r/BalconyBabies

His clutch mate never hatched so he’s a singleton. Really adorable and super friendly. He’s convinced my hand is a beak and I have seeds. It’s sooo adorable. Love watching them grow up and mature. The other couple nesting on my small balcony just laid 2 eggs as well!!

We call him Gulliver

28 eggs, 3 hatched, 1 survived (now 7 months old)

Last year, a wood pigeon couple nested on our balcony and successfully raised 2 chicks until another bird killed them shortly before they were ready to fly. After that, my husband built a small wooden structure to make the nesting spot feel more sheltered (photo #1).

This year, another couple used it, but after about 2 weeks, we found the nest in the state of photo #2, with both eggs probably eaten. As evidence, we found eggshells of one egg on the floor.

We then added more cover with the net-like thing in photo #3. We have even added a hose with a hand pump to water the seeds in the plant pot without disturbing any further nesting couple in hopes that once the plants grow, they will also block the view a bit more.

A new couple arrived, but chose the plant pot instead (photo #4). This morning, we saw a crow flying away with one egg in its beak while no parent bird was present. We checked and found the second egg had already been badly damaged. The pigeons had been incubating them for about 3 weeks.

One parent has returned shortly after the incident and is now sitting on the remaining broken egg 😢 However, the hole is so big and deep, we don't think the babybird survived...

We believe they will notice that all hope is lost today, pack up soon, and leave. Is there anything else we can do to make the spot safer or less visible to crows while still allowing the pigeons to come and go comfortably? We live on the 15th floor, so there are no other predators like cats or martens, only other birds.

UPDATE: Oh my god… after the male pigeon sat on the broken egg for about 4 hours, it gave up and left the nest and our balcony. But. BUT! The egg is now glued to his leg!!! He came back after a few more hours, just sitting on our balcony railing not even considering the nest. That’s when we saw the egg between his legs.

First pair of our 6 balcony eggs to hatch 🤍

Hi there, I’d like to ask if I can do anything for this nesting pigeon.

Some crucial context on the nest: I’ve been feeding pigeons on my window sill for the last couple of months. About a month ago I leaned out of my window and saw that a pigeon was nesting on a little roof two floors below me. I’d look out every day, and there it was, just sitting and looking back at me. One day about two weeks ago, I leaned out and the nest parent was gone, leaving two little babies visible but not moving. I got my binoculars out to see if they were alive, and unfortunately they were not (flies were already around). Just to make sure, I ran downstairs because there is a window to the side of the roof that has an AC unit in it but leaves a little space to maybe reach the nest if I stood in the window. Unfortunately, they were really dead. I didn’t know what to do, but my husband said that perhaps if I leave them there, some bigger bird will eat them and they will rejoin the nature cycle that way. He is out of the country for a long time on an internship and didn’t want my clumsy butt to stand on a window sill, too, I’m pretty sure (understandable).

So I left them. I’d look out the window every couple of days because it made me sad to see them there, and once I saw a pigeon sitting in the nest next to them, but then never again.

Well, yesterday I looked out after a couple days and lo and behold, the dead babies were gone, the roof seems cleaner from poop and the nest was fuller with new grass and twigs and a NEW PIGEON sitting in it!

I am super excited but scared that it will happen again. I don’t know why the parent left last time - if maybe my neighbours shooed it away. But who would clean the babies up and how? I’m confused but just want to ask:

IS THERE SOMETHING I CAN DO TO SUPPORT THIS NESTING PIGEON?

Sorry for the long post and thank you for any advice ❤️