We Have Pigeon Eggs

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
901

Several new young ones have found their way here. Most look related in some way to Henry. One looks similar to Baby; maybe her sibling? Goofy has finally found someone she can bully, a pretty, small black-and-white, heh.

But yesterday on the window frames, I spotted a very young gray … without a tail! :eek: Small, still has “baby eyes,” two normal wings, but absolutely no tail. Dunno what could have happened. How can it fly? It obviously can, because it made it onto the fifth-floor window frame. It was gone later. Did not see it fly. Maybe the tail acts as a stabilizer, and without it the bird will flutter around like a bat? Weird. Has not been back

902

Have not seen the one with no tail since that one time six days ago. Poor thing. :frowning:

Have new photos to post soon. Lucy is the name of the tiny, tiny, tiny new black-and-white one whom Goofy still likes to bully. A small male named Specklehead, for reasons that will be obvious, looks to be either Henry’s or Ladyboy’s son, as he keeps following both – although without asking for a feeding, which makes it hard to pin down parentage. Specklehead has actually attacked Ladyboy when there was food involved, but after the initial shock, she fights back. And Baby still comes by just before dark to look for food.

There’s also a small Sammy-looking one who gets chased by everyone and squeals like a stuck pig. Its feather’s are missing from a spot in the back of the head, it’s been pecked at so often. But even while being pecked, it will keep eating seed while squealing at the same time.

Henry and Phil have again stopped coming by together, so we think she may have laid some eggs. Boots and Bruiser still come by every day, are very sweet to each other and spread their wings to sunbathe; they don’t seem ever to go off and lay eggs, so we’re wondering if something may be wrong in that department.

903

You need to make a pidgee family tree.

904

Smart little pidgee. Put up with the bullying while growing big and strong.

Now that Goofy has come into it’s own, I will worry about the one with no tail. :frowning:
And I agree with Shayna, a family tree would be great! I keep having to go back and remind myself who’s who.

By the way, thanks for sharing all the pidgee goodness, it’s very addicting!

905

Thanks. I kept meaning to make a little family tree when Big and Little Pidgee were here but never get around to it. The problem nowadays is it’s not clear who is who’s children. All we know for sure is Ladyboy belongs to Henry, because she used to beg for a feeding.

Yesterday the wife saw two teenage boys trying to catch a pidgee down in the temple parking lot! :eek: A beautiful pure-white one. Was not Henry, as he’s not pure white and was here anyway. I thought maybe Mint when I heard about it, as she’s a beautiful white, but as the wife insists, she’s more of a cream color. The wife said this was white white, and she was about to get her binoculars when she saw the boys chase it. They didn’t catch it, but it makes us wonder if maybe that’s what happened to Pim and a couple of others who disappeared without showing signs of illness. Hope not. The boys could have wanted the bird as a pet – apparently it was very pretty – or food, you never know.

906

In other bird news, a seagull stole a guy’s video camera and took it for a short flight.

907

There’s some sad news, I’m afraid. It’s Friday morning here, and poor little Goofy passed away during the night. :frowning: She slept here overnight, and the wife said Goofy wouldn’t eat earlier late in the afternoon. That was not a good sign. But she didn’t look evidently sick, so we thought we’d monitor her, but then come morning I found her dead. Whatever it was took her quickly. Just two days ago – less than 48 hours ago in fact – she was still eating and even chasing little Lucy. She was still eating late in the day on Thursday, but oddly, now that I look back on it, it looked like she almost stayed that night. She waited to leave until it was almost completely dark. We’re wondering if maybe she was starting to feel something coming on.

That one lesser Goofy awhile ago also seemed unwell before disappearing. And there was a third one at one point, but that one disappeared long ago; we don’t suspect anything untoward for that one, as it didn’t seem to hang around here long enough to feel like home.

While I was outside inspecting the body, Henry showed up looking for some breakfast. He’s as big and healthy as ever. After I disposed of Goofy’s remains – wearing plastic gloves to do so – I gave him a big meal.

908

As any proper pidgie parent should.

Condolences. But at least your knowledge of pidgie behavior continues to grow.

909

Thanks. Loved your video, BTW.

910

Oops! I didn’t mean to confuse you about the time line. “Thursday” above should have read “Wednesday.”

911

Ah, sorry to hear that. Might be good to check with local authorities and see if there is an avian-something going around you need to be concerned about, and maybe give the patio a good bleaching or something.

912

We give the balcony a good cleaning at leat once a week, including with an antiseptic substance. Over on the pigeon boards, they’re saying that pigeons will often hide the fact that they’re ill until the last minute to keep from attracting the attention of predators or losing their place in the hierarchy (of course, Goofy was down pretty low) and that it’s then too late by the time it becomes evident.

Poor little girl. (Always thought of Goofy as female.)

913

It’s been a week now since Goofy died, and everyone else looks healthy and happy and no one else missing. She never seemed sickly in the past but never did fit in socially with the other pigeons, so maybe there was something underlying going on, dunno. Poor little girl.

We’ve had to cut back drastically on feedings again, limiting them to only when the Inner Circle are here alone or nearly alone in a bid to thin out the rabble. Sometimes we even have to refuse Henry when he makes his request. He’ll jump up with eight or nine pidgees right behind him staring. We’ll say “No, Henry,” point to the others and close the curtains. It may be a stretch, but he actually seems to understand. He won’t keep jumping like he used to, but usually about 30 minutes later he’ll jump again after all the others have left after deciding nothing was going to be forthcoming. I swear it’s as if he knows to come back then.

More new babies showing up too. The one I’ve mentioned before that we’ve named Lucy is showing nascent signs of aggression, so she may be a he. If so, we’ll definitely change the name to Ichabod, as she looks so funny. Her nostril area is a bit misshapen, giving her bill sort of a bent look, reminding me of Ichabod Crane in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. She is so very tiny, doesn’t seem to be growing at all.

And Baby still outwaits all the others in the evening, knowing she’ll get some food once everyone else leaves. We almost never see her during the day, but come evening she’s here.

One odd incident occurred a few days ago when Big Red and Mint were “doing it” in the designated sex area. Right at the very moment of truth, Ladyboy’s mate, the Small Pretty One, came swooping down from the top rail and landed right on Big Red, interrupting the act. :eek:

And also for Henry, we think he and Phil are sitting on eggs somewhere again, as they’re never here together anymore. Once again, it’s Henry in the morning and evening and Phil in between. But unfortunately, it’s difficult to feed Phil, as others are usually around, and even if we try to chase them away, she thinks we’re chasing her too, whereas Henry always seems to undersatnd we’re not chasing him and stays put, or at least does not wander too far.

914

Crap! I didn’t get the notification that my Goofy kicked it. So sorry for the poor thing, and sorry for you guys.

I’m glad no one else looks sick. But since I always go for the underdog, Lucy/Icabod will be my one to root for now.

Bummed about Goofy though. :frowning:

915

Thanks. Goofy was a favorite of ours too. She seemed really to like us too. Would not scare away when we walked close to the windows. Poor little girl. :frowning:

Will have to post little Lucy’s photo soon.

916

Well, looks like Lucy is Ichabod almost for sure. Tiny little guy just attacked a much larger pidgee. Scrappy little fellow. But we were mistaken about Ladyboy though, so who knows.

917

Ichabod as a name for an agressor amuses me, because of the name of the mascot at the university I attended.

http://www.washburn.edu/main/about-wu/whats-an-ichabod/index.html

918

??? If they are just gonna have a man costume, why not just have a man in the clothes and hat? Wonder why they make some poor sod sweat their whoop-de-doos off in a complete costume? I spent 2 hours in a Domino’s 'Noid costume, and believe me, I could smell the stink of every one that had ever worn that costume and I reeked afterwards!

Back on subject, I hope the new little feist is an Ichabod, 'cause I really like that name!

And what’s happening with the little persistent one that was getting picked on?

919

NM, I just read the job description. I never realized that mascot identity was top secret. Learn something everyday.

920

That one’s a Sammy, and we’ve called him/her Persistent Sammy. The feathers are sprouting back. Still squeals. :smiley: