Thanks! It was a year ago yesterday (Saturday) that poor little Bob died. 
That means Henry’s been hanging around for about a year now. I don’t know that we’ve ever seen a healthier-looking pigeon, and I’m sure it’s all the bird seed he gets from us. They’re all pretty healthy-looking in this neighborhood, but Henry most of all.
Friday morning, and yesterday we saw an odd development: Henry being mercilessly bullied by a large gray male out on the balcony. What the …? He was positively terrified and running for his life. He’s usually Mr. Tough Guy. We chased the gray away.
It’s the rainy season, and we’ve had some real downpours in recent days. Maggie showed up again yesterday, but then again this morning soaking wet. Wherever they keep their nest, it’s probably not well protected. Gave her a good feed. Hope their squabs are okay if there are any; I still remember the eggshell pieces from last weekend.
And Junior finally learned the jumping trick! Yay, Junior! Well, he only did it once, and not on the outside strip the sliding door runs along, but rather onto the door itself. At the base of the glass, where it enters the metal frame. Not enough space to get a good grip on, so he dropped back down almost immediately. But he’s finally learned … maybe, as he hasn’t repeated it. He’s always stared at the spots where Henry jumps up like he’s trying to figure out just what it is Dad does there to make us give him food. We gave Junior some food as a positive reinforcement.
But too many other pigeons hanging out here now for Henry’s liking. Whenever we do try to feed him, he has to fight off the others, then there’s that one now who can beat up on him. Our place has been “discovered.” We’re trying hard to limit feedings to only Henry and his immediate family, but what can you do when Henry hops up and stares at us so pitifully?
We now know it’s not Maggie who has been showing up recently after all, and the pidgee may not even be female. “She” looked a little different, but we thought it was just because she was so wet. But over a few days, we started noticing a diferent pattern in the feather design. Finally Henry showed up at the same time … and started fighting with her! Or him, as he started fighting back strongly. We had to break them up. So still no sign of the real Maggie.
Henry remains intimidated, too, by that new big gray. But he’s not sick; he acts like Henry at all other times. I wonder if he fought with the gray at one point and lost.
A new little pidgee has shown up, too. Seems to be just out of the squab stage. No yellow baby fuzz but still squeals a bit, especially when pecked at a bit by Susie or Junior or Henry. Can’t tell if Henry’s the father. It actually resembles Big Pidgee of old a bit, at least on top. Underneath it seems a bit whitish.
The new little one mentioned above is a quick learner. It’s started hopping up onto the windows! Junior’s done it only the one time, but this new one tried several times on the middle door, then finally found the little shelf Henry uses. Smart little guy! I think this one may belong to Henry and Maggie, but the wife’s not so sure.
And an even newer young one has shown up this morning (Wednesday morning) that is definitely Henry’s. White with a pattern. I thought it was susie at first, but instead of a “mask” on the face, it’s more like freckles. Very cute. And smaller than Susie, as they’ve both appeared together.
Henry and Maggie are populating the neighborhood with some fine-looking pidgees. 
Happy to hear that they are apparently trying hard.
Practice makes perfect.
Will try to post photos of the new ones by this weekend. (Which probably means by month’s end.)
Every time I see pigeons now, I wonder who their mates are and where they live and if they have babies they’re feeding. You have somehow managed to “humanize” pidgees and now it makes me mad when people treat them like “flying rats”.
My job is done. 
And Junior just now managed to hop up onto the little sliding-door shelf that Henry uses. He was staring in at me. I gave him some food for positive reinforcement.
Unfortunately, two or three others were waiting, including that big gray who keeps chasing Henry away. Junior didn’t get much himself.
We can’t decide if this new one belongs to Henry and Maggie or to the Pretty One and Scruffy, who have also had sex on our balcony. But it has decided it likes staying here, at least during the day. That other new one who definitely is Henry’s appeared only the one time and never returned.
But now there’s yet another new young one that seems definitely Henry’s. Darkish body with a pattern, but the face is partly white, and strikingly so. Looks like it fell face forward into a can of paint. Has stopped by twice this weekend so far.
Another heavy downpour last night, and Maggie’s been away for a long time now. There’s a long row of townhouses by our complex, and walking past it a few days ago, the wife noticed some pidgee activity up underneath the roof, which has a little space. One was white, possibly Henry. Could be where his nest is?
And two other pidgees that look like they could have Henry’s DNA stopped by yesterday (Sunday). All gray except for two white-lined wings on one of them and one white-lined wing on the other. We’re thinking not all of these can be Henry’s, unless he’s got someone on the side besides Maggie. Have not seen them again, nor the one from a few days ago that was definitely Henry’s, but the new one with the white underbelly is still hopping up into the window, and this new White Face seems to like it here now as well. (We’re wondering if these last two could be siblings, since most of their markings are very similar.)
Sadly, Henry is stopping by less and less these days. Partly probably due to too many other pigeons now, but I’m sure it’s also because we’re putting out less food now. We have no choice, but I swear he seems to understand. Yesterday (Wednesday), he hopped up into the window to ask for food, but there was an army of pigeons behind him! Maybe a dozen. He’d not be able to eat for all of the fighting, so I pointed at the other pigeons and closed the curtain. Instead of keep jumping into the window like he often does, he just seemed to accept it and left. Poor little guy, his little bistro has become too popular. I try to keep a good eye out and feed him if there are not too many others around.
And that one aggressive gray we’re having more problems with. The one that intimidates Henry. He really likes to play the Big Boss, but he knows we don’t like it. When we catch the gray doing it, we’ll point at him and go “No!” I swear he seems to know we mean him wi’ll usually leave after that.
Otherwise, the new one that’s white on the belly whose parentage we’re not sure of has decided he likes it here, and we’ve named him Joey. This is the other one who has learned the trick of jumping up into the window. But Joey has taken it one step further: He’ll be standing there looking in, then suddenly fly straight up about 6 feet, bump into the glass door and drop back down! He’s done this several times. That’s his way of asking for food, knocking on the door! We’ll slip him some then IF there aren’t too many others around.
The newest one, White Face, likes hanging around too, especially likes perching on the edge of the flower box. Suzie and Junior hang out for much of the day, too. We’ll feed them, too, if outsiders are not around.
As mentioned, the two-tone with the white underbelly has been dubbed Joey. Likes hanging around but has developed a slight limp in his right leg. Not broken; still walks and even scratches his head vigorously with it, but landings seem to bother him, and he definitely favors his left leg. We let him hang out here to rest.
The one known as White Face has also taken a cotton to our balcony, and we have dubbed him Moe, after the character of Fat Moe in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America, which we just watched on Saturday night. The wife decided she liked the name of Moe. Our Moe is still young, still gives little squeaks and squeals but has lost all of his baby fuzz. We think Joey and Moe may be siblings, but we can’t agree on who the parents are – I think it may be Henry and Maggie, the wife thinks the Pretty One and Scruffy, based on the patterns on their backs. Moe’s markings resemble those on Big Pidgee a bit. Will have to get those photos up.
Henry is still coming around but is visibly annoyed at all these other pigeons hoping for some food. He came by once the other day, I put some food out, and before he could even get to it, about nine or so others swooped in. There were so many that Henry just looked at them from the top balcony rail, then dropped down and jumped up into the window to ask for some for himself. That happened again this morning, too.
But yesterday (Monday), a bizarre incident occurred. I had renmoved the last load of laundry from our dryer about 9am and had cleaned out the dryer lint. I was going to go throw the bag with the lint out in the trash, when I see Henry on the balcony peering in, wanting some breakfast, so I waved hello signaled to him that I’d be right back.
The trash cans are set inside the stairway, the door to which is just outside our front door. I always run out there to throw trash away even if I’m minimally dressed. I was wearing my usual house wear, what’s called a phakhima. A phakhima is a long piece of checkered cloth that men wear wrapped around their waste like a towel. Very commonly worn around the house and even, in the villages, outside the house in the neighborhood. In Bangkok, it’s not really good to wear it outside our unit in what is a moderately upscale condominium, but again I can just run out, dump the trash then back in, maybe five seconds.
Unfortunately, this time I left the laundry-room door open. Our laundry room is open to a tall shaft that runs the entire 36-story height of our building. A rail grid keeps us from falling into it. But leaving that door open created a draft that slammed the front door shut behind me as soon as I went out to drop the trash. And the door locked.
So there I was wearing my phakhima, essentiall a towel, locked out, the wife away and Henry waiting for breakfast. I gritted my teeth and went down the stairs three floors to the building office on the third floor. They called the locksmith, who was there in only 10 minutes. But while I was sitting in the office, which is located on the same side of the building as our unit, I actually saw Henry flying away, swooping down to the temple parking lot below. Poor little guy waited as long as he could before deciding I wasn’t coming back and giving up. Did not come back that morning or early afternoon, and we were both away later in the afternoon. But I did get to feed him some this morning.
The good news is Maggie has returned after a lengthier-than-usual absence. We’re sure it’s her this time and not Fake Maggie like before, because even Henry recognizes her as such instead of chasing her away like he did the other one. They were even kissing the other day. 
The bad news is Henry remains frustrated by the other pidgees muscling in on his territory. We feed him when we can if there’s not too many others around, but it seems most of the time someone else will show up at some point while he’s eating, causing him to concentrate on chasing them away or fighting.
New photos! There have been several new ones that resemble Henry but then disappear after only one appearance or two. Joey and Moe, who probably, or at least possibly, are not Henry’s, have decided to hang around.
This one from July 3 shows one who may be Henry’s but then disappeared. (Pardon the condition of the balcony; this was the day before a big cleaning.)
This one is of one of the generic pigeons that come around, but it’s a sleepy little guy, on July 19. That’s frost from the air-conditioner on the glass door.
Jumping ahead to August 18, we meet Joey, here and here. Looking a little sleepy himself in that second one. Note the cute white belly. Then on the same day, this guy stopped by, obviously Henry’s. Note the end of his wing is rather brown. Never saw him again, though.
Still on that same day, we see Joey looking comfy on a corner of the flower box here and here. We think he was not long out of the nest, no matter who his parents were. Then five days later, on August 23, Joey’s out practicing his ballet. That leg bothers him some now, though.
And still on August 23, we see little Moe, originally dubbed Whitre Face. A better shot is here. Note the Big Pidgee pattern and white shoulders, another feature that Big Pidgee used to have.
And on August 26, we see the newest one to start hanging around. Obviously one of Henry’s. Snoozing in this one, too, with I believe it’s Joey popping up in the door.
No new ones of Henry or Maggie this time. But he’s still around, and lately so has she been. Again, there have been at least a couple of others who could belong to Henry popping in, then disappearing before we can take their photo. Can’t really all belong to Henry though, unless he has something going on on the side. Hmmm, well this IS Thailand.
And not only is Maggie back, but she and Henry were doing the nasty yesterday afternoon (Sunday afternoon) in the designated sex area. I guess we can expect more little pigeons in the near future.
Still loving the pidgee epic! Though I wish you had nestlings to watch again.
Whoohoo! The saga continues. I hope they nest nearby!
Yes, sadly the last nestling was little Bob, who died 13 months ago. Henry and Maggie refuse to nest here, but we keep the flower box out there in hope. But Joey and Moe are obviously young adults, so we’ll have to make do with that; they enjoy hanging out here. We think it may be the variety of stuff to perch on – not to mention the occasional food that comes their way, as even the ones we don’t encourage to stay get some crumbs left over – that makes us so popular. They must feel safe too, with no cats around. We’ve seen only a couple of cats in the neighborhood, but all it takes is one to eat you.
Henry still hops up onto the little sliding-door edge and presses up against the glass to ask for food. Did it just a little while ago, too. I’m wondering if he’s tried this with other units in this building, as the balcony doors are all the same. The unit resisdents would have to be awfully surprised.
Henry and Maggie may not nest here, but they sure like to use our balcony as their own little short-time motel. They stopped by to do the nasty twice yesterday afternoon (Wednesday afternoon). We especially like the way Maggie struts around once in a little circle afterward with her wings one-quarter extended. I really need to try to get a video of this, but we don’t have a video camera.
Henry is so smart. Wanted feeding this morning. I put a little out despite there being a few other pidgees around. Then more showed up, so Henry can’t get to the food and jumps up in the window to ask for more. I pointed at the others and said no, then closed the curtains. He needs to cut into the crowd. But whenever I do this, he seems to understand perfectly and always gets back down. Some time later, I opened the curtains again to see him and one stranger pidgee still out there. He looked at me hopefully, and I gave him some more. He managed to have a good feed without all of those others butting in.