So I guess this thread settles all the “Where do baby pigeons hang about” questions that seem to pop up every now and then.
That’s right, they hang out on my balcony. 
The parents are going at it again like teenagers but seem put out by the absence of the tree pot. They keep sort of looking at the flower box like they’re wondering how to arrange this now. Before, they had the luxury of switching back and forth.
A colleague of the wife’s said there was a small hole in the side of her neighbor’s roof and that a pair of pigeons had set up house in that. Said you could see them from outside. The space is reportedly so small that it gets very crowded, what with the previous batch not having left when the new one hatches. She said she’d actually seen younger squabs attacking older ones. Sounds like quite a pidgee tenement.
Well, we now know how the parents are going to cope with having just the flower box, because … we have another egg! Laid today (Monday) and in the flower box. While Beau is still in the box. He should be hopping out in about another week. Expect the second egg on Wednesday. We missed Dale in the last round, so this time it’s Frankie and Dale. Hatchings expected to start about March 24.
Beau is two weeks old today and doing good. But we caught that bastard Sophie (we’re pretty sure Sophie’s a male) beating up on him again yesterday while the parents were away. And Dad seems really to hate Sophie now, always trying to chase him away.
Lydia showed up again in the daytime yesterday and is staying here again tonight. Her eye is definitely recovering, but there’s scar tissue all around it. We suspect Sophie’s involvement in this too. But it certainly was from fighting.
Just incredible. I don’t ever come to MPSIMS, but today I did and clicked this thread, read the first page (without looking at the dates) and then at the bottom clicked to jump right to the last page (“wow, 55 pages, must be quite the discussion!”).
Just surreal jumping from “these things snuck in while I was away and now what?” to 8 years later and it’s practically a full-fledged breeding program with names and birthdays and wellness tracking…
Indeed.
And we have the second egg! Laid yesterday (Tuesday). Frankie and Dale. And this is completely unprecedented. Two days in a row! I’ve checked through my records – this is the 28th clutch of eggs that Ladyboy has laid on the balcony, not counting the one that sort of splatted out all mushed, and this is the first time the eggs are not two days apart. Is this a good sign or a bad sign? Dunno.
The eggs are in the flower box right where 16-day-old Beau hangs out. He’s usually on top of them while Mama is on top of him! Super cute. Will have to have a photo. Usually by this time, Mama has passed all parenting duties on to Dad and concentrates on the new eggs. But this time she can’t ignore the kid.
Friday night and little Beau is 18 days old. A pretty, pretty white. He doesn’t seem to miss having a sibling, because he stays snuggled up to a parent all day and night since the eggs are right there too.
I am certain I saw Rudolph today, the first time since he mysteriously disappeared off the balcony on February 2 aged 26 days. I’m certain it was him. Same markings. But the poor guy had a bunch of large pustules on his face. He’d had only two days’ worth of medicine when he disappeared, and I guess it didn’t take. He flew away when I opened the door and didn’t return. Poor little guy. I wonder if someone like the building maids took him in, only to release him when his growths started worsening.
Lydia, she of the injured eye, stays here off and on and is back to brawling, so we know she’s feeling better. That’s what almost cost her her eye in the first place though.
Monday night and little Beau is a full three weeks now. A close inspection today revealed absolutely no signs of virus. None whatsoever. It usually manifests itself by now. I find it curious that the only other recent squab to escape the virus was also an only child, Matthew (who seems to be a girl). Beau is a pretty, pretty white and stays snuggled up to a parent.
Thursday morning and Beau is 24 days old. A beautiful white with some very few black markings thrown in. Really, really beautiful. We saw him out of the flower box for the first time yesterday. I put him back in, and he’s not been out again. We figure he fell out, but I think at this point he could hop out and back in again on his own, he just doesn’t know he can. He probably fell out during a feeding, as Dad likes to feed him while standing on the floor, requiring Beau to stretch far over the side.
I’m almost through with the wife’s US Immigrant Visa application and then will hopefully have time to post more photos.
This thread has been like having a pigeon cam on the nest. I am going to miss it, my favorites are the white pidgees.
I’ll miss it too, and them. The time is growing nigh when we’ll have to evict them. Still good for a few more months though, so I try not to think about it. But they’ll survive. We’ve pretty much cut out daytime feedings altogether, it was attracting too many outsiders, so now Henry stops by maybe once a month. He’s doing okay.
Meanwhile, little Beau discovered last night (Thursday night) that he could indeed hop back into the flower box on his own. He’ll be flying in a few more days. 25 days old today.
A pretty little cockatiel showed up yesterday, out of the blue. Not seen it before and never seen any in the neighborhood despite the abundance of bird life. We think it’s someone’s pet that escaped. Cute little squeaky guy. Stopped by several times and drank water. If it is escaped, it may not fare very well in the “wild.” We’ll see if it comes back today. I took pictures of it of course and will post them with the others.
Does it eat the same kind of feed a pigeon does? At least it got water. Maybe it will get lucky and find it’s way home.
I don’t think it eats the same food. The bill or beak is different. Sunflower seeds and the like are more its fare. But it did seem to peck around a bit on the floor. Could be hungry. If I see it again, I’ll run down and get some sunflower seeds. There are some little shops in the neighborhood.
I looked up food for the bird and found a lot of links, including the above.
Thanks. Just after 8:30am Sunday morning here, and no sign of the little guy yet. Will keep a look out.
And he did come back. The little cockatiel. Twice this morning (Sunday morning), shortly after I logged off from my last session here. Drank water both times but freaked and fled when I tried to put out a little pidgee food. It’s after lunchtime now, and I’ve been down and gotten some sunflower seeds, sunflower kernels and pumpkin seeds and put them out near the water so he can’t miss them. I say “he” because from what we’ve read, a yellow head like this one has indicates a male.
Funny is The Bully’s reaction. Yesterday and today, the little guy tried walking up to the flower box. Seemed innocent, kind of like, “Hi. Who are you? Whatcha doin’?” The Bully gave it some wing-slap warnings. Fluffles up whenever it sees it too. We get some little sparrows and the odd dove and mynah from time to time, and The Bully pays them no attention whatsoever, but he clearly does not like cockatiels.
And it was pretty active this morning, with the squeaky little orange-cheeked cockatiel, Beau doing helicopters fervently and even a tiny, tine little baby dove checking the place out. Henry and Geri are feeding now – he’s coming up on seven years old!
Well, we did see the cockatiel one more time, but he didn’t stop here. We saw him fly by and go somewhere up above us. We could hear his little squeaks. Then we saw him fly off. I’ll keep the food out. It’s in little containers. The pidgees might turn it over looking for something decent, but the little guy won’t be picky about that, I’m sure. the two pictures I took of him yesterday are good. Will try to get those up this week.
Thursday night, and right on time the eggs are in the process of hatching. Began this morning. Frankie’s little bill is sticking out of the one egg and moving. Dale’s egg started showing cracks and now has a little hole in it. We may have both by tomorrow morning.
And we have a wiggly little Frankie. Popped out late this morning (Friday morning.) 
Dale soon to follow, we hope.
Mochi can’t stay here anymore. Dad’s decided he hates Mochi now and so chases him away every evening. Weird. Still have some of the others. Beau is 31 days old and has started flying.
Some more photos, all from this month.
First, here’s Beau at age 13 days on March 6, with Mama. This is the day before she started laying the next clutch of eggs.
Beau with Mama at 16 days old on March 9. Then he gets a little camera shy and tries to burrow underneath Ladyboy. You can see one of the new eggs in that last one.
Now contrast this previous photo of Beau at one day old with this new one at 20 days. That’s just a 19-day difference, so you can see how quickly they grow. This may help answer the question of why some people never see baby birds.
And now, The Visitor, the little cockatiel who visited us last weekend. Two photos, here and here. The yellow on his face leads us to believe it’s a male. Those photos were taken last Saturday, he returned on Sunday, and then vanished. We hope he found his way home, because there’s no doubt this is a pet that escaped. Cockatiels just don’t live in the wild here. I think they’re from Australia, but correct me if I’m wrong.
Now back to the pidgees. Chillin’ with Dad this past Sunday, March 20. Then just to show you that Henry and Geri still come around, here they are that same day, over on the window frames. or a few days there, Henry kept chasing Geri around trying to get sex, but she just seemed interested in food. I guess some things transcend species. Also that same day, Beau laying back with Mama.
Interesting to note is that when they had use of the tree pot as the second nest, Ladyboy would hand over all parenting duties to The Bully as soon as the new eggs were laid. She’d even go so far as peck at the squab to get it to go away from the eggs. But now with just the one nesting site, she lets the squab still stay in the nest with her and will even still feed and groom it.
And now a very developed Beau at 29 days this past Tuesday, with The Bully. And one more.
And again, you can see all of the photos on a single page here.