u/michigancolt

The littlest babies are one week old today, big and sturdy, so I picked each one up for the first time and got a band on. Now they have identities LOL (on left with white band is Wind, on right with pink band is Fire, yes I know the bands aren’t visible in the picture). I have very limited colors so I’m doing right leg bands for Morgan/Brumby babies and left leg for other babies. Brumby has now been feeding them simultaneously (how?!) for like ten minutes. They fit perfectly in one hand. They’re so dang cute and toasty warm. I tried to cuddle each one before and after the band so hopefully it wasn’t overly traumatic. Yesterday all the babies were on the porch—grownup Gwenda and Mair, fledglings Pilot and Sailor, and the wee babies Wind and Fire. I’m so glad I got semi-adopted by pigeons ♥️🥹♥️

Today they’re FUZZY! Precious little creatures. This is the 4th set of babies since the pigeons moved in and I am still just amazed at how incredibly wee Wind and Fire are. Everyone cross your fingers that they’re different colors in the end LOL

Please enjoy this video of Pilot accosting their parent for food!

My favorite pigeon parents, Brumby and Morgan, hatched their third set of chicks since they took up residence on the porch. (I gave them fake eggs between the last two and these two.) I have never seen the babies like JUST out of their eggs. They were still wet!! Since it’s 21 September they shall be Wind and Fire. Time to start setting out Papa Morgan’s dish on the regular again. He’s very devoted to his babies and if I leave him a dish in the kiddie pool he doesn’t have to get up to grab a peanut or some seed. I should be able to get a lot more videos and photos of these little ones since they’ll be in the kiddie pool.

Disclaimer: The kiddie pool as pigeon nursery was NOT my idea, Brumby and Morgan moved in while I was away got a couple weeks. Since then there has never been a good time to replace it because there are always babies of some age and/or a nest that would be very disturbed if I did that. Which brings me to a question, do they stop having babies once the weather gets cold/wet/unpleasant? Please say yes, I will have an ulcer if they have babies and it’s raining on them.

Just about a week after I had to remove a bunch of non-viable eggs from the other nests, these two little ones hatched!! They’re so precious and tiny. I almost had a heart attack tonight when I went to feed my dogs and looked onto the porch to see egg pieces strewn about. It just turned out to be the baby announcement! Because today was the start of the SF International Pen Show, they shall be known as Pilot and Sailor. I’ll get leg bands on when they’re bigger but I’m going to make sure starting today I go out to talk to them at least once a day so hopefully we can stay friends!!

Gwenda is VERY pleased with her new talent! The babies react the same to their dad whether he is the one returning or they are—FEED USSSSSSS

The babies may never talk to me again, but by some magic I was able to pick each one up and clip a band on her right leg. Gwenda got yellow and Mair got green (I messed with this pic a ton with the sole objective of making their leg bands visible). They’re thisssss close to flying so thank goodness these finally got here and I put them on today. Any future babies are gonna get this done way earlier. I hope they don’t stay mad at me 🥺

Brumby is eating her grit, and everyone has been hydrating here in our mini heat wave cause the waterer was totally empty when I came today. They’re good with the new feeder and the babies like having their own personal dish. And sweet adorable Morgan is still convinced he’s going to hatch the fake eggs.

It has been a while since I had a NPD and this one was worth waiting for!! My mom goes to lots of craft fairs and she promised to FaceTime me from the one today since she knew a fountain pen maker would be there. It’s a good thing I didn’t go because I would have been absolutely paralyzed with indecision. Once this beauty came on the screen I was like, STOP don’t show me anything else, that’s The One. It writes so smoothly and I can’t stop looking at it. The maker is Pens By Bryce.

So my porch friends are going through their 25 lb bag of seed at kind of an alarming rate. (The pic looks weird cause I took it through the sliding door; also after the picture I went out and refilled their waterer, don’t worry.) I worry about under AND over feeding, and also about cost and such. We’ve got six birds I think of as residents: Brumby and Morgan (parents), Merthin and Wulfric (fledglings), and Gwenda and Mair (my babieeeeees). But today I delightedly counted TEN adult pigeons chilling on the porch!! I had just refilled their big dog bowl with seed like 30 min before and they looked to have eaten half of it already. I’m dog sitting and checking on the pigeons every afternoon, and every time I come the bowl is totally empty and there are no seeds on the porch either. Is there any rule of thumb about how much to put out for wild/feral pigeons per day?

Also they can’t be inside birds, not even the babies. For one my complex wouldn’t allow it if they found out, but more importantly my older dog is NOT pigeon friendly (younger one thinks they’re mildly interesting and has no interest so far in harassing them). Thanks in advance!!

https://youtu.be/gDoEp6RSlTk?is=FP53bLUxBrYYtD6-

The babies are getting so spicy that they have to be double teamed LOL! I’m dog sitting so I only get to see them once a day. Yesterday sweet little Mair was all feisty and for once Gwenda just wanted to chill and get head scritches. It’s just mind blowing how fast they grow and change. A week ago they were barely mobile if at all, and now they can walk around, get themselves out of the sun, flap awkwardly, all that good stuff!!

Disclaimer: I am not trying to get YouTube followers, I just can never get Reddit to load my videos so this is easier. The videos are unlisted so no one can see them without the link.