This page is in honor of the magnificent Cow Pigeon of Portland State University. For more information about Cow Pigeon, also known as Cow Pidge, Little Cow Pigeon, and LCP, check out these links and even some press coverage about this lil bird.
Cow Pigeon Sightings
Every Cow Pigeon sighting by yours truly, catalogued. Most recent sighting is at the top.
Sighting #17 is the last documented sighting I personally have of LCP, although I think I may have seen him one or two more times.
Little Cow Pigeon went MIA during the Long Covid pandemic. Although other cow pigeons have been spotted around PSU, they are not the original. Pigeons don’t live very long, and I think we can assume that Little Cow Pigeon went to the Park Blocks in the sky. We will always love you, LCP. Thank you for making my college experience more magical.
Sighting #17
DATE: May 31, 2019
LOCATION: Park Blocks – benches by the garbage cans, but then I trailed him for the next 50 minutes all over
NOTES: I was talking to my professor and a classmate about French critical theory when the Cow Pigeon wandered by! I couldn’t contain my delighted gasp, which made my French teacher look over and say, “Ah, black and white pigeon,” in a mildly interested tone. Then I had to explain about Cow Pigeon. He kept wandering around for the next 10 minutes and I was getting really twitchy not getting up to go say hi to him, even though I love learning from my professor. Eventually we finished our conversation and I went to go see LCP. I ended up following him around for 50 minutes and took 181 pictures. Yeah. I have no shame. But I’m super pleased with the shots I got! He’s a darling little model!
Sighting #16
DATE: May 10
LOCATION: Park blocks
Sighting #15
DATE: May 8, 2019
LOCATION: Cramer Hall and Park Blocks
NOTES: In Shakespeare class today I saw a white bird fly past the window and perch atop Cramer Hall, and it was Cow Pigeon! I waited the last 14 minutes to be released and then I ran outside to greet him but he was gone. Did I spend the next half hour wandering around campus looking for him? Yes I did.
Sighting #14
DATE: May 7, 2019
LOCATION: Corner near the alumni house
NOTES: Spotted with my friend who had to deal with my shrieking.
Sighting #13
DATE: May 1, 2019
LOCATION: ???
NOTES: (From Instagram) Honestly I didn’t expect this account to have so many posts, but Cow Pidge keeps turning up. Not that I mind.
Sighting #12
DATE: April 30, 2019
LOCATION: ???
NOTES: I thought I’d address a common question which is whether there’s more than one cow pigeon. There are indeed other cow pigeons in the world! However, this particular cow pigeon is easy to recognize because:
1. He’s missing the right toe on his left foot
2. He has distinctive and symmetrical coloring (including a cute lil black tail and big patches on his wings and back)
3. He’s usually found in the Park Blocks, Urban Plaza, by the Max stop, or the KMC.
Sighting #11
DATE: April 29, 2019
LOCATION: ?
Sighting #10
DATE: April 26, 2019
LOCATION: Max stop across from KMC
NOTES: This bird has made me miss so many buses but it’s worth every minute
Sighting #9
DATE: April 10
LOCATION: Can’t recall
NOTES: Two days in a row!
Sighting #8
DATE: April 9, 2019
LOCATION: Park Blocks
NOTES: Why do I only see this bird when I’m on my way to class? Cow Pidge is more important than being on time. I heard he got injured recently but all looks to be fine now.
Sighting #7
DATE: March 21, 2019
LOCATION: Outside Cramer
NOTES: My peer mentor asked, “How do you run into that bird so much?” I told her, “Maybe he knows how much I love him.”
Sighting #6
DATE: February 21, 2019
LOCATION: Between Cramer and Smith
NOTES: No big deal just chilling with my favorite pigeon @littlecowpigeon 🐄🐦 many thanks to @juliarathlin for the impromptu photo shoot. You never know when you’ll encounter a cow pigeon!
Sighting #5
- DATE: January 30, 2019
- LOCATION: Urban Plaza stairs
- NOTES: Cow Pigeon was ambling around and flying/hopping up and down the stairs. The LCP instagram used this photo for the 200th post!
DATE: November 2018
LOCATION:
NOTES: Barely visible. There’s like a 5% chance that this was actually a seagull, but there aren’t that many white birds around campus. I choose to believe it was CP.
Sighting #3
- DATE: 1/29/19
- LOCATION: Max stop across from KMC
- NOTES: Blurry photo, sorry, it’s a screen shot from a video, which wordpress doesn’t let me upload.
Sighting #2
- DATE: 10/30/18
- LOCATION: Coco Donuts
- NOTES: Having a donut with my friend when I saw CP outside. Ran out screaming “Cow pigeon! Cow pigeon!” and got some funny looks.
Sighting #1
- DATE: 9/25/18
- LOCATION: Urban Plaza outside Starbucks
- NOTES: I was on the streetcar on my way to PSU when my dad, who was stopping by that day, texted me. GET OVER HERE, the text read, with a picture of Cow Pigeon. When the streetcar stopped, I sprinted to the Urban Plaza in time to see that glorious bird for the first time. (If you know anything about me, you know that sprinting isn’t something I do.)