Oh man, this is one of the longest, if not THE longest, continously running threads on the Dope.
Maybe you can get a birdhouse with a mini cam when you come to the US. I’ll chip in!
You have to make sure you move to a high rise with a balcony in a city with a pigeon population! (Or do all cities automatically have pidgeons?)
I think all cities have pigeons. Mine certainly does. They provide food for the peregrine falcons that nest downtown on the energy building. That’s a cool birdcam in the spring/summer months.
I’m pretty sure I remember pigeons in Honolulu. Mostly I remember all the mynas running around, but I’m pretty sure there are pigeons too.
But they won’t be The Bully or Ladyboy. 
Thursday morning. Rudolph and Clarice are 21 and 20 days old now, although I’m still not sure which is which. But I think Clarice is the older one. Still healthy, showing no signs of virus. I inspected them both closely yesterday. The gray-patterned one (may be Clarice) has fallen out of the tree pot once now, and we expect both of them to be out and running around soon
Looks like we’re about to get the next clutch of eggs. Ladyboy has started acting like she’s “in labor” again. Rather sluggish – until one of the previous children gets too close, then she runs after them and chases them away. The Bully is hovering around her and “guarding” her. We expect an egg maybe this evening. This is a little late. She usually lays the new eggs about two weeks after the previous hatching, but it’s been three weeks now. The weather has been a little cool lately, so I wonder if that’s a factor.
Do you have names for the next batch yet?
We’re going with Beau and Dale.
Meanwhile, Lydia stays here some nights, away others, and is nine months old now. Matthew is still here, age 2-1/2 months. And Sophie, age four months. And Mochi from the last batch before the present squabs, turns two months next week. Mochi spent her first night away the other night, but she was here at dark, and we think Sophie chased her away. Sophie’s kind of a bad-ass, and we have to squirt her little butt with water a lot for fighting.
Saturday morning, Rudolph and Clarice are 24 and 23 days old, and it’s official now: The older one is Clarice and the younger Rudolph. In a rare move, I’ve gone back to the two photos of them so far and have switched their names. It’s clear now which is male and which female.
And just a couple of hours after declaring them still disease-free in my last post, I detected nascent pustules on both. Observed for a day or so, and the pustules are growing, so I started their course of medicine this morning. Rudolph may be big and male, but he’s a little sweetheart, didn’t fight at all. Little Clarice takes after Mama and is already wing-slapping me. But I should be able to give them a full week’s course, they won’t be flying until next about weekend. But this concerns me about what could happen to future generations after we move. No one will be around to give them medicine. 
Still some months away though. And Matthew never did take the virus, so who knows.
We may not have to worry about future generations anyway, as Ladyboy may have an egg stuck inside her again. She’s a week and a half overdue on new eggs, has been acting sluggish for a few days but still no eggs. She may just be getting too old, almost six years old now. She still eats and does not act sick, just a little sluggish like when she’s normally about to slip an egg out. But no eggs so far. The last time this happened, the egg was stuck, and she finally managed to expel it all mushy. I think it’s potentially harmful to her if she can’t get it out, so we’re observing and waiting to take her to the vet if need be. The Bully is still watching over her, and she still perks up for food and sex, so the situation is not alarming yet.
Meanwhile, nothing about pigeons, but since it’s included in the line-up here’s a photo of me once upon a recent midnight dreary, sipping some good German brew at a German restaurant in Bangkok.
Some sad news. Rudolph disappeared yesterday (Tuesday) at age 26 days. Vanished into thin air. He was out there Monday night when we went to bed and then gone when we got up yesterday morning. But he’s not flying yet! We figure he hopped down from the tree pot, hopped up onto the green concrete verge, possibly chasing after a feeding, and fell off. I looked out of the bedroom and couldn’t see him on either of the two balconies below. Went downstairs and looked around the back of the building underneath our unit. Nowhere. Possibly someone found him – in one of the units below or a groundskeeper below – and took him in. Or … he got eaten by a cat. And he’s only had three days of a one-week course of medicine. If he’s still alive, I hope that’s enough to make a difference. Even though he’s not flying yet, I believe he could still flap his wings enough to flutter down haphazardly. Poor little guy.
The squabs are old enough to jump up into the tree pot on their own, but we’ve not seen them do it yet. It’s rather tall. But we have seen them hop down into the nearby flower box and then onto the floor, then reverse going up. So he definitely could hop up onto the green verge. Poor little guy.
Still no new eggs. Ladyboy has stopped acting like she’s “in labor.” Eats and craps like normal. The Bully is insisting on a lot of sex, he seems to know there should have been eggs by now, and she goes along happily. She could just be old. The vet a few months ago when we took her in agreed Ladyboy might be getting old. We know she’s about six years old now.
More sad news. In preparation for easing them out of here, I removed the tree pot last night. Now there’s just the flower box. After Rudolph disappeared yesterday, Ladyboy started hanging around in the tree pot again. You could see she was thinking of using it again for any new eggs that came along, now that the space was freed up a little.
Clarice, meanwhile, four weeks old today, is doing well. The pustules are growing, but that’s to be expected. Still acts healthy.
Maybe in a few days, we’ll see Rudolph fly back.
I hope a Bumble didn’t get him. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
I reported on something similar to I think it was Mochi last month. But she was just about at flying age and managed to land over on the windows of the nearby stairwell. I eventually “rescued” her from the ground below. But this time with Rudolph, gone without a trace.
Friday morning and … we have another egg! The old girl finally came through. Laid Wednesday evening. We expect a second egg today. Mama seems a bit miffed at the loss of the tree pot but is making do with the flower box.
Clarice is 30 days old and should be flying anytime now. Today will be her last two doses of medicine.
Still no word about Rudolph.
And we have the second egg. Laid on schedule yesterday (Friday). Mama seems back on form. So that’s Beau and Dale incubating out there, with hatchings to start about January 20 or 21.
Clarice, meanwhile, has finished her course of medicine, so that’s one more oidgee saved. Her head’s still a bit lumpy, but that should go down eventually. 31 days old now.
Well, it’s a good thing Clarice finished her medicine, because now she’s fallen off the balcony. But I see her down on the balcony below. The difference is at 31 days old, she should be able to fly back up if she wants to, or even realizes she can. It’s after 7:30pm here and dark, so she’ll probably be there at least until tomorrow. The people in that unit appear to be gone.
Four-month old Sophie is a prime suspect in all of this. We’re constantly having to squirt her to keep her from beating up on the others.
Take Sophie into a dark room, shine a light in her face, and get her to admit what she’s done. Thailand doesn’t have Miranda rights does it?
Sunday night and Clarice made it back up to our balcony this morning. Must have been a scary night for her. There must be some sort of weather system over China affecting us. Bangkok’s not known for being windy, but the wind was so strong these last couple of nights that we had to close our windows. And it got a bit cool last night. So Clarice must have had a hard time of it. Back now and none the worse for wear though.
And she’s back down below. Was here earlier tonight. We didn’t see it happen but still strongly suspect Sophie in this.
Oi! I protest on Sophie’s behalf! You admit you have no evidence at all, and yet you accuse her of attacking Clarice TWICE and even claim she must have been involved in Rudolph’s disappearance, when for all you know he simply saw a comely girl pigeon across the way and toddled off as young men, er, pidgees are wont to do.
Cease your slanders, sir!
Nah, she’s a bad’un our Sophie is. But whoever’s responsible, Clarice spent a second night on the balcony below. Dad yesterday morning was down lower on the window frames cooing at her to come back. Then I opened up the bedroom window to look out, which frightened Clarice, who then flew off rapidly. Did not return until this morning. Dunno where she spent last night, but she’s taking to the world at large now. Still a luittle bumpy-headed, but I think the pustules are going down.
Lydia, 9-1/2 months old and still staying here many nights, has hurt her right eye somehow. We suspect in a fight. (She’s almost as bad at brawling as Sophie. She looks so ladylike too!) Hope it’s not too serious. It was hard to see it at first, because she wants to keep her good eye toward me. But it doesn’t appear to be all that bad. A bit swollen. Crazy birds.
More photos “soon.”