Pim is a beautiful pidgee!
She’s certainly used her feminine wiles to smooth over Henry’s grief at the loss of Maggie.
We think maybe the eggs, if any, have hatched, as Henry has started showing up again mid-day, around lunchtime, in addition to his early-morning and late-afternoon appearances. But he and Pim are alternating their visits, perhaps so there is someone around the squabs at all times. We’re guessing at this, and it’s different behavior than we saw with Maggie. But we expect to see some youngsters around here soon.
Actually, we do see quite a few new ones making their way here, appearing once or twice, then gone. But the regulars are still here. One new one that seems to be sticking around is a beautiful white pigeon, almost all white with a little cream tinting thrown in. Will have to try and take a photo of her. Him? Not been able to decide the gender yet.
But lots of new grays have also started to appear, and they’re causing problems when trying to feed the regulars, so we have to be judicious about feeding times. One of the main bullies, the Big Pretty One, is shameless in chasing everyone away and taking it all for himself and his mate, so we keep chasing him away, but he keeps trying to sneak back in. We’ll be upcountry for a few days next week to escape the dreaded Songkran holiday, and hopefully that will help to thin out the flock some.
Dot, Phil’s mate, has apparently learned Henry’s trick of jumping up into the window to ask for food. One or two others have jumped up onto the little metal ledge that the sliding doors run along, but they’re clearly looking to peck into any dirt residue collecting there. Dot, on the other hand, jumps up and just stares in like Henry does, so he may have figured out how that works. Then we’ll feed him and Phil a little if not too many others are around, but Dot likes to play the Big Boss a little too much himself. (Remember that Dot is the male and Phil the female.)
Several new ones this weekend. A funny-looking one with yellow fuzz still on top of the head and a yellowish beak. But one that was striking was a red pidgee! Mostly red, or mostly a brownish red, although more to the red end of the scale. Never seen that color of red before. Apparently a male, and he stopped by once a few days ago, then came to hang around late yesterday (Sunday). Took some pictures and will post. But there was a smaller one that had some red in it too, and this larger one seemed to be protecting it from a bully. They may be siblings.
What surprised us most was when Henry had a big feed yesterday, left, returned a short time later … but it wasn’t Henry! We thought “Oh, back already, eh?” Then we noticed he’d suddenly lost a lot of weight. A LOT of weight. Turns out it was a much smaller version of Henry, a little Henry doll. I don’t think we need a DNA test to tell paternity for that one. Cute little guy, must be what Henry himself looked like at one time. Hope he comes back.
A disturbing development: Pim has disappeared. 
So has Faye, but Pim seems to have gone missing several days before we went upcountry last week. We were away only three days, but it’s possible she could have figured we were gone for good and took off to look for greener pastures. But Henry is still here – he appeared on the balcony within 30 minutes of our arrival back home last Saturday – but no Pim.
A couple of times before we left, I thought I saw Pim over on the window frames, but I now think that was a new one that looks like a cross between Pim and Faye. Very pretty but shy. So Pim has been missing for quite a while now. That little baby Henry lookalike has never reappeared either.
Big Red and Little Red do keep coming back occasionally, Big Red often in the company of the white one we’ve finally decided is a girl and so have named Mint again after all. A third reddish one has appeared too, about medium in size. Several other new ones, including a couple of “gangs” – one of three or four grays, the other of Sammies – that annoy Henry and whom we have to keep squirting with water so Henry can eat in peace.
Not as epic as your story, but this year’s doves have raised a brood of 3 or so and moved on. Waiting to see if another dove pair or robin pair move in to raise some babies.
Oh no! Too bad about Pim. Let us know right away if she comes back.
Poor little Pim. She was so cute. Showed no signs of illness, just disappeared. Henry is still fat and happy and jumping up into the window to ask for food every day.
There are doves in our neighborhood, too. They rarely ever stop on the balcony, but we can often hear them calling.
What about Goofy, has he vanished?
No, Goofy is alive and well and still looking goofy. Still has clown feet and eyes and a few feathers turned up. It’s difficult to feed him (her?) though, because if I chase others away to let him eat, he thinks he’s being chased too. Unlike Henry, who generally takes it for granted that the others are being shooed away for his benefit. 
A few new photos, all taken last month:
Phil and Dot, female and male, respectively, share a snooze in one of the tree pots.
Big Red. We’ve seen three red ones of varying sizes. Big Red is the biggest. None comes around very much now.
Big Red the eating machine. Just look at him go! Note his socky feet; even his toes are feathered!
Mint, almost all white, in our dining-room window.
That’s all. No new ones of Henry, but he still visits several times a day. Still orders his meals by hopping onto the little metal runners for the sliding glass doors. This one’s an old photo, but it shows him doing that. Poor little guy. Pim is definitely gone, probably dead, and he’s feeling frisky now. This morning, he sat out on the balcony and did a mating call for the first time since before Maggie. Hope he can find someone. Occasionally, very occasionally, we have to turn Henry away if there are too many pigeons around; we’ll close the curtains, and I swear you can see the indignant surprise in his face.
I thought we had an emergency yesterday. A young gray pigeon was flopping around on the balcony floor as if injured. I thought it might be a broken wing or leg. But thankfully no. I had sloshed a couple of buckets of water out there a little earlier, and it turned out the pidgee was trying to take a bath in the water that had yet to drain out! Completely ignored the water dish.
And there are three Goofies now. Two more showed up about the same time, almost carbon copies of the original but a little smaller and slightly different shades of color. But the same clown feet and clown eyes. The original Goofy doesn’t seem to care for them. I wonder if they all have the same parents.
Otherwise, still pretty much the same crowd. Ladyboy and the small Pretty One are appearing together again, so it may be mating time soon. Several new ones, including a whitish one or two that must be related to Henry somehow. Henry’s still the king, and it’s almost like having a pet. Wish he would let us touch him.
They look great - all hale and hearty! Good job, Sam! I am amazed at your ability to tell them apart - except for maybe the most obvious, like Big Red and Goofy. Most of the pigeons we have here look like the “friend” in one of your shots (I admit, I looked at all your Multiply pics), with the occasional all-white one.
Thanks for being a good friend to the pigeons, and for continuing to post here about your little buds.
You’re welcome. The markings can be very distinctive when you see them every day.
The big news now is that Henry seems to have stolen Phil away from Dot. :eek: Despite the evident coziness between Phil and Dot in the first photo in that last post of mine, a week or so ago I noticed that they seemed to stay far apart whenever they showed up together, and Henry would sometimes let Phil eat with him instead of chasing her away. Then yesterday (Thursday), the wife saw Henry not only let Phil eat with him, but aggressively chase Dot off the balcony. Full attack mode. So Henry and Phil may be an item now, with poor Dot left out in the cold.
And no sooner had I written that last post than Henry and Phil arrived together for breakfast. (It’s Friday morning here.) They are mates now.
Though I am happy about three Goofies, I have to say that 1.) I am with the others in awe of you and your wife’s ability to tell all these guys apart. And 2.) This is like a pigeon soap opera. I love it!
Oh yeah, I forgot that I wanted to ask this: Is this the longest continuous thread?
I think the oldest unlocked thread is the “May 5th-We Will Remember” one. It gets added to every year.
Dot showed up all alone yesterday, and we gave him some food, the poor, rejected little guy.
We’re always wondering if we’re not recognizing some of the more ordinary-looking ones. For instance, a little over a year ago, The Kid was eating out of our hand before growing older and more wary. We wonder now if he/she is one of the ordinary grays flying around.
And Henry and Phil just did it in the designated sex area!
Can’t wait to see what their children will look like.
I just want to tell you how funny I’ve always found your phrase “designated sex area”!
I hope sometime you get more nesters on the balcony.