Pigeon Lady (Jane Darwell)

Character Analysis

Bird woman isn't actually a part-bird, part-woman hybrid created by an evil scientist. And it's not a sequel to the film Birdman, either. She's just a woman who feeds the birds on the steps of St. Paul's cathedral.

She doesn't actually say anything in the movie, but Mary Poppins uses her as a symbol of a simple and loving life in the "Feed the Birds" song. She finds joy in something small: feeding birds, and selling bags of seeds so other people can feed the birds:

MARY: Feed the birds, that's what she cries, while overhead her birds fill the skies. All around the cathedral the saints and apostles look down as she sells her wares. Although you can't see it, you know they are smiling each time someone shows that he cares. Though her words are simple and few, listen, listen, she's calling to you. Feed the birds, tuppence a bag. Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag. Though her words are simple and few, listen, listen she's calling to you. Feed the birds, tuppence a bag. Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag.

The point is: happiness isn't something flashy. You can get happiness from something as simple as using your tuppence to get a bag of birdseed.