We Have Pigeon Eggs

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1983

And we have the second egg! :smiley: Laid right on schedule, yesterday evening (Monday evening). This batch will be Herman and Sophie.

Meanwhile, Gary and Kaye are 21 and 20 days old. They can wander around well if we put them on the floor but cannot hop in and out of the flower box yet. They do fall out of it though, in their excitement to get a feeding. Makes me wonder how many squabs fall of building ledges and such.

It occurred to us recently that we’ve not seen Spooky for a long time. Months maybe. She of the broken leg. Poor girl. There’s no way she would stop coming here of her own accord, so we figure something’s happened to her. She’d be three years old now. Not one of ours but showed up as a young kid right after we returned from our last USA trip in April 2012. Then she showed up with her leg broken about a month later. No idea what happened. It finally healed at an odd angle, and she got pretty good at hopping around on one leg and even having sex with the mate she found, a strapping gray (we saw them having sex out on our balcony). RIP, little Spooky. :frowning:

1984

Thursday morning and Gary and Kaye are 30 and 29 days old, respectively. And they flew up to the top rail for the first time this morning. Still seem healthy, with no signs of virus.

Mickey, who turns seven months old next Sunday and who disappeared for a couple of months around Valentine’s Day, seemed a little sluggish last night. We hope he’s okay. Seems a little late to catch the virus if he was going to.

The eggs containing Herman and Sophie are still on track for hatchings about next Tuesday or Wednesday. The following week we’ll be upcountry, but I still plan to post new photos before we leave.

1985

I will look forward to seeing the next pics.

If you like live bird video here is a link to the falcon cam downtown. It’s currently around 9:30 PM as I type, so you can’t see a lot. The view is outside the next box, but one can click on the link to the inside view. Just now the two young falcons are alone. They will be banded in a couple of days.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1512995942001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAA8yF6NPE~,pRKgPw6q_lsF1etjDxH1FTediAcI4trA

1986

Thanks.

And here’s some BREAKING NEWS: Pakistani pigeon arrested for espionage in India

1987

And the new photos! :smiley: Taken over the past four weeks.

When we last left off the photos, Gary and Kaye were two days and one day old. Now here they are at ages six and five days being fed by Dad, June 1.

And being guarded by Dad the next day at ages seven and six days, June 2. Note how Dad is just daring me to try something. He’s really just a sweetheart though – Mom’s the really tough one.

And seeing them progress, we see Gary and Kaye at ages eight and seven days, then getting white at ages 10 and nine days, then really white at ages 16 and 15 days. The same day that last one was taken, June 11, the parents started getting frisky again – seems to start once the squabs are a couple weeks old or so.

And speaking of getting frisky, here’s Mom on June 14 with a new egg, laid the day before. They opted to keep the tree pot and not use the flower box. Herman’s inside there, and the second egg, containing Sophie, was laid the following day. I had to move the squabs into the flower box, and Gary and Kaye are 19 and 18 days old here.

Then one from this past Monday night, with Gary and Kaye running around outside the flower box now, and note seven-month-old Mickey up above (actually he turns seven months tomorrow, June 28) – I’d mentioned he seemed sluggish a few nights ago, but he seems okay now.

And one from today! Kaye and Gary, ages 31 and 32 days and looking like real little pidgees. :smiley: Plus they’re flying now, albeit still a little awkwardly.

So they went from this to this in just about a month.

And again, all the photos can be seen on a single page here.

New hatchings next Tuesday or Wednesday, and starting the following week we’ll be up North for a bit. No more nighttime snackies for a short while, but they’ll at least be left in peace at night.

1988

Looking at those last two photos reminds me of how quickly birds grow.

1989

Thursday morning and little Herman has broken through! :smiley: He’d been trying to make it out since yesterday. Waiting for Sophie now.

Gary and Kaye are both five weeks old now and still showing no signs of virus, so that’s good.

Mickey has disappeared again, and now Patrick is gone. But eight-month-old Timmy stayed here last night for the first time in a while. Maybe had a spat with his/her mate?

1990

Saturday morning and Alas! The second egg seems to be a dud. Should have at least started hatching a couple of days ago. :frowning:

Actually the dud egg may be the first one laid in this clutch, and Herman may have popped out of the second egg, because now that I think about it, his hatching seems to have been a day or so behind schedule. So Herman may really be Sophie. But too late. We’ve assigned him Herman and male status. He’ll just have to deal with it.

Still a couple days before we leave. Will keep the egg out there over the weekend just in case. But little Herman, two days old now, looks set to be an only child. A healthy, wiggly little guy.

1991

And an extra note: Henry’s out there eating right now. He’s six years old, as he started coming here regularly as a young buck six years ago next month. Think of all the descendants he must have by now.

1992

Good luck on your trip, have a good time! How long did you say you’d be gone?

1993

Thanks! Just a couple of weeks. The guys out there will sure be glad to see us back. They always are. :wink:

1994

Saturday night and yeah, that egg’s a goner. I’ll wait one more day to remove it. “Sophie” will have to wait until the next batch.

Now that Mickey’s gone, it’s an all-white crew out there. White with a few black speckles to varying degrees but no one like Henry. Ladyboy comes the closest, but even then you wouldn’t call her a Dalmatian like Henry. But now we’ve got the two parents plus Timmy (still coming back every night), Teddy, Lydia, Gary and Kaye, all white. Seven, and they’re all staring at me right now as I type this. We won’t know what Herman looks like until we come back.

1995

We’re back! Flew back into Bangkok last night (Monday night) from Chiang Mai. Ladyboy and the Bully were exceptionally happy to see us. Little Herman was 18 days old, and the last time we’d seen him he was only four days. He’s turned out to be white with a heavily black-speckled head. Nineteen days old today. Will take a fresh picture of him after I clean up the balcony. Herman seemed absolutely stunned about us returning. Probably didn’t even remember us, as he last saw us two weeks before when he was just opening his eyes. We’ve shattered his peace and tranquility. Still in the tree pot but ended up falling out of it twice last night. I had to put him back each time since he’s still not able to get back in on his own. :smiley:

Looks like we lost a few over the past couple of weeks. Mickey, Teddy and Lydia have left. Looks like all we have out there now besides Herman and the parents are the previous batch, Gary and Kaye, now almost 2-1/2 months old.

1996

Good to see you back! I see the moochers have left, they almost seem like people!:smiley:

Have the parents been doing the deed, to get the next batch started?

Yes, I have a dirty mind.

Did you have a good time on your trip?

1997

Thanks! The trip was great, although Pai, in Mae Hong Son province, has become quite trashy. It was a peaceful mountain town in the 1980s, got “discovered” in the 1990s, and now the backpackers seem to have taken it over completely. Ah well, things change.

Don’t know if the parents have been doing the deed, but it’s about time. No new eggs yet.

1998

Sam, the CBC radio news show As it Happens has interviewed one of the last (or maybe the last) **rooftop pigeon fanciers ** in New York City. The link to the audio clip is under the top pic and is seven minutes long.

1999

Thanks. He has 43 pidgees? :eek: I think our max has been 12, and that’s still a lot. Thankfully, ours are all free agents, so they can fend for themselves when we’re gone. Even after all these years, Henry and Ladyboy et al don’t want us touching them, let alone training them.

The couple have been doing it a lot lately, and Ladyboy seems sluggish, so we think new eggs are imminent. A little late this time, as Herman is 23 days old today (Saturday), and the next clutch of eggs usually appears when the squabs are about 14 days old. I said before that everyone’s left except the previous batch, Gary and Kaye, but due to markings we now know the one we thought was Kaye is actually three-month-old Lydia from the batch before.

2000

Not to be nosey or jumping to conclusions, but has she been late and sluggish before?

2001

Oh great, something to worry about. :frowning:

She’s been sluggish around egg-laying time before, but this is a little late. However, she’s still flying and eating, and pooping, so hopefully she’s not too backed up. Poor girl is five years old now, and I’ve read that’s old for a “wild” pigeon. (Her father Henry is six and still seems active.)

2002

Tuesday morning, we’ve been back for a full week now and still no new eggs. Five-year-old Ladyboy may just be getting too old. But she’s still eating, and she and The Bully are still screwing. I’m considering trying to capture her and take her to the vet, but since she doesn’t seem ill I’ll probably just wait and see. But I’ve spotted The Bully adding new twigs to the nest, so I think they still expect eggs.

Meanwhile, Herman is 26 days old and running around. Terrified of me.