Yes, so I guess Little Pidgee is the mother. Funny that Big Pidgee seems more maternal.
But now the squabs are being left largely on their own. The parents have taken to stopping by every now and then to feed them. Last night was the first night with no parent. Little Pidgee and later Big Pidgee stopped by separately for a few minutes a bit before dark, then left. The squabs don’t seem in distress. They just hang out in the flower pot, being very quiet. They’re 11 days old now and look like they’ll be able to climb out in another couple of days. We’ve decided not to tip the pot over, figuring the pigeons know what they’re doing.
Big Pidgee seemed more like a mother, while Little Pidgee seemed rather resentful about being stuck home with the kids.
Big Pidgee stopped by a little while ago to feed the kids, and they went crazy. Then he left, and now they’re quiet again. If I go out and wave my hand at them, one in particular will stand up briefly.
When our lovebirds had chicks the male seemed more parental than the mother - actually, mom-bird later tried to kill one of her offspring, whereas dad and son got along pretty good for years. Really, the mom-bird seemed to have the attitude that once the kids were hatched her job was pretty much over, except for maybe 1 meal in 3. So it’s not unheard of among birds for daddy to be the more caring parent.
Just an update. They’re 16 days old now and getting big. Feathers starting to fill in. Not at all yellow anymore. Still in the flowerpot, though. The parents stopped staying here at night almost a week or go, but they both drop by a few times a day to feed the squabs. Odd, but the parents are much more skittish of us now. Before, we had to go outside and get pretty close to them before they’d flee; now, if they notice we’re watching from inside, they’ll take off. The squabs stay pretty quiet until a parent comes along, then they go crazy squeaking.
The flowerpot is looking pretty disgusting. We’re definitely tossing it out once the squabs leave. When they get out of the pot, I’ll take some more photos and post them.
The baby pigeons are three weeks old today (Thursday). The parents simply do not stay here anymore but are still showing up to feed them. At least, Big Pidgee is; we’ve not seen Little Pidgee for days, but we’re not around all day. Odd, but the parents now are super shy. Before, when they were sitting on the eggs, and shortly after the babies hatched, you really had to get close before they were scared away. Now, they fly in, look around carefully, and if they see us inside, even at a distance, they take off again, leaving the squabs squawking. You’d think they’d have become at least a little comfortable with us, but no. I asked the wife if she’d been doing anything to the pigeons to make them so wary, but she promised she hadn’t.
I have a few more photos but have been too lazy to upload them onto the computer and post them. Will do so soon. In the last couple of days, the babies have been standing more regularly and stretching their wings, and this morning I noticed them craning their heads over the edge of the flowerpot, seeing what’s out there. Looks like they’ll climb out soon.
The main problem with photos now is that the flowerpot is so smeared with dried shit that it looks like the toilet stall in that movie, *Desperado * (1995), the one that Quentin Tarantino has to edge through to get to the secret room behind it. Really gross. I’ve tried taking a shot of the babies stretching their necks over the edge from the same level, but they crouch back down whenever they see me.
I guess they’ll be flying away in another week or so.
They look cute stretching and looking out over the edge of the flowerpot. You can just hear them thinking: “Hey! There’s someting outside of here!” Not quite ready to push out over the edge, though.
Speaking of poop, the two squabs we’ve named Blackie and Snowy, for obvious reasons. Snowy’s going to be a white-feathered beauty. But I look out this morning, and one of the parents took a crap on snowy! There’s a round shit stain on the shoulder of the right wing. Grrr!
Okay, you wanted more photos? You got more photos. Please excuse the bird shit.
First, here is one of Little Pidgee, the mother, after I inadvertently scared her away by getting too close to her on the balcony. This was when the squabs were only a week old and the parents were still staying with them full-time. She’d fly over somewhere close by, watching and waiting for me to go back inside. That’s the next-door mansion and part of the mansion’s grounds in the background that I’d mentioned earlier. LOTS of birds hanging out there. Here is a close-up shot of Little Pidgee at the same spot.
Earlier, I showed you photos of the squabs at one and three days old. They’re a week old here and here. On the same day, Little Pidgee is with them here and feeding them here.
Here are the squabs this past Thursday at 20 days old. That’s Snowy on the left; you have to look closely to make out Blackie’s head on the right.
That brings us up to today, and they’re 23 days old here. They look quite a bit different from the little yellow fuzzballs of a couple weeks ago. Also today, here is Big Pidgee, the father, dropping by to feed them. He perches on the edge of the flowerpot now; the squabs can reach up to him. But now when they come by, we have to stay far away; they’re so shy that if they make eye contact with us, they haul, leaving the squabs behind squealing.
The squabs keep test-flapping their wings and peering over the edge of the flowerpot. I think they’ll be gone in a few more days.
And now you have proof positive that there are indeed baby pigeons.
Aw, cute. I wouldn’t worry about the filthy state of the flower pot. You should have seen some of the college dorm rooms I had to clean during summer work-study.
You ain’t kidding. I took a walk today and I heard a lot of chirping/peeping. I looked around and finally saw pigeons nesting on a second-floor balcony.
I had pigeons nest on my own balcony twice. The male chases and pecks the female(s) viciously until she (they) submit to him. One of the “nests” was a pile of their own dried droppings. I got rid of the nests before the eggs hatched.
26 days old today (Tuesday), and this morning, Snowy was walking around out of the flowerpot! I opened the curtain to take a peek, and only Blackie was there. Stepped out to look over the rail to make sure Snowy had not plummeted to her death (we’ve arbitrarily decided Snowy is a girl and Blackie a boy), and there was Snowy behind a potted plant. Later I saw her jump back into the flowerpot.
There’s been a new development, and this is really cool. We’re seeing Big Pidgee come and try to coax the little ones into following him. He’ll walk around the balcony but not go the flowerpot, stop, look at the flowerpot and make these “coo coo coo” noises. Snowy will climb out but refuses to go far from the flowerpot. Blackie has made it to perching on the edge of the flowerpot, then he apparently decides it’s a cruel world out there, because he just can’t make himself hop down outside. And Blackie seemed to be the stronger of the two before! Big Pidgee will eventually relent and go over to the flowerpot to feed the squabs.
And we’re seeing both of the squabs practicing flapping their wings a lot more.
Just post 'em darn it!
