We Have Pigeon Eggs

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Thanks. But the squabs have been gone all morning today (Wednesday). :frowning: The wife left home at about 6:20 this morning and told me before leaving that they weren’t out there, so they must have flown off at first light. I got up at 9:00, and they were still not there, but Big Pidgee was. He stared at me accusingly. I told him “Hey! We haven’t done anything with them.” I hope they’re enjoying their adventure and not being eaten by a cat.

I’ll sort out the latest photos and post them in the next day or so.

EDIT: Just as I hit Submit, Big Pidgee returned. He seems a bit concerned about where the kids went off to. I guess much of parenting is the same no matter the species.

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Well this is really sad. Big Pidgee has been hanging about on the balcony for an hour and a half now. Waiting around mostly in the flower box, and I can see his throat moving. That means he’s making his cooing noises. Must be trying to call the squabs to him. :frowning:

I hope they return soon.

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Awwww, I hope they come home. :frowning: I’ll be saying a pidgee prayer for them (and you).

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Time to make more kids!

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Where’s Little Pidgee?

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All is well. They’ve both returned. :slight_smile: But only Sammy returned yesterday; Pepper spent the night elsewhere.

I left yesterday (Wednesday) about 1pm and still no squabs. Big Pidgee had given up and left. The wife came home about 7pm, and Sammy was out there. She said he seemed surprised or uneasy about being alone. I hope he saw his father!

This morning, Sammy left at daybreak again. Again, Big Pidgee showed up about 9am looking for the squabs. I went to take a shower and start the day, and when I came out, Big Pidgee’s gone, but both squabs are back! Pepper is actually soaking in the water dish. Not taking a bath, just lying in it soaking. It’s shallow, so the water comes up only to her breast when she hunkers down in it. She soaked for quite awhile, then hopped out. They’re both out there sleeping now. I hope Big Pidgee finally saw them at some point! They’ll soon be gone for real, but 33 and 35 days (their ages on Wednesday) is a little too early, so we’re glad to see them back.

Haven’t seen Little Pidgee for a couple of days, but that’s not unusual. I’m often not around in the late afternoon, and that’s the time she usually makes an appearance now.

Have uploaded photos to the computer. Now must select and upload to the website. Hopefully I can get that done this morning.

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And the whole family is out there now! Both parents and both squabs. :smiley:

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Yay! :slight_smile:

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Going on midnight now, Thursday night, as I write this, and I’m kicking back with some Thai rum and Coke. No pidgees outside, though. :frowning: The wife said she came home this evening, and only Big Pidgee was here, and once again he seemed to be wondering where the squabs were. Kids! But I’m not concerned now. It’s always a bit worrisome the first time they leave, but if they’ve left and come back and then up and leave again, well, this time they know the score. The other squabs seemed to hang around until the parents acted tired of them and like they wanted them to leave! 34 and 36 days old now.

New photos! Got them uploaded.

Monday, October 13
This is a good one of Sammy stretching. This was before either of them started flying, but squabs like to stretch their wings a lot. No, Sammy is not missing a leg. That gets stretched out, too, and the wing is hiding it. Pepper and Sammy are 24 and 26 days here.

Sunday, October 19
Here is one of Sammy, age 32 days, in his new favorite spot: on top of the ledge on the right side of the balcony snug underneath the bottom rail. And another.

Here are Sammy and Pepper, 32 and 30 days, watching the world go by about the middle of the balcony. And here they are on the far left of the balcony, six stories high.

Monday, October 20
The day after we scrubbed down the balcony real good, Sammy and Pepper are accusing each other of laying one down in the corner here. They’re 33 and 31 days old here.

And back under the rail here. This became Sammy’s favorite spot there on the right, but Pepper could take it or leave it.

This shows Sammy’s markings pretty well. Note just the tiniest vestige of yellow baby fuzz on both.

Tuesday, October 21
I love these two photos. The squabs look really cute. This one, shows them both snoozing. And just a minute or two later here, Sammy has woken up, but Pepper is in a deep, peaceful sleep. They’re 34 and 32 days old here, and this is the day before they flew off for an extended period the first time.

And again, the whole page for Sammy and Pepper can be seen here.

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I’m so glad they came home! And they are awfully cute. :slight_smile:

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The wife believes that of the six squabs we’ve seen now, Sammy has the best personality. Maybe “best” is not the word. Cutest personality? He’s really curious. I don’t know if I’d say the best, but he’s definitely up there. Tammy and Snowy were up there, too. But of course, we love all of our squabs. :smiley:

But it’s true that each pigeon has an individual personality. We used to look at pigeons as all alike, but they really are all individuals. Even the adults; Big and Little Pidgee definitely have different temperaments.

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How long do pigeons live? Would you ever welcome newcomers when BP and LP have gone to that great coop in the sky? I believe you’ve mentioned they’ve chased away other pigeons that scoped out the balcony.

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Yes, and Spotty Head keeps coming around. Either I or Big Pidgee chases him away. But I think Wikipedia said three to five years for wild ones, maybe 15 years for domesticated ones. For no real reason, we feel ours is a young couple. Would have to wait and see on another couple. But we’re pretty adamant about having only one at a time.

The squabs are out there asleep now, almost noon on Friday. 35 and 37 days old.

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Saturday morning. Pepper’s not stayed here the last three nights. Manny’s stayed here two of the three and left this morning at daybreak.

But the big news is it looks like there’ll be a Round 4 of squabs. Big and Little Pidgee are in the flower box now being very romantic. Kissing, cuddling. A couple of times they seemed to start doing “The Dance” but then settled back down to heavy petting without actually had sex yet, at least here. It’s all very erotic. We’re trying not to get too close to the window and disturb them.

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It must be so exciting to have a “bird’s eye view” of nature doing its thing. Very cool. Best of luck to Manny & Pepper in their new adventures!

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:smack: I meant Sammy in my last post. I’m getting my batches mixed up.

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Small update. Pepper may be gone for good. Not seen her since Friday, at age 35 days. But Sammy keeps stopping by. He stopped by this morning (Sunday morning), age 39 days, but only for a little while. We watched him fly off, and he’s really got the hang of it now.

I think our squabs must all end up on the mansion grounds next door. You can see that area in the background of some of the photos, the ones involving window frames. It’s lush green, lots of trees and no cats or dogs. Lots of bird life over there. It’s the rainy season now, we’ve had some heavy rains recently, and these past couple of mornings we could see the grounds covered with pigeons and other types of birds, feasting on the bugs being forced up out of the ground. Sammy was flying around in that direction. It must be a Garden of Paradise for the birds.

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Oops! Spoke too soon. Big Pidgee arrived, and Sammy and Pepper both must have spotted him here. They flew in and swarmed all over him for a feeding, causing him to flee. So both of them seen today, 39 and 37 days old.

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And the big news this morning (Monday morning) is that nest building has begun again! The parents have been bringing new twigs to the flower box (the old ones tend to get all mush and tramped down into the dirt) and are hanging out on the balcony more now. That means new squabs are expected, and Little Pidgee could be “preggers” already. And they’ve been awfully romantic this morning; still not treating us to a display of actual hot pigeon sex but still cuddling together. Or at least they were until Pepper returned and spoiled the mood. We plan to change out their box again soon.

Some new photos!

Sammy in our dining-area window here and here, contemplating the world, age 36 days last Thursday.

This one shows the two squabs together on a window frame last Friday, ages 35 and 37 days, along with Big Pidgee. You can see part of the next-door mansion grounds.

Yesterday (Sunday), we cleaned the balcony again, and afterward, the entire family returned. Here and here are a couple of shots. From left: Pepper, 37 days, Sammy, 39 days, father Big Pidgee and mother Little Pidgee. This was getting on toward dusk, and the parents soon left for wherever they stay at night. The squabs slept here overnight, the first time for Pepper after three nights away. I wonder if the squabs have found where the parents sleep.

And today (Monday), we see Big and Little Pidgee being romantic here and here. You can’t tell, but one wing and the tail of Little Pidgee, right, are making these little twitching movements. It happens with Big Pidgee sometimes, too, and the twitching seems to be some sort of signal to the mate, a sort of “come hither” sign.

If you see the squabs by themselves now, they sort of look adult-sized, but when viewed in person with their parents, you can see they’re still smaller. That may not be very evident in these latest photos, but it’s easy to see in person, and that could contribute to the Urban Legend of there being no baby pigeons.

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What happens if the previous kids try to hang around too long, when little bro and little sis show up?