"I was trying to," Rafe protested. "What was I going to plow into in the park? It's the running and walking path for cripe's sake. I was expecting birds to have a little more survival instinct when something big is speeding right at them. The one's back home certainly know when to get their feathery asses out of the way."
It might help that the pigeons around where she lived may have been conditioned to avoid the possibility of ending up in one of Mrs. Forsythe's dishes but Upper-Plate had to have its predators too.
"They're sky-rats. Rats are supposed to be good at avoiding danger."