Just poor little Bob. And he was abandoned by Mom after Dad disappeared and was presumed dead, and Mom’s new mate didn’t seem to approve of Bob. This seems to be different. Dad’s still parenting the others and was sitting on the eggs until yesterday. Just decided to stop for no discernible reason.
If these new guys do get ignored, we’re taking them straight to a vet and paying him to raise them for a month. We’re not taking another chance like last time. Poor Bob. 
Hey, what about Popcorn? Has she made it back up to your balcony?
Oh yeah, Popcorn flew back up the next morning. Both squabs have been making use of their new-found powers of flight these past couple of days, but this is still home. Going on 10pm Sunday night and they’re out there now. Will be five weeks old tomorrow.
Well this is embarrassing, but the “hole” we thought we saw last night turns out to be, upon close inspection in the light of day, just some pigeon shit stuck to it. The egg stayed exactly the same this morning (Monday morning), so I picked it up and took a close look. :(:o
But they should start hatching any moment now … if they’re still alive. There is a slight heft to them, but we’re wondering if maybe The Bully senses there’s no life in them and that’s why he’s stopped nesting on them. But he and Ladyboy are back in heat it seems – and she’s still sick too! This morning she was in the other tree pot, not the Living Room where the eggs are, and The Bully was in the flower box twitching one wing and cooing to her. I almost hope for the new squabs’ sake that something is wrong, because I’m not feeling any parental love for them coming from the adults anymore. This is all very strange.
And to add to the mystery, the eggs have changed positions twice this morning so far, so someone is moving them, but I’ve not noticed the parents in the nest again. (Could be Pumpkin and Popcorn. We have to keep shooing them away from the eggs now.)
Tuesday morning and while the eggs are still well within the window for hatching, more and more we’re feeling we probably have a couple of dud eggs. We think The Bully may have sensed the lifelessness inside, and that’s the reason he suddenly stopped protecting the eggs. With Ladyboy, it’s clearly a case of illness, but The Bully is hale and hearty still.
And he’s the one who was moving the eggs around yesterday. I finally caught him at it. He seemed to be trying to remove them like he does with the hatched eggshells. Only the eggs are too heavy to lift, plus he couldn’t get a good hold on them anyway with his bill. But he clearly wanted them gone, so since he wasn’t going to sit on them anyway, I eventually placed them over in the other tree pot, where they’re sitting now. I’ll give them another week or so. But we actually hope they are dud eggs, because we don’t think The Bully will take care of them if they hatch.
So this morning The Bully was lounging in the Living Room for the first time in days now that the eggs have been moved. Lay there cooing for his sweetie, and he was cooing for her yesterday too, but she still seems befuddled. They’ll have sex sometimes, but I think that’s just her instinct kicking in. She seems like she has Alzheimer’s the rest of the time, and I’m not sure The Bully knows what to make of this. Their having sex is a little telling too, because they normally don’t start that until a couple of weeks after the eggs hatch. But they’re doing it now. Could the dud eggs have reset their biological clock?
Meanwhile, Pumpkin and Popcorn, 36 days old now, are as cute as ever. Pictures this week, I’ll try.
Thursday morning and the eggs are just lying there, looking pathetically abandoned. Three days past the estimated hatching date for one, one day after for the other. We think for sure they are duds but will leave them there until next week to be absolutely certain. But two dud eggs, this never happened before. A first. We wonder if it’s a sign of Ladyboy getting older. She’s going on four years old now. We believe The Bully, whom we suspect of also being Henry’s offspring, is younger.
Pumpkin and Popcorn are 38 days old. The other night, Pumpkin had his first night away but came back the next afternoon. We’re being subjected to some sort of pressure system over Siberia that is giving us some delightfully cool weather. But it was positively brisk that night with a bad wind storm and still windy the next morning, so we figure Pumpkin got stuck somewhere after dark and then couldn’t fly back because it was so windy. He seemed positively exhausted once he did return and hasn’t gone far since, heh. We think we have the sexes reversed, that Pumpkin is a girl and Popcorn a boy, due to size and aggressiveness.
Monday morning and Pumpkin and Popcorn are six weeks old and still living at home. Four-month-old Pete still visits regularly, and Charlie even made a return appearance the other day. Everyone else besides the parents are gone.
The two latest eggs are still sitting out there abandoned. One is a full week past the estimated hatching date, the other five days. But I’m leaving them there until Wednesday just to be sure, but it’s pretty clear they’re duds. The Bully and Ladyboy have been having lots more sex lately. She seems to be getting better although still a little befuddled. The Bully really loves her, keeps cooing for her to come join him. I wonder if he realizes something is wrong and she’s not just being stand-offish.
So sorry about the bad batch of eggs, but you’ve had a good run and some great looking pidgees. I hope all the turmoil we’ve been hearing about it Thailand is staying far away from you and your wife.
Well, yes and no.
Finally, new photos of Pumpkin and Popcorn, who are both 43 days old today (Tuesday).
Here they are at 10 days and 13 days (with Mama). Still can’t tell them much apart at this point.
But two days later, at age 15 days, finally we start seeing a real difference, with Popcorn sporting some black markings on top of his head and Pumpkin having a pure white head. And that same day, here’s Spooky and child. Looks a lot like her except for the broken leg. That’s Henry and Geri on the far right and I think Pete on the far left.
At age 24 days. You can see it a little here – but a lot better in person – but by now the shades of white are different. Popcorn is a pure white white, while Pumpkin is more of an off white, almost a cream color.
And a shot of Spooky and Henry eating. Spooky’s leg does not bother her at all now, poor thing. She hobbles along amazingly well on one leg.
Peek-a-boo! Age 28 days, with Dad, who is sitting on the two now-dud eggs. (And I’ll be disposing of those eggs tomorrow, seven and nine days after their estimated hatching dates.)
Age 31 days, a full month. Popcorn’s looking sleepy. You can see here there’s a slight difference in their tails, although Pumpkin’s tail sometimes looks blacker, depending on how the feathers are set.
And just yesterday afternoon, checking out our place at six weeks or 42 days. Actually, I think they’re asking for food, as they’ve learned Henry’s trick via Mama. I think that’s Mama in the background.
There’s a video too, but that will have to be uploaded later in the week.
And speaking of Mama, Ladyboy seems to be recovering. She and The Bully have been awfully sweet to each other lately. I hope she’s going to be okay. We still have the box ready to transport her to the vet if she ever gets sick enough that we can catch her.
December 29. Pumpkin and Popcorn are 13 days old. That’s Ladyboy feeding them, before she went slightly dotty early this month. The Bully will be seen off to the left making angry noises at another, unseen pidgee.
Ladyboy seems to be almost fully recovered now. I’ve read of pigeon diseases that can mimic a stroke and then go dormant for a while, only to reemerge at a later date. Dunno if this was one but I hope she’s going to be okay.
Wow, feeding is quite the work out for all involved! They sure are lovely, though. Al Jazeera America was reporting a lot of violent outbreaks in Thailand today. You and yours stay safe!
I took some crappy video of the homing pigeons that live near me, I wasn’t able to focus in on my old phone, but I’ll try and get better footage of them when I can. They never stop moving, it’s a constant flocking and circling over the home. It’s crazy, but very lovely to watch.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10201460654587582¬if_t=video_processed
I can’t access the video. It says: “This content is currently unavailable.” Is that because I’m not on Facebook myself?
I can’t either and I am on Facebook.
Yikes! I forgot to allow the public access, I had it set to Friends only. Try it now. As I said, it’s rather a lousy video, but I’ll get them again later.
Thanks. That wasn’t bad. I see you have a lot of white ones in your neighborhood too.
And I have to report that we have another egg! Laid this evening (Tuesday evening). I expect another egg on Thursday and hatchings starting about the 21st … if these aren’t duds. Ladyboy seems quite recovered now from whatever was ailing her. She gave us quite a scare.
I thought this past weekend was going to be traumatic for the family out there, as Chinese New Year is usually pretty loud with lots of firecrackers, particularly at the Thia-Chinese temple down below our balcony. But it seemed rather subdued this year. Not all that much going on except maybe over in Chinatown, possibly due to the political tensions right now.
And not pigeon-related, but the panda that’s on loan to northern Thailand from China just miscarried. 
Its only baby so far, pictured in the linked story, was a national sensation. That one returned to China recently for a year, to find a mate and try to get pregnant herself.
And we have the second egg! Little Emmy was laid this evening (Thursday evening) and is lying next to little Oscar. Assuming these eggs are viable, we expect hatchings to start about the 21st. Ladyboy seems more fiercely protective with this clutch.
Popcorn has disappeared. Last seen Monday morning when he turned seven weeks old. Pumpkin, 52 days old today, is still here, but she stayed away last night. So last night was the first squab-free night in 51 days. She returned this morning and kept jumping in the window. I think she got caught out somewhere after dark last night and missed her snackies. Couldn’t feed her this morning though, as there were too many other pidgees around. She made sure to be here tonight and got her fill then.
They must know when the eggs are no good. Maybe her illness caused them to be infertile? I do remember around the toll plazas, where the pigeons were numerous, that we would find eggs just laying around sometimes, as if they were just laid and left. Sometimes we would find them broken under the nests as if pushed out, and the adults busy off doing the business to make new ones.
We wondered if maybe Ladyboy was grieving because the eggs were duds. But if that were so, why did it take The Bully so long to catch on? But she seems completely recovered now. Completely. Back to her old self. And very protective of this clutch of eggs. The couple are trying to build a little nest again, with him bringing in twigs for her to arrange. But they’re not very good nest builders like the original pair were a few years ago.
Pumpkin returned to stay the night of my previous post but has stayed away at night ever since. She did stop by yesterday (Saturday) though, so we know she’s okay. No sign at all of Popcorn – hope he didn’t end up some cat’s snack.
It’s Valentine’s Day now over here, and the eggs still seem viable. Or at least they’ve not been abandoned like the previous clutch. And Ladyboy seems firecely protective of them this time. Once when I was cleaning and had to move the Living Room, she pecked my hand once before fleeing. Then the other day she pecked it a few times before fleeing. And then when it came time to move it back, she had settled back down on them and … actually rode along as I moved the pot back! That was a first. I spoke softly to her and tried to be as gentle as I could, but that’s a heavy tree pot, so it’s not a completely smooth scoot. Maybe she’s learning I’m not out there trying to eat her.
She’s out there right now staring at me, as usual, as I type this. Hatchings should start in about a week. Popcorn and Pumpkin have long disappeared.
