Alexandria’s “Fancy Pigeon” Has a New Home

The black-and-white pigeon with elaborately feathered feet immediately caused a stir when it appeared at Alexandria’s Amtrak station in June. “Why is a penguin here?” ticket agent Octavia Scott says she and her coworkers joked. Commuters posted photos of the bird, which was quickly identified by online sleuths as a Lahore pigeon, a domesticated “fancy pigeon” prized by aficionados. While people online tried out monikers like Paul and Pickles for the bird, the staff decided to name him Gregory Alex—Alex for Alexandria and Gregory just because it seemed to fit the way he presented himself. “He’s like an old man,” Scott explains—elegant and a bit reserved.

Scott bought a bag of birdseed for Gregory after noticing he wouldn’t touch the food that commuters began to bring to the station—bread, sunflower seeds, and, because this was Alexandria, pieces of croissants. Gregory didn’t seem scared of humans, says Elga Ozols, who commutes to DC on the train and named the pigeon “Alexandria’s Very Fancy Bird” on Bluesky, frequently posting updates and photos. There was a period this summer when posts about Gregory were unavoidable for anyone with a social-media feed that included Alexandria residents.

After fliers and online posts asking whether anyone had lost a fancy pigeon received no responses, Scott and her coworkers began to view the bird as their responsibility. Gregory reciprocated Scott’s attention in particular, puffing his chest out when passengers stopped her to ask about the bird as she fed him. Scott called the Humane Society, where, she says, the person who answered the phone advised her that the pigeon could live outside, but if he would let someone touch him, he’d benefit from going to someone’s house.

Meanwhile, Gregory became something of a tourist attraction, and not always in a good way. People arrived with nets at night, Scott says, trying to capture him. “He wouldn’t go near certain people,” she says. “He knew who to trust.” One woman approached her and said, “You might want to get your bird. My husband’s talking about cooking him.” In August, Scott decided to take action. A coworker brought in a cage. She and another colleague approached Gregory, who allowed them to pick him up and put him inside for transporting.

Gregory now lives in Maryland with Scott, who bought him a three-level cage that she can wheel onto her back porch so he can commune with other birds and feel the breeze. Scott, who’s worked for Amtrak for 17 years, says she can’t hear the train sounds Gregory got used to at work from her house, but he seems to enjoy the sounds of the TV channel Animal Planet, which she leaves on for him when­ever she’s at work. She’s planning to order him a larger cage where he can get more exercise, even though she notes that he leads a largely sedentary life.

“He’s got it good now,” she says. “He hasn’t broken up with me yet.” Gregory cooed in the background as we spoke on the phone. “Hey, pretty bird,” she said to him. “You had a good day?”

This article appears in the October 2025 issue of Washingtonian.

Andrew Beaujon

Senior editor

Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.