Your "handle" and how you got started

[Victor]

Wow, these stories just continue to fly in and they are so incredibly awsome. Keep the MOMENTS coming in.They are all GREAT!

[Lady Tarheel]

I agree. I am loving the stories. Maggie

[Pigeonpal2002]

Hi Folks,

My handle came about on the spur of the moment I recall. I think I tried a few other names (pigeonpal) without the "2002", but they were taken at the time. So "pigeonpal" because pigeons are my pals and I'm their "pal" and then 2002 was the year I joined pigeontalk.

My first interest was the watching the wild pigeons. Their colours, flight and beauty always fascinated me. Every place I went, I had to feed the pigeons in the cities and towns. My parents would take us on vacation to different places and I'd carry a bag of seed with me everywhere. No matter where I was, what the trip, I'd be covered in them and LOVED IT Been into pigeons since I was a young boy, had homing pigeons growing up for a few years and also had a pair of ring neck doves. My adventures with the pigeons and doves only lastest a few years due to unfortunate circumstances all around. My love for these birds never died though, obviously.

A little later on in my life and after the pigeons & doves were gone, I got two cockatiels. I had those birds for about 17 years each and I had these birds pretty much up to just before I got back into pigeons with the Giant Runts. It's now coming up to nearly 5 years with these wonderful pigeons and I'm hoping for many more years with my 4 birds.

I've always been a nature nut growing up, loved animals all my life but took a special liking towards birds very early on. Birds have always been my passion and hobby and pigeons will always hold a very fond place in my heart and soul

[mr squeaks]

for starting this thread. Am having trouble posting. Let's see if it works now...ok, one more time...

My first name is Shi (pronounced 'shy') and the first 3 letters of Shirley. Born in TX, I was an AF brat and moved every 3 years. Finally put down deep roots when I moved to AZ 30 yrs. ago from Ohio: ahhh, sun....ahhh, heat = HOME!

Have had cats all my life and now share my apartment with 4. Pigeons have always fascinated me and I enjoyed watching the flocks around my home and on the campus of Arizona State University, where I worked. For over a year, I followed the antics of Peter Pied Piper at ASU. I am now on permanent vacation since June 2005. When I last visited the campus, Peter and his progeny were still growing strong.

Two years ago, I found a young injured racing homing pigeon. He was a squeaker so I named him Mr. Squeaks. He has quite the attitude and insists that he is MR Squeaks, thank you very much! He rules me and the cats with an iron beak. He's a spoiled bird and demands his petting and scratching as his just due from his mate (me).

Because of pigeons, I found this site, posted Mr. Squeaks and Peter's stories in the story section and have made many new friends! THANKS is inadequate but y'all know what I mean... Really look forward to reading more on this thread!

[kittypaws]

My "handle" is kittypaws because I adore cats ( have two at the moment - one rescue Tinky - that was the name she came with) and Freddie, who was a stray and named after the late Freddie Mercury of the group Queen, who also loved cats. However I also adore every other type of creature.

I stop to pick snails up off the pavement so that don't get stood on, rescue all sorts of insects and of course there are the pigeons. My first pigeon, was a chap with a bad wing, who I managed to capture and take to the RSPCA.

I also am always looking out for the dreaded netting on buildngs and railways where pigeons can and do get tangled up. One particular row of buildings has taken me over two years to get most of the properties to either remove or repair their netting after seeing dead birds that persished. That is so awful to see and breaks my heart when I think how they must have suffered. I've written to landlords, tenants, the train people, solicitors, the police and of course involved the RSPCA trying to get things improved and saved a few tangled up birdies in the process.

My most scary rescue was leaning out of a 4 storey building window over a busy street, trying to cut free a poor pij who had got tangled in ripped netting and it was in the lap of the gods that I didn't fall out but I had to rescue this bird even if it killed me. I had the pij in one hand, the scissors in the other trying to cut him free. I did manage it and was shaking with either fright or adrenalin or probably both. His poor leg had swollen so much with the netting tangled tighter and tighter and it had also got tangled around his wing but I go him to a safe place where I was advised a few days later that he had been released as his foot had recovered.

With sick and injured pigeons please be sitting nicely on the floor without an ounce of strength so that we can catch you easily. Even the poorly ones that are grounded still try and give you a run for their money.

Now I have this wonderful Wildlife hospital to take them to so I'm sorted. I mentioned before that I did a sponsored slim and raised about £ 1000. The guy at the Wildlife Centre is going to use the money to repair and improve the pigeon aviary which is fabulous - I wonder if he'll fit en-suite bathrooms for the pijs?

All the best

Tania

[John_D]

I'm John_D cos that's me, but my email handle is "pidgie" for obvious reasons.

Must have walked round with blinkers for years, as I honestly don't remember noticing the pigeons everywhere. My first 'experience', tho, was when one pooped on my school uniform cap when I was even smaller than I am now, and my father said "Only a pigeon - it's a sign of good luck!". I thought it just meant a dirty cap

Back in '95 in the summer, a tired homer walked into my lounge when I was out, having left balcony door open. Found him when I got home, chewing a potted plant. I knew so little I gave him crumbled dry corn flakes (He got bird seed next day) He stayed about 3 days and then he was off. He was very tame and friendly and, I think now, obviously much loved.

Next year I found a squabbie in a plant pot outside in mid-January in the icy cold. Her father was "PP" who became my resident balcony pigeon for 18 months. He lost one mate to illness and got another, and raised numerous little PPs. If only I could have known then where to find out about pigeons, illnesses, treatment and plastic eggs. I had to do battle with the management and snobby neighbors to keep my pigeons in place, but they stayed until PP disappeared one day.

Since then, I've found a few sick, injured or just abandoned pigeons around here, but have had to take them to the wildlife hospital where I know they will do the very best they can for them. That's because, due to working schedules, I am not ever home enough to be able to give them care here.

It was entirely due to pigeons, through the web page I made about my balcony pigeons when I first got onto the internet, I met Cynthia! After we'd been corresponding for a couple of years, Cynthia was a wonderful support to me when I had a personal crisis, and part of 'recuperating' was my first visit to meet her, the pigeons I felt like I knew by then, and the furry residents.

Fortunately, the canine section of furry residents decided I was more or less OK and could come back

Over the past three years our aviary space has grown and grown (and will soon grow a little more) to keep pace with the needy pigeons that somehow end up there.

Down here on the S Coast of England I still have balcony pigeons, and an occasional egg slips past me unnoticed until too late, so I've had just a few balcony babies too

John

[andinla]

Hi well my username/handle andinla came from my name andi & I am in LA California.

I have loved animals of every kind since birth my family tells me. I drove them crazy in my early childhood. I would bring home cats, dogs, birds, you name it I had it. My uncle owned a pet shop for years and I would go and help out in his store feeding & cleaning cages. I also brought home many sick animals to nurse them back to health if they were sick. I had my own dog walking business when I was ten, I went around the neighborhood and would walk everyone's dogs for free and after a couple of months some of them started tipping me.. My favorite client was a Irish wolfhound named Dermitt they are the largest dog breed in the world.

I started a lost pet service in 1993 named ~ Dog Gone Locate~ which was the first taped show for Animal Planet. I could of been the DOG HUNTER! ha! I found my friend Zorra my 13 yr. old white Siberian Husky I rescued from Carson animal shelter 10 years ago she was going to be put to sleep that same day. She was my birthday present to myself. Mama Kitty She is a 11 year old rescue Himalayan cat who was about to deliver a litter of kittens, which she did on my birthday, (birthday thing again weird) I kept one of the kittens and named him D-O-Gee he is a black & white huge cat who likes to hang with the dog . He is a person I swear trapped in a cats body. We also have Sunny Bunny a white long up eared bunny who is 9 years old who came from a dirty pet shop situation, when he was just a baby. The past two years we have lost a 16 year old calico cat named SIB- "surprise in basket" came to me in a basket from a friend at 6 weeks old. Two other bunnies passed away from old age and this past Feb. 05 we had to put down our 15 year old golden retriever named Cider.

As for pigeons I came to admire them when a pigeon showed up in my garage one day and would just stare at me, eventually she came and sat on my desk, I named her baby she lived under the eaves of my house and would visit me daily for several years, her life was cut short from a neighbor who shot her while she was on my back fence. I currently feed a flock of 75+ at the school yard (but don't tell any one OK) ha!

P.S. If you ever find a cocoon make sure you place it in a jar or bowl that is larger in width than a butterfly's wings. I had found a cocoon baking in the hot Calif summer sun in my driveway and thought it was dead inside because it seemed hard as a rock. I placed it in a cup in my garage and forgot about it, to my surprise a week later there was this beautiful butterfly, as I examined it closer I noticed it's wings were crumbled at the ends. This was do to my sticking the poor thing in a container where it was unable to expand it's wings upon exiting the cocoon, if a butterfly is unable to expand and dry it's wings in the first five minutes of life they will be disabled and unable to fly. The butterfly was unable to fly, I felt so quilty I took it out to the flowers three to four times a day and would sit near it as it crawled from flower to flower. I fed it with a little spoon sugar water & salt water. I did that for two weeks. One morning I put her on a flower and my mom drove up and said lets go to breakfest, I did and had totally forgotton the butterfly. I could not find her when I returned. I felt so bad that she never got to fly.

Sorry this was so long.

Take Care

I think you all are special people with hearts bigger than most, you all make me feel normal on those days when I feel helpless , or sad do to the inhumane treatment of our feathered friends, at times when no one seems to care (sometimes not even family members) So I thank you from the bottom of my heart & I know one day we all shall meet with are wings attached way up there in a place called pigeon.com ~AKA~ Heaven...........\|

Attached some pics of some of our pets

Andi Dahm

[feralpigeon]

Thanks for sharing your story, Andinla. A very touching story about baby.

fp

[tim16]

The Tim part is of course my name. (don't post here much, too busy with work). The 16 part is the number that is assigned to me at work. Wish this was all more exciting.

Tim

[andinla]

stories. I think it could actually be the beginning of a good book. I printed out several pages for a co-worker of mine to read, just to give her an idea how nice the people are here at pigeon.com are. She is a pigeon person too!!!

I hope more people write on this topic...

thanks
Andi

[Mistifire]

My name is the one I have been using for online games for years, I think i just liked the idea of mist and fire together.

I have always had a love for animals, my family tells me when I was little I had imaginary pets instead of imaginary friends, one was a pony that slept in my bed Before I could talk I would "rescue" potato bugs and worms from the sidewalk..which my mom found in my pockets on laundry day. I remember rescuing butterflys putting them in a box house outside but a spider found them and i came home to a pile of wings.

My first pet that i rescued was a runt kitten in the winter some kids on a friends street chose to throw her in a kiddie pool. I tried rescuing eggs that fell from trees before i knew the requirements for it to hatch.

The animals everyone said dont touch them because they hate people and are mean, those are the ones i made friends with, I have always had a way to show animals my intentions. The wild animals always got more of my bread than I did when we ate outside.

My interst in birds came from an advertisement I found for a small incubator and 4 quail eggs, after convincing my parents I got my quail baby and had to convince my mom he was not dirty just because he was an animal, eventually I saw her kissing and cuddling him too! He went everywhere with me because
he cried when I left the room as I was momma and his mate. he used to feed me bugs

When I lost my quail baby (eatten by a rescue cat staying for the night) a friend wanted to get me another bird to raise but wasn't sure of another quail, so He got me a pigeon egg.

Since I live on my own now I have gathered quite the zoo myself, currently I have:

-My 2 rescued dogs, one was abandonded on the side of the road and afraid of people, to get her to my house I had to take the mushy dog food and filp a little to her with a spoon and scoot away a few feet, then flip her another little bit, finally got her home and someone thought she just wandered into the yard and they chased her off again, so back to the spoon of food.. now happily living with me for 8 years,
the other was an abused puppy that was going to the pound and i have had her for almost 2 years.
-2 toads saved from a dried up pond in a place they were going to build houses over,
-my box turtle that was in the freeway and was under eatting and sick,
-a cockatiel who came to my driveway outside,
-my parakeet that was a runt and only had one foot, he was also under eatting because he could not get to where the food was in the pet store and his new mate,
-a pet store iguana that had a bad infestation of mites,
-I have a rooster living in my bathroom rescued from someone that did not want 2 roosters and was going to give him to someone that wanted to start a cock fight,
-my dwarf bunny,
-my ferret which my mom told me when i was younger i would never get,
-2 sugar gliders,
-a chameilon,
-my pigeon
-and my hubby if he counts
I am curently tring to get a nurses assistant job at a vet near my home. It has always been my dream job. I found a feral pigeon flock and I fed a pair that had a little squeaker and I have been trying to decide where would be a good spot to feed the entire flock

[Lady Tarheel]

What a wonderful story. You truly are an animal/bird lover. Thank you so much for sharing your history because I really enjoyed it.

Maggie

[mr squeaks]

that you get that job, Mistifire! The profession needs caring people like you who have a "natural" ability with animals!

GOOD LUCK and let us know!

[re92346mos]

I'm not to creative either, re is for Rena, 92346 is my zip, mos is for Modena. The breed I Show. When I was a little girl I read a book called "Chanco", this book was a book about a pigeon named Chanco who was in the Army Signal Corp. The book was written like the pigeon wrote it, and he tells everything from the time he was born to his learning everything, to ending up in the Army. There are even pictures of real Army birds in it. I tore out the pictures(which I now wish I hadn't) and hung them on my wall.So I was then addicted to pigeons!

[Lady Tarheel]

Rena, I just had a chance to look at your site for the first time. It is really nice.
I particularly like the trailing "welcome". Never saw anything like that before.

Maggie