u/TelephoneThat3297

I posted a little while ago about the Pigeon couple who I lost a property dispute with on our balcony and then befriended, Petra & Lionel, well here’s an update!

About 12 days ago, I saw a lot of commotion with Petra in the bucket moving around, and later that day, a discarded eggshell outside the ashtray bucket they’ve decided to call home. The next evening I got my first glimpse of the tiny yellow blob - I still wasn’t sure there were actually two chicks because I only ever saw one egg lol - and I’ve been getting more and more frequent glimpses as the parents spend less and less time at the nest as they’ve gotten older (they were brooding pretty solidly until about 3 days ago, now it’s more like they pop back for twenty minutes every now and then to feed them).

So yeah, meet Karly & Olivia! Olivia is starting to look like a full bird with lots of feathers even at less than two weeks old, Karly is getting there but she’s taking a bit of time to feather bless her. Both pigeons can stand up and have started to stretch their wings. Excited to see them grow up further!

So for the past couple of months, I was in a property dispute with groups of local Pigeons who insisted on trying to build nests on my balcony (they'd fly away when I came out, so I just removed the twigs each time). I went away to a festival last weekend, and when I came back I found Petra here, sat perfectly calmly in my ashtray bucket (there were no twigs initially, I think this has been a more recent addition to the nest post-egg), not moving when I came down and sat in the chair next to her to have a cigarette.

I did some research, and after a day or so I caught the nest in a rare moment of Petra-less-ness, my suspicions were confirmed and I saw a little egg! Since then, there has always been a Pigeon in the bucket, I saw her mate Lionel for the first time taking shifts over the weekend, he's a bit smaller with lots of white markings on his head and less plumage (to be totally honest I have no idea which is the male and which is the female, but Petra was there first and most often so in my head she's the momma).

I feel like I've now bonded with Petra (and to a lesser extend Lionel). She's my new smoking buddy! She initially looked a little bit anxious when I came outside the first couple of times, but I think she's since realised I am not a threat and is happy for me to come and sit with her. I don't get too close (I've given myself a 1.5-ish metre limit), and try to limit the noise and movements I make out there so she and her family don't get spooked. I tend to only go down twice a day now, so I don't add further disturbances. I've gently added a couple of water-filled tupperwares to each side of the bucket, partly so there's always something for them to drink, and partly cos it was hella windy the other day and the bucket would have almost certainly started to roll if there wasn't a big bird weighing it down so I thought a stabilising measure might be needed!

I can't wait for the babies to hatch now, I've basically gone from finding Pigeons a minor nuisance to being incredibly invested in the wellbeing of this family that's chosen my balcony as their home. Sorry, I'm sure there are like 60,000 posts like this on this sub, just wanted to share it with someone as all of the people in my life are now very sick of me constantly talking about Pigeons lmao!