The Free Range Rooster and Hen of Greenwich Village, with Update
Many of the sleepy, late-arising citizens of Greenwich Village awoke this morning to the alarming and seemingly unbelievable sounds of "Cockadoodledoo!" Arising early myself, as is my habit, and strolling the non-farmed streets of Bleecker and LaGuardia with the two hounds, I encountered a disheveled black rooster, cockadoodledoo-ing away, at full register, in the midst of the LaGuardia Community Gardens. Greeting passersby on the way to the Morton Williams Supermarket, the rooster seemed happy struttin' its stuff amidst all the well-tended perennials. I chatted with a man peering through the fence who said he was just awakened by this loud "Cockadoodledoo!," and he said his wife told him he was dreaming.
But, wait, there's more! In another little fenced enclosure, at the very SE corner of Bleecker and LaGuardia Place, roamed a little white hen. So, they're a couple! But how did they get there? Last year, we enjoyed the presence of a wild turkey for a few days, one that is well-known and that flies around Gotham from its usual free-range home in Battery Park. But we have not seen such ordinary fowl in these parts.
I was on the scene late this afternoon, reporter notebook in hand, again with the mutts who find the rooster too loud for their sensitive mutt ears, and inquiring of locals as to the mysterious appearance of said rooster and hen. A guy at the supermarket said he heard that someone dropped them in the gardens in the middle of the night. Sad! Could they not take care of their fowl and wished for a better life for them in the midst of gentrified bohemia? But, couldn't they have found a better place for them than next to a grocery store, one with a decent butcher department?
CHICKEN UPDATE April 16, 2008!!! Ladies and gentlemen, the chickens have left the building. Some buzz on the street as to the mysterious overnight disappearance of the rooster and the hen. NYers, listen for a "Cockadoodledoo!" in your neck of the woods.
Images: LaGuardia Community Gardens. Bleecker Street and LaGuardia Place. The Free Republic of Greenwich Village. Walking Off the Big Apple, April 15, 2008.
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