Your "handle" and how you got started

[mr squeaks]

I, too, enjoyed re-reading the whole thread. Been a "long" time, as Victor mentioned.

Things haven't changed much with Squeaks. All 4 cats still here. Squeaks still chases.

Only difference is that now he "cycles" from "mate" mode to "daddy" mode with a molt here and there. Now, he's sitting on his dummy egg and if, history serves, will continue to do so for awhile until he decides it's time to check out his territory (the whole apartment) and return to "guard & protect" mode!

Oh yes, he, at times, will now join with Feather (Wonder Woman) and me (Scorpio Power) as Super Squeaks (a.k.a. the Caped One), to help protect truth, justice and the American Way for pijies on this site from their, sometimes, notorious owners.

[jerseygeorge]

Well for starters, I'm from New Jersey and my name is George.

As to how I became a pigeon man/slave............

Rather than type this story again , I'll just use parts of a recent E-Mail that I sent Shi.

The company I work for used to be in another location , several miles away
from where we are now. Back in 1999 Mom and Pop started hanging around my
bay and I would feed them broken crackers in the morning. Before I knew it
they had built a nest on a shelf in one of the spare bays. Mom layed one egg
and a few weeks later Junior was born. Once Junior could take care of
himself Mom layed two more eggs who would become Baby and Socks. Their
first day outside they were standing side by side on the roof of the
building. Socks was taken by a red tail hawk. Baby became : "The surviving
baby" then later just Baby. From this point on I began exercising some
birth control and getting rid of Mom's eggs. Every morning I would open up
and they would all go out for the day. Then before closing they would come
back in and get locked in for the night. By this time Junior and Baby had
found mates who also moved in, and Jimmy and Whitey had become tenants as
well. One morning I came in and found Baby's mate dead on the floor. This
brought the count back down to 7. In May of 2K Mom layed another egg that I
let them keep. Around June 1st Fuzzy was born. bird count back up to 8. In Dec
2K my boss informed me that the business would be moved to another location.
I knew that if I left them behind the owners would probably kill them
because this was their home and every time the door was opened they would
try to get back in. I began working on an old building that my Dad built 30
years ago which is behind our house. I spent almost all of Jan 2001 cleaning
it out and getting it ready for them. On moving day I was able to trap Mom
and Pop, Jimmy and Whitey, Junior and Little girl. Then Kath and I had to
catch Baby and Fuz with a fishing net. What a job. Beginning in the spring
of 2001 I began rebuilding the place. There was an 8'x8' lean to on the east
side of the building. I screened it in with chicken wire and cut a door in
the wall where they could come in and out. In Dec 2002 I found Mom dead in
her nest box. I still miss that bird dearly. Several months later Little Girl left
Junior and moved into Pop's nest box and mated with him . Junior still hasn't
recovered. . July 2003 I designed and built a large screened area for them out
of pressure treated 2x4s. . This replaced the lean to. I also put in Winter doors.
These doors are very small and just wide enough for one pigeon to fit through. This gives them
access to the outside but doesn't let all the heat out of the building when
they are open. Yes, I put a heater in the place. For the most part in the winter they stay inside the
building. If they go out in bad weather they usually are back inside in a
few seconds. Sometime in 2004 Fuzzy and Baby mated, things ain't been the same since.

[Flying_Pidgy]

Since i was 1 or two years old It seemed that i loved birds. ( my mom said that ) and after i was 8 years old i always seemed to find birds in trouble. I was ( and am) a bird magnet to this date i have saved 7 birds 5 of them being pidgys.i might have saved more but i dont want to say i have and find out i didnt so i will just stick to what i know for a fact. i always let them go but one of them "golden" was a baby pidgy and i saved it ( it was in an alley in a CROWDED place filled with big foots walking ( or so it seems to him) i loved that bird alot. I still remember he loved to put its beak in between my fingers. well to keep this consice i wouldnt have loved pigeons as much as i do today if it wasnt for golden. Unfortunatly oneday it was raining and it flew on a roof and was never to be seen by me again. So i thank you Golden whereever you are for giving me the ability to love pidgeons and leading me to save so many of them. Sometimes it seems like his spirit is still with me somewere helping me find more pidgys in danger.

[mountainstorm]

I joined a couple weeks ago, to get more info to help Cielo, who has been with me for 7 weeks today. The first five weeks she hated me, pecking, ferociously attacking my hands, peeping and grunting at me, and then one day after the fifth week, she decided she liked me after all and flew to me!

Mountainstorm is the name of a throw in the martial arts. My email has h-a-w-k after mountainstorm, but that didn't get added because it didn't seem like there was enough space when I registered.

My mom wrote in my baby book that my first sentence was "Hi, dog." I had a beagle Timmy when I was three, but he bit me a lot, and so my parents gave him to a farmer. I barely remember him; looking back I know they did the right thing, but I still miss him, in a sort of vague way. When I was little, I read as many books about horses as I could, so that when I finally got one, I would know how to take care of it! (also, someone mentioned an imaginary pony--I had an imaginary horse, a ****erscotch and white paint named Rockite (the T and the E were silent, so it was said, rock-eye).

Right now, all my animals are rescues. My sister has a cat named Funny Face. Funny's fur is gray-orange, and the left side of her face is black, and the right side is orange. It looks either like she fell into pumpkin pie, or that someone punched her and gave her a black eye. My sister and Funny will be leaving soon so my sister can go to grad school.

I have two rats (the third Nibbles died last week), Juni and Brier Rose; I got them from petfinder, the person who had them had so many rats, that she didn't even have names for these three!

My cats, Mika and Kamea, both calicoes, are two of four that my sister found in a field outside her work last June. They were starving--literally skeletons with potbellies; my sister found homes for their brothers we called Hurley (who was renamed Bob) and Jack (who was renamed Viggo). This last November, I had the strongest feeling that I had to go to Subway to get lunch before work. I don't have a car, so I walked a mile to the restaurant, and on my way back, I found another kitten, a light-dusty orange; his name is Dusty. I think Dusty has become my mom's, which is okay, because I think Kamea has become mine. Mika hates Dusty and he's terrified of her, so they have to be kept separated. Mika and her sister live in my room (Mika is a lovebug, and she taught herself how to fetch--I'll throw a toy, and she'll bring it back repeatedly. Or, more often, she'll bring me the toy!)

And then there's Cielo, who had a broken leg and was old enough to have full feathers, but too young to actually fly with them. I once had a baby California quail, which had been attacked by a cat, and the woman who found him was my dad's boss, and he brought the bird home for me. But Shiloh only lived for thirty hours. :-( That was heartbreaking. As much as I'm now enjoying pigeons, I think as far as birds go, quails will always be my first love.

Guess that's it for now.
Rach

[BirdDogg10]

First off, I'm an African American,(Well not completely). My family has a pretty interesting mix such as: On my Mom's side of the family there's a mix of Cherokee native American, on my Dad's side there's Blackfoot Native American. We also have a mix of Dutch, Irish and our last name which is
"Clark" is brittish. But enough about my heritage, here's what you may want to know about me.

I've been animal lover for long time(Probably all my life). One of main channels I watched growing up was the animal planet channel. Although earlier in my life I never had much interest in pigeons except feeding flocks that were in the park, resterant parking lots etc... I never had much interest in them as I do now. But I have 2 interesting encounters with pigeons over time. My first one was about 7 or 8 years ago, this was at my Grandma's od house in L.A.(She sold the house in 1999 which caused us to move to Van Nuys,CA). But a coulpe months before we moved, some pigeons(They were feral blue bars) started building a nest on the rain drain that was right by our front door! I watched them build the nest and thought "This should be nice to see" but I was wrong. One night(I lost track of what happend) something landed on our doorstep.

It was the pigeon nest! the eggs were broken and the parents were gone. It wasn't a pleasant scene(well to me). About 1-2 years later, I had another pigeon encounter. It was at a Burger king resterant on Whilsire near La Brea in L.A. I threw some bread out for the pigeons that hung out in the parking lot, they all came over and ate the bread that I had thrown out. One of them I've nicknamed "Stubbs" was pretty quiet but he couldn't keep so well. The reason I named hi Stubbs was because he had a toe missing on one of his feet, other then that he was nice looking blue bar pigeon. One pigeon I had somewhat befriended from his flock was "Socks" she was all black with Amber eyes how I named her that was because she had white feathers on the feathered area of her legs. She was friendly but she kept her distance, which was ok since I had no intentions on petting her.

How I got interested in pigeons was from my friend Lonna, who owns several she's also sold a few of them. Now I'm currently waiting for if she has any available on my next trip to California. But incase you want to know about any other animals that have been in my life here goes.

Over the years I've owned serveral Goldfish and Fighter fish(a.k.a Simese fighting fish). My last fish was a green male Betta named Ted. When I first brought him home he seemed to be a little...well, shocked. But after some time he adjusted Sienna my beagle mix seemed to get a little jealous sometimes. Ted lived until March 2003 when I lost him to a ick parisite infection. He was a year old when he passed away(2001-2003). I still miss him though, I also lost my best friend of 11 years. Sienna my beagle mix, was the first dog I ever had. She was also my best friend, she passed away in September 2004 at the age of 60(in dog years). Since then we have another dog Bentley the pug. As tribute to Sienna I've made a website that focuses on her www.freewebs.com/sienna-beagle

I've even written a biography based on her. But incase you want to know about my interest in animals look no farther then what I've wrote here.

[andinla]

is clark also. Maybe we are related in some way? you never know..... usually I see clarks spelled with a e on the the end. e-mail me sometime of some of your relatives of the past ok...

Andi

ps i too have Cherokee native American in my bloodline... hmmmmmm ya never know email me some of your older relatives names ok

[BirdDogg10]

Will do Andi

[Lady Tarheel]

I thought I would bump this up so new members could post.

[Pisciottano]

Pisciottano was my mother's maiden name. She was of Italian descent. I use it in one of my four email addresses. On my father's side I am of Spanish and French descent. Most uruguayans are like that. No red indians in Uruguay. It would seem that Uruguay not being very mountainous the indians run away to other regions at the time the Spanish arrived. A more romantic version says that "they were very brave and fought to the last man"

As a child I used to have recurrent dreams about a bird flying into the place where I was, sometimes in my bedroom, the family car, the garage, etc. I always tried catching him but he always flew away. I was so obsessed by these dreams that once I prepared a trap on the flat roof of the house, something like a cage whose door would close if a bird got into it. I did catch a sparrow but he was so desperate throwing himself against the sides of the cage that I immediately let him go and never started again. Apart from that one of the nicknames given to me by my brothers was "golondrina" (swallow) because I was always wanting to "fly" away from home, which I finally did.

I joined the forum last year because a couple of pigeons had made a nest on my balcony. At a given moment I had the impression that they had abandoned the little one(only one survived) so I tried to get some help from the computer and somehow landed on your forum. Then this summer when the same couple came back to raise a new family I renewed the contact to get advice on many occasions. Well, that's my story.

[Pisciottano]

Nobody else to tell his/her story?

[mr squeaks]

Originally Posted by Pisciottano

Nobody else to tell his/her story?

Depending on the number of new members or those who haven't already posted, there can be MANY new additions or a few trickling in here and there...

I'm sure more will add as time goes on...

[Hillybean]

I'm located in Southern Indiana, where I've lived my whole live, so far . My real name is Hilary, but I go a by hil, hilly, my middle name and Hillybean. I have a pretty big family, sporting 9 living children, we're all pretty close. About eight years ago one of my older brothers (who I'm really close to)started calling me hillybean and it stuck . What made him come up with the name had to do alot with my height, yep that's right, I'm short (4 ft-8inches) . I use Hillybean as the user name on several forums and chat groups.

I've always loved animals. I've grown up mainly with dogs, fish, hamsters, G-pigs and a cat. When, little I always tried to help hurt animals. When, I was 12yrs old I started volenteering my time at a pet shop (handling the animals). Since then, I've learn how to hand raise several different animals. I'm also a companion to many.

About two years ago, while googling up on different pets I came across a posting about a pet pigeon. I started learning about them then. About a year ago I joined this forum and I was looking into getting a pet pigeon. Unfortunately, my health put getting a pigeon a hold. This summer I saved a baby house sparrow from dieing (hand raised it). It was able to be set released (not in the best way) back into the environment. I had kinda gotten use to handling it/caring for it . Then, started thinking about getting another bird, I then found all the information on pigeons that I had collected.

After reading up on them some more. I became active in the forum again and actually got my Pet Pigeon rescently !

I'll be starting college this Spring. I plan on taking two years of general studies, getting a Degree in animal science and the rest on becoming a vet. I've wanted to be a vet my whole life and that's never changed...
Just like my love for ALL animals.
Thanks-Hilly

[littlestar]

Sorry, I never saw this thread.

Here's my story.
I chose the name littlestar because of my starlings having stars on them. On one site I'm known as Littlefeathers the name of my first starling who was naked when I got her and when her feathers started coming out I would say to her look at your little feathers coming out and from that point on she was know as Littlefeathers. I'm asked all the time if it's an Indian name, I guess you could say it is. I do have a brother that was named Running Bear by Indians, and when he was a baby it fit him well .

From a baby I always had a love for birds and animals both. When I was little I used to find kittens all alone and I would bring them home and my mom would get so mad at me. Then as time went on if there was an animal hurt along the side of the road I would make my mom stop so I could help it. Well as I got older my love for helping somethings only got stronger. I helped bats, and even a opossum. Opossums believe it or not make wonderful pets, but the only thing with at is they when they are not is they seem to trust only the person who feeds them. As a kid I always wanted a pigeon, I guess it was because I spent a lot time around them. Where I lived before moving to NC I had many wild pigeons by my house and every morning I would go by them and talk to them, I didn't miss one day. I also had a sparrow and squirrels that come over to me if I was outside eating, and I would share my food with them. My mom who passed away in 2001 always said to me, you will never change, you are one that will always help anything in need. You know she was right because I'm still helping little ones in need. My first bird I saved was a starling, then a pigeon that was caught by a cat, and then more pigeons, starlings, and other birds.

I joined this forum because I had something in common with y'all, pigeons and a love for them. I'm glad to be here with such wonderful people.
Mary Ann

[Pisciottano]

Nobody else to tell their story??

[Lin Hansen]

Gladys,

Thanks for bringing this one up to the top again.

Maybe some newer members will share their stories.....hope so!

Linda