Feral Pigeon Nests;What are they made of?

[feralpigeon]

Hi folks,
I've had the opportunity to see two feral pij nests here in the SF area, and I'll be darned if I can figure what that stuff is. Like molded brown goopy stuff. What is that????
fp

[Pigeonpal2002]

Hi again Feral Pigeon,

Feral pigeons are not known for their expert nest building skills. They will make do with whatever material is available to them and construct a make shift platform in which to lay their eggs. Some materials they use are twigs, pine needles, string, straws, leaves etc. What you most likely saw, this "brown, goopy stuff" you mentioned, was probably the fecal matter of the babies and parent birds. The young chicks in the nest soon learn to put their bums over the edge and deposit their poops out of the nest. It can build up quickly and will get hard and look like clay or mud.

[feralpigeon]

Hi Brad,
Ya, that's what I was wondering. Think I'll keep that a secret when talking w/those who are adamant about pij's being filthy.
fp

[Pigeonpal2002]

Originally Posted by feralpigeon

Hi Brad,
Ya, that's what I was wondering. Think I'll keep that a secret when talking w/those who are adamant about pij's being filthy.
fp

LOL, It's not so bad. Actually, it's rather tidy of the birds to know to keep their poops out of the nest itself. In a sense it's a lot better than some other species of baby birds that will poop in the nest and then the parents have to remove those feces in their beaks

[feralpigeon]

Hey Brad,
Thanks for helping me to look on the bright side LOL!
fp

[Larry_Cologne]

We found two 8-12-days-old baby pigeons in their nest built inside a large flower pot, which someone removed from their inner city balcony and set out on the street last April 30th.

The nest was made of twigs, none smaller than a toothpick, and most of the twigs and sticks were 4 to 10 inches long. The nest was loosely built. There was no poop build-up in the upper part of te nest. Everything fell through the loose twig formation to the bottom of the flower pot (and actually I did not see any poop).

It was cold, so after we set their flower pot on a terrace about 50 yards from where we found them, and waited without positive results for the parents to find them, we took them into our apartment, put them on a dish towel in a stainless steel bowl on top of a heating pad set on low (and monitored or the correct warmth by hand).

One ("Chocolate") died after 13 days. The other, originally "Vanilla" but renamed "Pidgiepoo," we raised to be a healthy adult male pigeon, reddish-brown wings and neck, with white body and tail. Beautiful. On January 14th Pdgiepoo was chased by crows in a small local park in Cologne while my wife was running with him. He was on he ground at the time, and she was ten or fifteen yards away from him. We haven't seen him since. We have spent a lot of time looking or him.

Back to the poops: Each of the two birds would back up in circles to the edge of the bowl (their nest) to poop. The little rectum would protrude about a quarter inch, out would be projected a small poop th size of an olive pit (often dry enough to roll, and be picked up by hand), and then the rectum would go back in. They were incredibly clean! No toilet paper! Pidgiepoo always had the whitest, fluffiest feathers around his vent, and he kept the area picked free of excessive feathers. When he pooped or got ready to mate, he would spread open the feathers around his vent (like he was opening an umbrella).

We miss him terribly. Cleaning up his poops was a minor detail of our everyday life with him. Internet cafe is closing, have to go.

[John_D]

As an aside, from what Larry was saying. When you see a pigeon take two or three steps back before pooping, it is because he learned in the nest to poop away from where he was sitting.

When I had my pigeon 'PP' on the balcony, years back, I once saw him raise up and tap his tiny baby gently on its lower back - the baby obligingly shuffled out from under his father backwards, the squirted a little poop out of the nest.

Potty training for pigeons

John

[feralpigeon]

Wonderful pigeon stories. Pidgiepoo sounds beautiful. I hope he finds home again.
I actually get to climb around lots of roofs in SF, and other remote areas of the buildings. Yes, there is one spot where I have hidden an extension cord inside a housing atop a roof and two pijies are carrying in leaves and twigs. They are so cute. The other two nests, oh my god.
The one on the fire escape looks to be made entirely of poo that has turned to clay--as mentioned by pijpal. The other nest was inside the vertical rise to an awning, the pijs made a ramp of the poo so that the egg couldn't roll out of the enclosed section that rises and returns to building wall with street # on it.
Regardless of appearance, in both instances, the parents removed the broken egg shell and placed very neatly in another location.
And the parenting that you speak of JohnD is just amazing, isn't it. They are so wonderful.
fp

[Victor]

Did you know that there are actually diapers in three sizes available for pigeons and other birds?

check this out:

http://angelfire.com/pop/4birds/tweet14.html

[feralpigeon]

Hey Victor!
Great seguay(sp?)! I guess these little ones are just great survivors especially in inner city modes and utilize whatever will produce the end result of their goal. It was astonishing when I first viewed the nests made of poo. I have seen other posts since then of how they will use anything even colored electrical wire and I can attest to that as well. But when I make another seguay and think about diapers and seniors, I think to myself, let every living being be free as long as they can.
I did get a chuckle tho. Americans will package anything! LOL
fp