Dedicated to Nicola's obsession with pigeons:
"The pigeons were my only happy companions. I could never be lonely with them around."
Tesla would regularly walk to parks in New York City to feed pigeons, even during harsh weather. He claimed he spent over $2,000 a year on pigeon feed, despite his own financial struggles. Tesla lived in various New York hotels and would often open his windows to let pigeons inside, resulting in a horrible mess.
He was known to keep baskets in his room as nests and even built special devices to help injured birds recover. Tesla once asked a hotel chef to prepare a unique seed mixture for his feathered friends.
Once, he was arrested for trying to lasso an injured homing pigeon in the plaza of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and, from his holding cell in the 34th Street precinct, had to convince the officers that he was—or had been—one of the most famous inventors in the world.
In his autobiography, Tesla described a beautiful white female pigeon that visited him regularly. He claimed she was the love of his life, saying:
"I have been feeding pigeons, thousands of them, for years. But there was one pigeon, a beautiful bird, pure white with light grey tips on its wings; that one was different. It was a female. I would know that pigeon anywhere. No matter where I was that pigeon would find me, when I wanted her I had only to wish and call her and she would come flying to me. She understood me and I understood her. I loved that pigeon.
When she was ill I knew, and understood; she came to my room and I stayed beside her for days. I nursed her back to health. That pigeon was the joy of my life. If she needed me, nothing else mattered. As long as I had her, there was a purpose in my life."
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