Once a Pickle, Never a Cucumber
Dion Campbell and Her Passion for Pigeons
“Once you know something, you can't unknow it. It would be like turning a pickle back into a cucumber.” — Dion Campbell
Most of the time, passions happen gradually. We follow our curiosities, wander down rabbit holes, and before we know it, they’ve become part of who we are. Most passions, like love, grow over time.
But sometimes, passion strikes in an instant — like love at first sight.
That’s how Dion Campbell found her life’s purpose: with one hurt pigeon during a walk.
It was the early days of the COVID pandemic in San Francisco. Campbell, her husband, and their son were out for one of their daily walks when they noticed a flock of pigeons. Among them, one bird stood out. He wasn’t moving, wasn’t flying.
“He was just sitting there,” she recalls. “Something was wrong.”
Many people might pause, feel a pang of sympathy, and move on. But Campbell couldn’t walk away. Something tugged at her heart. She scooped the pigeon up and brought him home, not knowing exactly what she would do next — only that she needed to do something.
She eventually named the bird Pete. After some quick research, Campbell discovered Palomacy, a Bay Area pigeon rescue organization. Following their advice, she brought Pete to WildCare, a nearby animal hospital, where he received treatment. When Campbell walked away, Pete stayed behind — but something in her had shifted.
Before the pandemic, Campbell had been a bartender and an artist. She’d always loved animals hadn’t imagined dedicating her life to them. Yet Pete’s rescue planted the seed of something bigger. Almost overnight, a passion began to bloom.
“I can’t just do something a little bit,” she says, laughing. “I have to do things too much.”
Now, Campbell is the social media and hotline manager at WildCare’s pigeon-friendly Wildlife Hospital and volunteers with Palomacy. She’s the creator of BeNiceToPigeons.org and, over the past four years, has rescued, rehabilitated, and placed hundreds of injured and orphaned pigeons. In the words of Palomacy’s founder, she has “revolutionized pigeon rescue in the Bay Area.”
One chance encounter with Pete the pigeon became not just a new career, but a whole new life.
“It wasn't always something I did… but it was something that I fell into,” Campbell says. “And now I can't imagine not doing it. Once you know something, you can't unknow it. It would be like turning a pickle back into a cucumber.”
I can’t help but laugh when she says this. It’s such a uniquely perfect metaphor for discovering a passion. Once we find something that truly moves us, it changes us irreversibly. Whether that passion grows slowly or strikes like lightning, there’s no going back to the way we were before.
So, what is it about pigeons specifically? I ask this question of all my interviewees, fascinated not only by how they found their passion, but what keeps them invested. For Campbell, I’m especially curious. You might be wondering the same thing: Why pigeons?
“They’re so gentle and emotionally intelligent,” she says, a big smile spreading across her face. “I mean, they’re not going to do tricks for you or anything. But they’re very emotionally sophisticated and loving.
“Anyone who gets to know them ends up loving them,” she adds.
Few pigeons have stolen Campbell’s heart like Pickles, the bird who inspired her website, BeNiceToPigeons.org.
Pickles came to WildCare in 2021, part of a batch of pigeons brought in by San Francisco Animal Control. Soon after, Campbell and her colleagues noticed something odd: he was losing weight fast.
“It took us weeks to figure out he wasn’t eating,” Campbell says. “Like, he literally doesn’t know how to eat.
She laughs as she explains: “He is actually too dumb to be a pigeon. I say that with the most love possible — I would fight God for this pigeon. I love him so much. But he doesn’t know how to feed himself.”
Determined to help, Campbell took Pickles home and started hand-feeding him seeds. Now, they have a routine. When he’s hungry, he hops onto her knee, and she knows it’s time to eat.
“Pickles is my forever pigeon,” she says. “I love him like he’s my child. It’s insane. I hope he lives as long as I do.”
And he may just live a good portion of her life — apparently, pigeons have a lifespan of 15 to 30 years if they’re kept safe and away from predators. Who knew?
Our passions add so much to our lives, just like Pickles — and the hundreds of other pigeons Campbell has encountered over the years — have added to hers. But with the highs come the challenges. And there have been plenty.
“I used to be a traveler,” Campbell says. “I was a globetrotting artist.”
But since that chance encounter with Pete the pigeon, Campbell has gone away just once. And when she did, she made her babysitter swear that she would give her life for Pickles if it came down to it.
The pigeons don’t just dictate her travel — they dictate her days. As the Bay Area’s go-to pigeon rescuer, Campbell is constantly fielding messages from people all around the U.S.
“Sometimes it’s 10pm and someone texts, ‘Hey, can you take a pigeon?’ I’m already in my pajamas. I’m ready for bed. But of course I say, ‘Yes, absolutely.’
“If that’s not passion, I don’t know what is.” For Campbell, pigeon rescue is a 24/7 job.
The challenges don’t just come from the work itself — they also come from other people. We can’t always expect others to understand what drives us. For Campbell, that misunderstanding has been especially difficult.
“I get the vibe that they think it’s a lost cause or a waste of time and energy,” she says of some of her family members. “It’s hard to have something that you’re so passionate about and that you’re basically dedicating your life to — and nobody gets it.”
Then there are the people who aren’t just indifferent but actively hostile. Campbell recounts one striking incident with a woman who swung a mop at her while she was trying to rescue a pigeon whose leg had been cut off and couldn’t fly.
“She came out and said, ‘This city’s dirty because of people like you,’” she tells me. “When you’re trying to rescue a pigeon, there’s always somebody a little pissed off about it.”
(As a side note, Campbell points out that pigeons’ reputation as “dirty” birds stems from decades of bad PR. In the 1930s, a meningitis scare in New York City was wrongly attributed to pigeons, and in the 1980s, a Woody Allen film popularized the term “rats with wings.” But Campbell insists pigeons don’t carry more diseases than any other animal and are, in fact, “super clean birds.”)
Her advice for others? Know that it’s all part of what you’re signing up for when you make the choice to pursue a passion.
“Anything you want to do… if you want to be a ballet dancer, for example… there’s still going to be pain involved and sacrifice,” she says. “You still have to dump a bunch of time and effort into it. You probably have to dump a bunch of money into it.
“And you’re probably going to get hurt,” she adds. “People might say what you’re doing is really stupid and ask you why you’re doing it. You just have to let the pain push you forward.”
Because despite the hard parts, Campbell is convinced — as I am — that the good far outweighs the bad. We can let the bad parts weigh us down, or we can let them motivate us, giving the fuel we need to keep pushing forward.
Whether your passion grows slowly or strikes in an instant like Campbell’s did, once you’ve gone from cucumber to pickle, there’s no turning back.
Takeaways
Here’s one big thing I learned this week about passion, one exercise you can try to help reignite your own interests, and one aspect of Dion Campbell’s enthusiasm that completely changed how I see the world.
One Lesson: Tune in When You Feel a Spark
Passions don’t always announce themselves loudly. Sometimes, they arrive as a quiet nudge — a tug at your heart, as Dion Campbell experienced when she encountered Pete the pigeon. Instead of ignoring that feeling, she acted on it, and her life changed forever. The takeaway? Pay attention to those small sparks of curiosity or care. They might just be the seeds of something transformative.
One Exercise: Revisit What You Gave Up
Think back to something you once loved but abandoned because someone judged you or told you it was pointless. Maybe it was an artistic hobby, a quirky interest, or a cause that you cared about deeply. This week, take one small step to revisit it. Reclaiming a passion you gave up — not because it wasn’t meaningful, but because others didn’t see its value — can be a powerful way to reconnect with yourself.
One Curiosity: The Secret Lives of Pigeons
After hearing Campbell talk about pigeons, I’ll never look at them the same way again. Did you know they rely on humans for food and nesting spaces because we domesticated them thousands of years ago? Or that they’re emotionally intelligent, mate for life (“They’re obsessed with each other when they’re married,” Campbell says), and are incredibly clean creatures? Learning more about pigeons has made me more curious about the animals we overlook in our daily lives — and I can’t wait to learn more about them.
Links
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