Birdman of Brittany: French pensioner befriends pigeon

GOMMENEC'H, France: When 80-year-old Xavier Bouget goes for a ride on his bicycle, tinkers in his workshop, waters his garden or sits down to eat a biscuit, he has a constant companion: a white female pigeon called Blanchon.

Bouget, a retiree from the northwest French region of Brittany, befriended the bird when it was a chick and now it tags along with him everywhere, sitting on his shoulder or walking along beside him. "There's a desire to be together, because it feels good," said Bouget, who before retirement worked in the building supplies trade.