Cats?
Or maybe my fault - we had a mourning dove trapped in our sun room, and while trying to catch him/shoo him out, he lost his tail. I put him in the pigeon pen until his tail grew back, and he was fine.
Don’t think I’ve been in your neck of the woods tho…
We have seen the occasional cat in the neighborhood but not lately, or dogs. The wife is wondering if maybe someone slammed a window on it. It almost looks as if someone removed it on purpose. Again, not a spot of blood anywhere back there. He can still fly.
His fluffy little white butt does look cute though. 
Interesting. Presumably, birds have tails for a reason, and use in flying has to be a top candidate.
Anybody have any knowledge of tail usage in pidgee flying?
I’ve been told that tails act as stabilizers. But the few examples of tailless pidgees I’ve seen so far indicate they can still fly without one.
The dove had trouble, um, aiming? without his tail. Tho it could also be that he had a mild concussion from the epic battle trying to get him out of the sun room…
I bet! Can’t wait for pictures.
It’s Wednesday night here, and we’re heading out first thing tomorrow morning. Had to get the tailless Big Red photos up though.
Now again, here is Big Red with his tail on April 10. And this is the shot of him inside our place a couple of weeks ago. Just to give you an idea of how much tail was lost.
So yesterday (Tuesday), he shows up like this. And another one.
Now here’s a straight-on view of the missing area. And another. Does this look bizarre or what?
And one more, of him facing out.
Again, he does not seem sick or in pain. He was a little nervous when he first appeared like this, but he acts normal again now. Flies pretty much okay. But the poor little guy. What happened? 
I once de-tailed a parakeet.
When I was about five, we had a pair of parakeets that were extremely tame. They were constantly flying in and landing on our heads or hands, chattering and ‘grooming’ us. They also liked to land on the floor in the kitchen and waddle around, checking for crumbs or whatever I guess.
So one day I accidentally stepped onto one of their tails. The startled bird took off. His tail didn’t. 
It grew back fine, but from then on his name was ‘Stubby.’
Huh. That looks more like someone cut his tail off. Any market for pidgee tails over there??
That’s what I asked the wife. His was real white and pretty. On the other one or two I saw – not sure now if it really was the same gray some weeks apart – it didn’t look like the tails would have been all that exceptional. Didn’t actually see the tails though.
There are no hawks or seagulls around, but we have had some crows lately, and they are bigger than the pidgees. And the wife saw one eating a rat near her office elsewhere in the city once. I’ve asked the pigeon board if maybe the crows could have gotten to them. But it does look like a clean cut, you’re right.
Sunday afternoon here, and we just returned a few hours ago. In that time, the main regulars have stopped by for food: First it was the Small Pretty One and his mate Ladyboy, then Broken Wing, Bruiser (but not his mate Boots), then finally Henry, Big Red and his mate Mint.
The more we think about it, the more we’re leaning toward the theory that someone cut Big Red’s tail. Over on the pigeon board, they agree the feathers look uniformly cut. And it wouldn’t be just his, as this is what those other two pidgees’ tails looked like. (I no longer think it was the same one I saw twice, since I saw them several weeks apart.) Those two were gray, Big Red’s tail feathers were snow white. So this makes three pidgees in less than two months. Why would someone do that? Feather duster? Or if they were going to, ahem, eat the pidgees, would removing the tail feathers first be a normal practice? (I have seen pigeon on the menu in some Chinese restaurants over here.) You’d think they’d kill them first though. No, if they are being cut, whoever is doing it seems to be letting them go. If that’s what is happening. Bizarre.
It looks like Big Red’s feathers may be coming back in. I seem to see a little growth there from since before we left. Hope so. Mint is still attracted to him, as they started being sweet and then did the deed in the designated sex are. Big Red then went off and flew a victory lap, so his flying ability is not impaired in the least.
The good news is Big Red’s tail is visibly starting to grow back. Not much yet, but something is happening back there. If it keeps going at that rate, I’d estimate he’ll have his tail back in about a month. I wonder if someone will cut it off again.
Baby Red finally showed back up yesterday morning, but I was unable to feed him, due to the presence of too many grays. Haven’t seen him since. One that seems to have moved on was the aggerssive new baby male who appeared a few days before we left last week. That’s good, because we could tell he was going to be trouble. Very small and sweet-looking but would suddenly attack any pidgee close by.
The consensus over on the pigeon board is that someone did capture Big Red and cut off his tail. How I wish he could talk!
Some more photos from that last batch I uploaded that included Big Red’s tailless shots. All of these were taken between June 17 and August 10:
Boots gives her sweety, Bruiser, a head massage.
Big Henry. He’s been hanging around for two years this month, I believe.
Lucy/Ichabod, now missing and presumed dead. 
Big Red and Mint kissing. And then doing the deed exactly 11 seconds later. 
Note the spectator to the right.
Mint in the dining-room window.
An anonymous gray all puffed out and on one leg. Odd little guy.
Baby Red, with Henry and Ladyboy. He’s come by once since we returned from the beach a couple of weeks ago, and we couldn’t feed him then because of the presence of too many grays. Guess he doesn’t find us that reliable anymore. We think he may be the offspring of Big Red and Mint.
Here’s Broken-Wing Sammy, with Baby Red and an anonymous gray. His right wing always drags like that, but he does not seem hurt and can fly okay.
Specklehead balancing on top of one of the small plants. Note the small pidgee in the lower left with some white splashes on its face; it only showed up a couple of times.
Baby Red and a snoozing Ladyboy. Ladyboy must be about a year old now; she first appeared last September, so must have been a squab a year ago.
Pidgee porn: Bruiser does Boots.
Mint strikes her best pose. Note her little foot just poking out of her white underside.
And of course, you can see all of this particular folder here.
Big Red’s tail seems to have stopped growing, but Mint still loves him, and he’s not having trouble flying. He did try to come in here one more time, but I turned him away at the door this time. I still wonder if he tried that in the wrong home.
Henry’s still the king but has changed his habits again. Always comes by for breakfast, usually for lunch, but now he must have other things to do in the evening, because he rarely appears for dinner.
Ah, I jusy saw this message over on the pigeon board regarding Big Red:
"I went and looked at the pictures and I think the feathers that look cut are the feathers that go over the tail feathers…they are a bit longer, which gives the illusion they have been cut. I suspect someone did grab him by the tail and his feathers released. The other possibility is that he is going thought a rough molt and lost the tail feathers all at once. I’ve had chickens do that."
So it could have been a quick grab after all. That would be less bizarre than someone cutting the feathers off.
I once rescued a robin that had lost all of his tail feathers in a cat attack,and he had a very bald butt. I took him to Wild Bird rehab here in Denver, and kept checking on him. The feathers grew back and he was released. So an attack is a possibility.
Thank you for all the pictures! But I’m not going to have a favorite anymore, all mine seem to either drop dead or disappear. I’ll just enjoy all the pigeony goodness you share with us.
The new kid in the photo above we’ve named Charlie. He stayed here Saturday night, which worried us, as that’s stopped being a good sign. But he’s still alive and eating. Just stayed the one night though but still coming around in the daytime. A funny little guy, kind of awkward and a bit misshapen. Male, as he gets aggressive with some of the others.
A little odd: Charlie stayed here that Saturday night, September 3. Then not again until last night, Saturday night again, the 10th. What is this, a weekend getaway for him? Sunday night now, and no one here.
Maybe he’s sleeping off Friday night excesses, hiding from the ladies? I am not gonna make him my favorite, gonna stick to no special love for a pidgee.
He’s another one who’s so ugly that he’s cute.
That’s a low blow! My weak spot, my kryptonite…is ugly little things. But if I favorite him, he will be given the touch of doom. My record of favorite pidgees is pretty bad.
Well, Charlie broke the pattern by staying here last night (Thursday night), so he doesn’t have a little calendar after all. Left at daylight, then came back and has been hanging around all morning. (Almost 10:30am, and he’s lounging around.)
A beautiful young creamy white one keeps following Big Red (still minus a tail) and Mint here, so it must be theirs. We think a female, looks so elegant. A few new ones have been showing up, but one that is especially hanging around is a tiny, tiny gray one we’ve called Little Squealer, for obvious reasons. Still a baby. We don’t know whose she is, but she squeals like a stuck pig if she feels the slightest bit threatened, and she feels threatened all the time. We always know when she’s out there. “SQUEAL, SQUEAL SQUEAL!” And flaps her wings in a defensive manner, whether she’s being attacked or not. Feathers not even fully formed yet underneath the wings. Sometimes the other pigeons will go after her in what appears to be a bid to shut her up. But she gets a lot of food, rushing in, eating while squealing and flapping before someone chases her away.
There is an unusual number of white pigeons in the neighborhood now. All related to Henry one way or another, heh.