Fancy pigeon on the loose. Could you be missing yours?

[Reti]

Hope you can capture him, Mary.
Best of luck.

Reti

[flitsnowzoom]

Well, we continue to get visits from our special pigeon friend. One day he showed up with a smaller near-negative of himself. "Mom, Mom, come look! There's another fancy bird in the yard!" Haven't seen the smaller one again. This guy is starting to grow on us. We look forward to the visits and always worry if we don't see him.

We're working on getting close to him so I can try trapping him. The squirrels keep knocking over my trap that I've set up a few times, so haven't had much luck on that one.

Now, a question. How big does a hawk have to be to threaten a pigeon? We had a small hawk/falcon (anyway, something that looked like a meat lover) show up in the yard yesterday. Very shy and was just there for some water, I think. Gray mostly and with darker bands on his/her tail feathers.

[AZWhitefeather]

Originally Posted by flitsnowzoom

Well, we continue to get visits from our special pigeon friend. One day he showed up with a smaller near-negative of himself. "Mom, Mom, come look! There's another fancy bird in the yard!" Haven't seen the smaller one again. This guy is starting to grow on us. We look forward to the visits and always worry if we don't see him.

We're working on getting close to him so I can try trapping him. The squirrels keep knocking over my trap that I've set up a few times, so haven't had much luck on that one.

Now, a question. How big does a hawk have to be to threaten a pigeon? We had a small hawk/falcon (anyway, something that looked like a meat lover) show up in the yard yesterday. Very shy and was just there for some water, I think. Gray mostly and with darker bands on his/her tail feathers.

Welcome to Pigeon-Talk Mary.

Thank you so much for doing all that you can to try & catch this pij.

If you are successful in rescuing him & are unable to get a hold of the owner or are able to keep him yourself, please let me know.

That sounds like a Sharp Shinned Hawk. Is it about the size of a pigeon?
We had one visit our backyard a while back but seemed to be interested in the Inca doves, as they are small.

It's my understanding they go after small birds.

Please keep us posted on how things are coming along.

Cindy

[flitsnowzoom]

Hi Cindy,
Thanks for the help with the ID. The bird I saw was smaller overall than the pigeon that visits and certainly has a much smaller body (girth) than the typical city pigeons that I see in town. Except for the coloration of the breast feathers the sharp-shinned hawk pictures I saw look pretty good. Maybe this one was fairly young. Seems like he's not as much of a threat to the pigeon as he is to the various house finches, grackles and starlings that frequent the feeders.
I'll keep you posted on the pigie. It doesn't seem to me that his owners care that much because there are no fliers posted in the neighborhood and no ads in papers or on the 'net. To me, a bird with feathers like he has should not be allowed to fly free (as much as it pains me to say that) as he truly is hampered by the length of the foot feathers (trips a lot when he walks and catches them on the ground) and can't get loft fast enough to escape the ground quickly. Once in the air, he is a fair flyer, but not particularly fast or strong. His size alone would make it easy for an aerial predator to single him out in a crowd of other birds. If I am successful in catching him, I will need a nice family to hand him off to as I am not in the position to care for a pigeon on a long-term basis. We have grown quite fond of him, but with the various ferals that come through our yard (we're about the only safe haven for the foxes as we don't have dogs) I would worry about his safety and sanity.

[Lady Tarheel]

Mary, I think the smaller the hawk the more danger there is to the pigeons. A larger hawk, like the red shouldered, is usually too slow but the small hawks can strike very quickly.

I do hope you can lure him down to the box soon.

[abisai]

You have a box trap huh? If you don't want to wait untill he walks in the trap in order to pull the string, try this variation. . .Tie the middle of the string about an inch from the bottom of the stick that props up the box. Now cut the string long enough so that its two ends (of equal length) can be tied to the corners of the box that touch the ground. The string should be about an inch off the ground from the two ends of the box to the stick. The string should be tight enough so that when the bird attempts to enter he will step on the string and the presure will pull the stick into the box from the inside.

It always worked for me, and you don't have to be waiting around for the bird to decide when to enter. Good Luck.

A.C.

[flitsnowzoom]

Oh, dear! That would be a painful death. Hawks are fast but the deaths are not particularly quick for their prey. Thanks for the info. I figured that a hawk would be more likely to go after smaller prey as it would run the risk of damaging itself trying for a big bird.
I will definitely try the away-from-home trapping setup that A.C. has described. I'm hoping the squirrels and other birds will steer clear.

[flitsnowzoom]

Well, the weather has turned BAD here! We had freezing rain, teeny ice balls, and snow coming down for the past day and a half. Woke up to more than a dusting of snow on the ground. The temps went from about 74 to 24 in 24hrs (at least in my yard).
To make a short story long . . . . .;-)
My bird friend continues to visit and brings his alter ego (mate?) with him most days. Both birds seem to be in good shape, but not particularly interested in coming in from the elements. I have to wonder if they are from someone's loft in the area -- but who in their right mind would let pigeons with feathered feet and the leisurely takeoffs like these two have fly free in all kinds of weather?? We see them nearly every day and they leave their calling cards near the bird feeders so I do know they are doing what birds do.
I hadn't seen my visitor(s) on Thursday but on Friday when I went out to fill the bird feeders, he was on my back porch hiding. He immediately flew up to the power line to the house -- good thing too, because as soon as I went inside for more "pigeon appropriate" food, the red fox came through and made a very fast stop at the dry cat food (for the starlings and robins) before skittering off.

I went back out and there on the gutter at the edge of my second story roof were perched Fancy Feet AND Friend. We now have two of these lovely birds frequenting our home. They were all fluffed up against the sleety stuff that was falling and were very interested in watching me (I swear, the whiter of the two must have taken lessons from a hawk, he has that imperious "OOO, look at me looking so and sexy and calm" look that raptors have ) . They weren't interested in coming down for the safflower seeds. They came down later but stayed away from the open pet carrier that I have had in the yard (nicely baited with pigeon delight foods).
The squirrels (most likely) continue to spring the open cage trap I have near the feeder stations and I certainly don't want to trap these birds on a nasty day when I couldn't be there to remove them in a timely manner.



So, my questions are -- should I continue to try and get these birds or just enjoy them and quit worrying about them? Don't worry about me not feeding them if I don't manage to trap them -- that is not an issue except when I go on vacation. [I suppose if they really do "belong" to someone, it would be considered theft if I was successful in trapping them, but I wouldn't really care much if it would be to save the birds.] Can they really tolerate weather conditions like we've been having? They looked pretty miserable up on my roof yesterday but didn't make much attempt to move under the eave that overhangs the next roof down (although that is a much steeper pitch on the lower roof). Have the street smarts been bred out of these beauties so they don't know to come in out of the rain (or worse, can't really fly in wet weather so can't come out of the rain)?

Please feel free to weigh in . I'm looking for more advice and opinions.

[TAWhatley]

Pigeons can tolerate cold temperatures, but if they get soaking wet and/or the wind gets strong, they are going to be in trouble if they don't find a cozy shelter.

I'd definitely keep trying to catch them. Fancy pigeons just aren't suited for life in the wild, and sooner or later something is going to result in their demise.

Terry

[Lovebirds]

Originally Posted by flitsnowzoom

[I suppose if they really do "belong" to someone, it would be considered theft if I was successful in trapping them, but I wouldn't really care much if it would be to save the birds.]
Please feel free to weigh in . I'm looking for more advice and opinions.

Well, the birds really DO belong to someone but capturing them is not considered theft by any stretch of the imagination. They NEED to be captured and if the owner knew what you were doing they would either be very relieved to know you care OR they wouldn't give a crap one way or the other, so in either scenario, catching them is the right thing to do if you can. I sure hate they are having to suffer through the bad weather. I know what you mean though.....it went from 80 to 20 here in 24 hours. Crazy weather. The cold weather won't kill them, but I'm worried about a hawk coming by that can't find enough food because of the snow and ice. Good luck with these two. We just might have a BIG party here at PT when you catch them.!!