Greetings! Pigeon Family Photos from Our Balcony

[Siam Sam]

Good news! Late Tuesday night now, almost midnight, and Big Pidgee is sleeping here again. He's out on his spot on the rail, watching me as I type this. Probably wondering why I don't close the curtain and give him some peace, which I'll do shortly.

The wife saw Little Pidgee on the edge of the balcony for a short while late in the afternoon while I was out. Then some time after she left, Big Pidgee arrived. After taking a big drink of water, he checked out the new flower box. "Lounged" in it for a while, scrunched down. His throat was moving like he may have been cooing, presumably for Little Pidgee, but the wife could not hear, due to the TV, and anyway Little P never came.

But Big Pidgee is staying here again, and we're hoping they're interested in building another nest.

[malfunctional]

What's happening Sam? Is another batch on it's way or did Mom and Dad decide 15 youngsters is enough?

[theBrewMeister]

any updates? I cant take the suspense! That white with black spots one sounds pretty. Big P is a gorgeous bird!

[Siam Sam]

Sorry, I haven't checked in for a few days. But ... we have another pigeon egg! Little Pidgee laid it yesterday (Thursday). We expect another egg any time now. Hatchings to start in 2-1/2 weeks. The new names will be Bob and Susie; they'll be squabs #12 and 13. Hope they both hatch this time!

Little Bob is out there gestating now. Mama is with him. Big Pidgee flew off a little while ago. The new nest is looking good; Big Pidgee has flown in some pretty heavy-looking twigs. Both Big and Little Pidgee have been staying here at night, over on the rail. But when she saw me looking at the egg from inside, and then I reached through the door for the water dish to change it, Mama decided to get back on top of the egg.

Those other pigeons have not been seen on the balcony for a while now, although I notice the Dalmatian flying by and on the mansion grounds next door. Big Pidgee may have chased them away.

I was going to put this in a new thread, but since there was interest here, I'll continue this one for now. Will probably start a new thread when I have photos.

Oh, and the last time we saw George was when I looked over the balcony on Sunday, June 28 and saw him staring back up at me from two balconies below. Age 7 weeks. Then he flew away. Have not seen him since.

[Siam Sam]

And we have the second pigeon egg! Little Susie has joined her brother, Bob. We just hope both eggs are fertilized this time. Little Pidgee laid it yesterday (Saturday). We returned home last night to find it in the nest, which by the way is coming along very well. It's amazing they know to build these things, with no prior instructions or training.

So the eggs were laid on July 9 and 11. Looking back in my records, I see Little Pidgee lasid eggs last year on July 2 and 4. That batch was Manny and Tammy.

[TAWhatley]

Wow, Sam! You seem to have great records on the little pigeon family tree at your place! Please do keep us posted, and pictures would be most welcome!

Terry

[Siam Sam]

We cleaned the balcony yesterday (Sunday) during the afternoon, while Big Pidgee was on egg duty. When I moved the box to the other side of the balcony, he rode along okay.

Later he hopped out to come see what we were doing to his precious living space, like he did that one time with the previous clutch of eggs. But this time we had not put down disinfectant, just water at the moment, so we did not try to chase him back. He looked around a bit and then went back to the eggs, but he clearly was not happy.

When I moved the box back after we finished, he rode along in it again.

Not much to photograph now. Will take some pics when the hatchings start in a couple of weeks.

[Siam Sam]

It's the wee hours of Thursday morning now. The wife watched an interesting phenomenon late Wednesday afternoon.

The Switch occurred about 3:30pm, with Little Pidgee taking over from Big Pidgee. But sometime after 5pm, Big Pidgee returned with a twig. Then flew out for more. The wife said he flew in with a twig 7 times in 30 minutes that she counted. That's an average of just over one twig every 4 minutes. He'd fly in with it in his beak, hand it off to Little Pidgee or simply drop it into the flower box -- either way, she'd then arrange it -- then fly right back out, returning in a few minutes with another one. He may have done more than that, because the wife's not sure if he'd done any before she noticed. He stopped once for a big drink of water. When he flew out, sometimes he'd fly up and over the rail from next to the box, sometimes he'd walk over to the edge and dive straight down. We don't know why the sudden flurry of twig fetching. Maybe he found a new source. Maybe he knew it was growing late and that he'd have to turn in for the night soon.

But even though there have been eggs for several days now, nest building is proceeding unabated. And there seems to be a lot of feathers in the nest these last few days. A light gray, so they're all from Big Pidgee. He must be molting. But there are no bald patches; he's growing the feathers back. Both are always preening, so it's almost surprising there are not more feathers pulled out from both.

[Siam Sam]

Saturday morning, and Little Pidgee went out for breakfast at dawn this morning, leaving the eggs unguarded. So I sneaked a peek. Did not touch them, but leaning over to look at them, there's a long "line" of some sort on one. Definitely not a crack, but I don't know what could cause it. An internal crack maybe? And what I'm seeing is its shadow? After that last unfertilized egg, we're paranoid. Will be at least 8 days before any hatchings begin. Hope they're okay this time.

Little Pidgee did return after breakfast.

[Siam Sam]

Sunday morning, and we've now entered the window for egg hatchings. They could come at any time. But not yet. Little Pidgee is out there sitting on the eggs, which I've had one clear look at this morning and seen they remain intact.

Big Pidgee is acting a little strange. The last time we saw him do the Switch was Wednesday. He did not come to spell Little Pidgee for the day Thursday and Friday at all! But the wife did see him stop by for water late Thursday afternoon, so we know he's around. We were away early to late yesterday and so don't know what happened then. I suggested maybe they had a domestic dispute and that it was no doubt her fault, but the wife doesn't think much of my theory. We'll be on the look-out today.

Will start a new thread for the new squabs when they hatch.

[Siam Sam]

And little Bob hatched this morning (Monday morning)!

New thread here.