Country Day suffered two high-school dropouts this year. They came to school every day, but then were scared away by construction and cats.

The first dropout goes by several names: Burger, Mr. Peetie, Mr. Miyagi and Matty Vargo, Jr.

Burger is a white pigeon that used to live in a nest on a light fixture in the middle school. The pigeon and an unnamed rascally raccoon have become unofficial school pets.

Burger showed up at the school about halfway through last year, teacher Briana Fortenbach said.

Fortenbach recalls how the bird first won her heart. When she was driving to school in the morning, he would walk across the street right in front of her car.

“He would just waddle across like a duck,” said Fortenbach. “He never flew, even though he was a slow waddler.”

The pigeon acquired a taste for soccer in his time at the school.

“He would always stand right in front of the goal,” sophomore Brianna Makishima said. “We would have to stop playing to wait for him to move since scaring him wouldn’t work.”

The pigeon would also join in on middle-school soccer practices and try to chase the ball. The middle schoolers named him Burger, Fortenbach said.

When the lower-school construction started over the summer, Burger decided to move. He now resides at Miyagi sushi restaurant and Peet’s Coffee, where he gets his other two names, Mr. Peetie and Mr. Miyagi.

However, Miyagi’s doesn’t appreciate him as much as the school did. Awnings have been put above the windows so he can’t poop on customers dining outdoors.

The raccoon, first spotted last year, seems to have also taken leave from school.

Custodian Gary Meade said he hasn’t seen the raccoon for two weeks and misses his furry companion.

“It would always scare me, jumping out from behind things,” Meade said. “But it was a very kind creature.”

Meade often caught the raccoon snatching leftover lunches and taking them to the library rooftop.

Junior Michael Lewis recalls when the raccoon caused chaos at break one day.

“Everyone was running and screaming. Then I looked over and the raccoon was about five feet away from me,” Lewis said. “I was shocked to see a raccoon out in the middle of the day.”

Meade attributes the raccoon’s recent disappearance to the several feral cats who are hanging around.

Meanwhile, the lunches are building up and the raccoon is missing out.

It doesn’t seem that Burger knows what he’s missing out on either.

“I love that pigeon!” exclaimed Fortenbach. “It’s too bad he moved, because I was going to build him a bird bath.”