Stumping about

I was waiting for a train at Newcastle Central Station this afternoon when I noticed this pigeon pair foraging about amongst the discarded pie ends. I have seen plenty of feral pigeons with missing toes and deformed feet, but this was the first I'd seen with no feet at all. Well, the male (on the right) had no feet, the female had just the one toe left on her one remaining foot. The pigeon beside the human's leg was just a chancer who had both feet as far as I could see. They were both getting about at great speed; indeed, he was even doing courtship pirouettes by spinning round on his stumps to impress her. I found it very disturbing to watch them and hence did not choose the best close-up image - don't feel obliged to go large.

I've heard that pigeons get foot damage from either human hair or chewing gum knotting up their feet so badly that fungus or some sort of bacterial infection sets in and rots away the flesh.

The human was reading her Kindle.

Oh dear, I think I need a pint.