Ok rescued this guy http://www.flickr.com/photos/madrabbitwoman/12515270573/ from a busy road this arvo. Not a clue to what type of bird it is but it is too damn ugly for me to let it just die http://www.flickr.com/photos/madrabbitwoman/12515630334/
Location SW Riverina NSW Australia. It is about the size of 2 week old chicken has quite a lot of feathers but cannot fly. It is either dumb or suicidal because it went straight back on the road after I got it off. I would like some idea of what it is because I don’t want to call Wires (http://www.wires.org.au/) if it is a non native. Could it be a baby pigeon?
Presently it is peeping and licking (seriously with its tongue) the sides of the box it is in. Maybe a honey eater???
It could be a pigeon (rock dove), but with that hooked beak, it’s very unusual. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t a deformed pigeon.
It’s been a long week, and I’ve been drinking (more accurately I am at the pub and *am *drinking) but can you get a photo of the toes, or describe them to us. Because I am thinking channel bill. If it hasn’t got the middle two toes facing forwards and the outer two facing back two back, that rules that out.
I would call WIRES anyway. At worst, they will euthanase a pigeon humanely, and it will then probably become food for one of their native raptors or qualls, which is the best thing a pigeon can possibly achieve in Australia.
See the lump on each side of the beak ? Distinctive and sets it as the Rock Dove (a common pigeon) …
Here the rock doves have the hooked beak
Ahem.
The photos in the OP do not look quite like the baby pigeons that hatch on our balcony. But maybe it’s a local variety?
It’s an Australian venomous pigeon (venenatis columbae et sub terra) Kill it with fire!
Turkey buzzard?
Good heavens Sam, what a fascinating saga! I had no idea that thread even existed!
madrabbitwoman, that is definitely the go-to for all your pigeon procreation information needs.
The early photos online disappeared after the photo service I’d been using went down. But the Flickr link I posted earlier in this thread is good now.
As for the OP’s bird licking the side of the box, I’ve never seen any pigeon do that. Pecking yes. But not licking.
I assume this is a joke.
No it doesn’t. All doves have that feature, as do a great many other birds.
Here is a grackle. Here is a cardinal.
Maybe they do, but they don’t in the photo you linked to. A hooked beak means the top beak is appreciably *longer *than the lower beak and finishes *below *it. you can see this quite clearly in the second photo in the OP. In the photo you linked to the top beak has a curve, but it is +/- the same length as the lower beak and finishes in line with it.
Pigeons do occasionally exhibit a deformity that causes the beak to become hooked, but I didn’t think it could affect a bird that young.
That got caught up with a flock of shearwaters last autumn and migrated 2/3 of the way around the world.
Thanks guys - the poor little ugly bugger has gone to whatever reward common old flying rats go to. There are quite a few of them around here but somehow I had never come across a young un before.
RIP, little fella. 
Awww, poor little bugger.
I know.I wasnt real happy about it myself.