A little information on the scene. The video is one minute long. This was early yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. The female here – the one on the bottom – was ready for a good doing. There’s usually much more foreplay than this. A lot more. Usually a lot of deep-throat kissing. Sure, they were putting out the signals before I started filming, that’s why I grabbed the camera. But not that much. She just wanted it. Period. And I mean right now. Sorry about the dirty window. You can see from the bag and the Windex that this occurred as we were preparing to clean that afternoon.
Notice the right wing of the female twitching a bit just before the deed is done. That’s a common pidgee symbol. And notice how she struts afterward, like she’s doing a victory lap. That’s very common too. I think they may have been planning a second round, but then it’s as if the male suddenly realized they’re being filmed.
I hope to get a rear-view shot sometime, as that lets you see a little more of the logistics/mechanics involved.
I am going around filming pigeon sex. Should I be worried about myself?
I have another video of Spooky eating. She’s the one with the broken leg. But that one is 2-1/2 minutes long, and YouTube said it would take almost four hours to upload that. !!! I’ll have to upload that one later this week. But you’ll see how she’s conditioned herself to rely on her one good leg, her left leg. It really must be strong now.
Still have not uploaded the second video, the one featuring Spooky. Poor little girl. But she’s adapted amazingly well. Hanging around here more often now too.
A couple of disturbing developments. Remember I said there was a pidgee missing a toe? A big male gray? Well, upon careful scrutiny, it’s missing three (3) toes! :eek: The back toe on each foot is also missing, which was not apparent at first. There’s still string wrapped around and trailing from one leg, it’s gone now from the other leg. I really think someone may have tried to trap him, and he sliced off three toes with the string while trying to get away. He’s hanging around a lot now too but can get around better than Spooky.
And something’s up with Henry and Geri. They’ve stopped taking shifts on the nest and are together all the time again now. But they’ve stopped coming by for breakfast and lunch. For a few days now, they’ll stop by once in the late afternoon to see if anything is up. I wonder if someone else is feeding them. Or maybe they got sick of the other pidgees. Or maybe even someone finally cleared out their old nest, which we think may have been up on top of a row of townhouses nearby.
Thanks. Yes, it is. Seems to be a lot of interest in pidgee sex.
Henry and Geri are coming around in the late morning now, so they’ve not blown us off. And new regulars include Spooky with her broken leg that set badly and the pidgee with toes missing. That last one we call Tony No Toes, although that’s not really accurate since he’s missing only three toes and still has five total.
Then there’s Baby, a few months old now and the son, we’re pretty sure, of Henry and Geri. White with a speckled head. His beak hooks down at the very tip, meaning he has to peck slightly sideways. Don’t know why it developed that way. Will take photos and post that other video soon, but I’m afraid I’ll be busy these next few days.
Okay, so I’ve uploaded the video of Spooky eating. It only took two hours, not four like it said when I looked at uploading it before. Maybe the time it takes has to do with traffic volume at the time? I started uploading in what would be the wee hours of the morning over in the US. Anyway, it’s up, and here it is:
About 2-1/2 minutes. We think she’s about nine months old, as we first saw her when we returned from the US late last April, and she was still a baby. She broke her leg somehow at just age one or two months and it did not set well at all. Its useless now. But she gets around very well on just her one good leg, which must be growing strong. She can land on it okay, and when she “walks,” she uses the bad leg as sort of a paddle to help push her along while she hops on her good leg. She does not seem to be in pain now. We feed her when we can, because usually other pidgees will cut her out of the food, but if we try to chase them away for her, she thinks we’re chasing her too and flees!
Also in this video is Baby, who we think belongs to Henry and Geri. He’s one of the few who are afraid of her, maybe the only one. You can see he’s afraid to get near her while she’s eating. Baby’s upper beak (bill?) hooks down sharply right at the very end, causing him to be unable to peck food straightforwardly like a normal pigeon. Instead, he usually eats using a sideways action. We don’t know what caused the beak to develop like that.
Hmmm. It says the photo is not Photoshopped and that they’re found in Thailand and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. But I’ve never heard of them let alone seen them. Quite stylish though, yes.
From the Wikipedia map, it looks like Bangkok is just inside the zone. For Thailand, it looks like they’re mostly in the West and South plus right along the coast. Interesting. The wife says she’s never seen them either.
This is February, and that makes precisely 3-1/2 years that Henry has been coming by. Big and healthy as ever. But will never let himself be touched unfortunately.
There are two new young ones that belong to The Bully and Ladyboy. They keep following Mama – Ladyboy – around. Both white, one with black trim on the wings and the other with a speckled head. And both with a small tumor on their beaks. Hope it’s not going to be a problem like with the Little Tumor Guy. Will try to post their photos soon. These are Henry’s grandchildren, although we know he must have many others and even great-etc grandchildren by now.
And it’s close to five years that this thread has been going. Who knew? As a bird watcher it’s been fun to see the pics and learn about the pidgee behavior.
This next Wednesday, the painters will move around the corner and start on the balcony side of our building. The work is scheduled to take amonth. We’re 36 stories tall, and first they’ll clean the wall and seal cracks, then paint. We’ve already dropped the feedings way down, and we’ll probably have to wait until after 5pm to feed Henry. Worse, we may have to ditch the water dish for a while, which will shock a lot of pidgees. They’re always stopping by for a drink if nothing else, and if the dish is not there, such as I’m off cleaning it, they visibly seem shocked. Plus it’s the hot season.
I did not witness it myself, but the wife said she saw Spooky and her mate having sex this morning. Spooky you may remember is the cripple who broke her leg and it didn’t set right. One of my videos is of her eating. Despite her deformity, she has managed to attract a strapping big male gray for a mate. The wife said she watched Spooky hobble up to him to kiss him, then she crouched down for The Deed. But she skipped the little victory lap that female pigeons usually do afterward. So she’s able to function very well.
She can also use that leg to scratch her head, although she can’t seem to get the toenails pointed properly to do much good, so she has to keep scratching. But she certainly can’t scratch with her good leg, because she can’t stand on her bad leg. And of course, she can scratch only the one side – if the left side itches, she’s just out of luck.
