'll straight up try to steal your lunch out of your truck bed.