Your "handle" and how you got started

[Maggie-NC]

Shi (Mr. Squeaks) mentioned that it would be fun to find out how we came up with our "handles" and I thought it may be fun to find out how everyone became involved with pigeons. So here goes my part.

The "Lady Tarheel" came about because North Carolineans are nicknamed "tarheels" and I am also a huge fan of the UNC Tarheel basketball team. I just stuck the "Lady" on to show I'm female.

I think I was born loving animals/birds. My entire family was always rescuing one critter or another, particularly my mother. There was always a rescued dog or cat we cared for and even though my mother was desperately afraid of dogs she usually wound up being the caretaker. She found an injured garden snake once and when I came home from school he was in a fishbowl on the piano. He stayed there until one day she put him out to sun and "Clarence" escaped. I have had pet chickens - one named Trudy who was blind and crippled and she lived a long time. We had one old rooster that stayed in the house until we went on a trip and a neighbor said she'd take care of him, and she did, right in a pot. Mother was so mad!

I married a man who grew up the same way I did with animals always around. He raised many pigeons when he was a child and has always loved them. Early in our marriage he rescued one pigeon and we kept him until he could be
released. The next bird we had was an Evening Grosbeak named Starsky (about 25 years ago). He was in our back yard with a broken wing and we
had him for a little over 3 years. We didn't get into the real pigeon business until my husband and I retired and he started walking several miles a day and began finding all these little fellows and bringing them home. Early on, we got in so many sick ones that we started looking around for help and found other rehabbers and veterinarians, took classes on bird rehab, read everything I could find and did a lot of it "by the seat of our pants".

Rehabbing is a little different from what most forum members do, we suffer more losses and have more disappointments BUT our successes have far outweighed the losses and that is what is important. We love what we do because we love these wonderful little pigeons.

maggie


June 15, 2009

Addendum to my "handle" post. Since I am more known by "Maggie", I decided to change my name from Lady Tarheel to "Maggie-NC). I still love the Tarheels though!!!!!

[pdpbison]

Hi Maggie,

Cool...

I would love to take some Classes on Avian and rehab matters! I do not think there are any here, tho'.

pdpbison occured because I needed a user name and could not think, so that name came easy, since my initials are 'P.D.P.', and my Workshop - Business is named 'Bison Studios'. If you google it, or google Philip Poburka, you will find mentions of my Tool Making, and some mentions of my Box and Cabinet Work, although my Workshop is occupied in many different small scale things in addition to these occupations. Sole proprietor, no one else but me doing stuff in there. Long hours, low pay, dim light, clutter, dust. The last of the 'old time' for-real Workshops for this town anyway.

My first Pigeon was one I saw laying in a buisy street, I made a u-turn and parked so as to momentarily protect it, as I got out of my Truck and examined it and gently scooped her up. She was unconscious, had been mauled by a Dog, and took three days to wake up. She had lots of punctures, a broken thigh and many missing Feathers.

I had nothing for prior experience or knowledge, but amazingly, she survived and got well over many weeks with no medications. She elected a mate which was a white and patches of pale grey Pigeon a Vet gave me that had been raised in a cage and had never flown and was grouchy for a long time, but these two made many truely beautiful Babys.

She was black with a white head tuft, long body and long wings and white primaries. Once she did start flying again, she was probably the fasted flier I have ever seen. She was an old Bird and had the larger areas around her eyes.

She ( who I had innocently named 'Elmo') and her mate, ( whom I had named 'Little Cloud') built a nest on top of my old Roll Top Desk, were tender and very dutiful parents to their many offspring, helped me raise various orphan Babys whom they accepted and fed and looked after, even as I filled in to give them resopites from the nest wwhen they were incubating or raising their own, and were sweet and charming Birds who flew out in the world every day.

Elmo loved storms, and the more lightening and thunder and heavy rain, the more she liked it, and would perch on the top rung of an old Ladder that leaned against the back of the house whenever we had a good storm here.

Well, having her at first, eventually led me to a Bird Vet here, who started giving me bring-ins they thought I could deal with...orphan Babys, injured but likely to get well adults, and so on, so that is how it started for me.

Bad thing about that Vet though, they would never share any real info or guide me or educate me, and really, probably did not know all that much about Pigeons to do so anyway, they did not know how to treat the Trichomoniasius, and I got my first info on that matter from a fellow who had Hawks...so all of my humble education happened otherwise than frm ny mentors or teachers, and slowly...until Pigeontalk!

Phil
Las Vegas

[dnrslucky1]

I have always been an animal lover and also have cared for many injured and orphaned animals! My favorites are raccoons, I raised one that was only a few days old, very tiny, eyes still closed! She "Fi Fi" was adorable, but come spring they always leave on their own! By the way I live on 3 acres in a very wooded area. As pets, I have an African Grey parrot, whom I rescued from a local pet shop for way more money than I could afford! But he was so lonely, nervous and loved me from the first time he seen me! He would bite anyone but me. 3 cats, 2 who I hand fed also. One was found ducktaped in a box on a 90 degree day, and was near death, the other one was given to me by someone who didn't have the time to bottle feed, and the third was a stray. Also 2 dogs, a Llasa Apso, also rescued from a pet shop for more than I could afford, but he had been in a small cage for 2 months and I couldn't stand it! A large German Shepherd that the breeder was gona destroy, but after some begging decided to give him to me! So as to dnrslucky1, My name is Denise for the d, n stands for and, my son-in-laws name is Rick for the r, s for plural, lucky is the German Shepherd's name as we rescued him together and I always use that handle on all forums so I don't forget it! Lol! My pass word is always my other dogs name. My pigeon interest came came as I am trying to save a little deformed, helpless Pigeon now named Peepers!

[upcd]

Unicorn, Pegasus, Chanelle,Debbie=upcd After that I thought of CD's with little wings flying all around. Started into pigeon at 10 years old with my 1 st pair of Indain Fantails. Got into many different breeds of pigeons threw the years. Also raised many different kiinds of animals. I have worked in Vets offices, Zoos, Pet shops. People have always brought the injuried animals. I tend to find the sick and injuried too. I just really enjoy working with animals. But pigeons are my favorite. I now raise Indain Fantails, West of England Tumblers ,Brimingham Rollers and Teddy Bear Hamsters. For pets I have 3 dogs, 2 cats,3 fish, and 2 rats. So the turth is out. I am addicted to animals.

[Victor]

Just plain ol' ordinary boring and basic VICTOR. Yup, that's me. But many of you recall me as Vdog505, but I already posted a thread titled "Vdog is gone"

I thought about creating a "special name" but I decided just be a regular ordinary me.

It is neat though reading the thoughts everyone else is sharing about their handles and the love that we all seem to have for animals in general.

Our hearts are focused on pigeons and birds in this forum, but we all have a place in our hearts for others as well.

We have an almost 18 year old mixed terrior-poo (Huggy) that is still quite active. When I look into his cataract covered eyes, I still see the love he has in them as he looks back at me.Loyal and faithful he is indeed.

Our other dog, a mixed long haired Dauschand (Sabastian), is learning many of the ways of his older mentor as he has been with us for a few months.Loyal and faithful he is learning to be.

Then comes the kitty we rescued many years ago, age is crepping up on him now, but he will probably not be replaced, as he is one of a kind, and protective of my pigeon Tooter when he is outside. A few days ago a stray cat that has been lurking lately, approached Tooters outdoor cage, and "Lil Kitty" put the cat in his place. I have not seen the cat since.

Then there is our squirrel we rescued last early summer named "Zipper". She is now an indoor pet and very spoiled. We just ordered an indoor acrylic cage for her, so now we will have a larger indoor home for my pigeon.She loves her weekly warm bath and to be petted behind her ears.

And of course there is "Tooter", a wonderful compliment to our animals that we have, not to mention the wild birds and squirrels that frolick in our wooded back yard. Our pigeon has inspired us to learn more about pigeons, truly unique, intelligent and beautiful creatures they are.

EDITED JULY 27,2006

Quite a few changes have occured since the last posting to this thread when we only had our single pigeon named Tooter. Many of you know that on December 31st a hawk had him but Tooter was able to fend off the hawk with a bit of help from me. Tooter fled the opposite direction and was gone for 7 and a half months til he miraculously re appeared on our roof top, and hopped into his cage. Quite a pigeon after 2 years prior being shot at twice. One pellet exited and the other is still lodged in near his lung. Tooter is quite the fighter...a hero in my eyes.

During his absence, we also acquired 5 more pigeons, mainly from wonderful members of Pigeon Talk, acts of love and compassion:

Beaskley

Rosco

Uchiwa

Barbie (this one we rescued...unreleasable)

Paris

In addition, my daughters gave my wife Bev an adorable puppy that we named Chewy for mother's day.

Our family has grown indeed!


Adding two Siblings born Feb. 9, 2007 ffrom Paris and Barbie:

Clayton

Emilie

[TAWhatley]

Well, I certainly wasn't too creative with my handle .. TA are my first and middle initials and Whatley is my last name ..

My first three pigeons were Ptero that I raised from a baby, my aged Traveler, and Stinky (aka Catherine The Great). Ptero totally stole my heart and Traveler and Stinky taught me just what very courageous and tough birds pigeons can be when faced with horrific injuries.

Traveler was found at the local Green Thumb Nursery with his head looking like raw hamburger. He was a long time healing and did lose the sight in one eye, but definitely rules the roost around here.

Stinky was found in a trash can at a park .. she was extremely emaciated and had a badly broken leg and had just been tossed in the trash and left to die. She stank so badly, that Stinkly was the only possible name. The smell wasn't from being in the garbage but from her body shutting down and literally devouring itself in her attempt to survive. She smelled terrible for a couple of months but eventually became a plump and shiny bird whose leg healed perfectly (thank you, Dr. Lee).

So, that's my story ..

Terry

[feralpigeon]

Hi Maggie,Mr.Squeaks et al,

I've always loved animals in general and the "family" pet was always really "my" pet, my grandfather was a doctor, so I even thought of becoming a vet....then I started the first grade and changed my mind
I was the official bleeding heart for animals in the family.

My 1st rescue was a moth, who I decided to "help". I put it in my shoe and covered the opening so it could, um, recover. Silly girl. That was my first HVAC lesson.....always have an air supply.

I first noticed pigeons in high school when I saw a pic in Look or Life of an old woman sitting on a New York Central Park bench covered with pigeons.....I decided then and there not to succumb to the aging process. Well, damn, some three decades later and not a year younger, I got a job overseeing the facilities for a non-profit group that dealt with the homeless in SF. Enter, the wonderful world of inner city pigeons.

At one of the facilities, one of the resident pijies adopted me. She would follow me where ever I went while there, including into the building to "help" me. When the flock would sight me outside and swarm me, she would wait by my car for me. As time progressed, her health was nose-diving and I was pretty upset by it. Folks started talking about the sickly pigeon as tho they were gonna get sick from her. I couldn't stand some of the attitudes about pigeons and started surfing for other info on the net. I found ray'njudy's story about Bernie on the internet, and some other positive sites, and then wow--Pigeon Talk. Since my heart had been stolen by this feral pigeon, well, you know the rest. I inquired here about the pij and eventually caught her and received help from this site for meds and care.

Dumpster Diver or DD, is now a permanent resident here at my home. As life would have it, she's caught the eye of a WOE tumbler, Sir Lancelot. As for those two characters, to be continued......

In the meantime I've found great joy/fulfillment in feral pigeons and being an honorary member of the various flocks.

fp

[nabisho]

I've been NAB since I signed onto my first dial-up BBS (he Motherboard) out of L.A. back in about 1985 using a Commodore PET and a Bell 113 moden, there was no Internet in those days, and speed was 110 bps ASCII text only. I hadn't had a pet of any kind for about 20 years when I ran into little George out back of the office in Nov. 2004. He was in pretty bad shape, legs paralyzed and I tried my best (with the help of all the fine folks here) but he died in about two weeks. It was about a month and I missed the little fellow a bunch so I emailed the lady that runs the Humane Society in Reno and told them George's litle story and ask if they ever got any pigeons in that couldn't be released to give me a call. About two weeks later they got in Gee-Two (stands for George Two) he only had one wing and was scheduled to be off'd because no one wanted a one-winged pigeon and they can only keep unwanted birds for a week or so. I went up and got him right away. Then one day last spring one of my coworkers called up and said his dog had bit a pigeon over in one of our buildings and he couldn't catch the thing, but it was hurt and hiding under the machines. So I went over and got the little fellow and named him Gee-Three, he had a crumpled wing and a punctured crop, but I got him healed back up and he's in pretty good shape now, but he can't really fly too well, he tends to crash and miss perches a lot, he wouldn't last long in the wild. So that's it, here in the high desert of the great American Southwest lives NAB, Gee-Two, Gee-Three and a whole yard full of bunny rabbits.

NAB :-)

http://nabshouse.20megsfree.com.20me...om/photo4.html

http://nabshouse.20megsfree.com.20me...om/photo5.html

[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!

[GimpieLover]

my first pigeon was Gimpie. i had found him unable to fly from lack of feathers and limping around the Mc Donalds parking lot. i have never been able to look the other direction at an animal in need. so i took off my expensive sweatshirt lol and scooped him up and continued to walk home. no real bird expirience except for my 2 parakeets, so i give the upmost thanks to everyone on this forum for all the help and advice they have given me. gimpies feathers have not yet grown back but he seems perfectly happy stuffing him self with sunflower seeds and checking him self out in the mirror the lilttle darling is even scared to be outside now. and my newest member was rescued from a horrible pet shop. no more for me untill i have my own place. then i have a feeling i am going to go pigeon crazy

[Pikachu23739]

Originally Posted by Lady Tarheel

Shi (Mr. Squeaks) mentioned that it would be fun to find out how we came up with our "handles" and I thought it may be fun to find out how everyone became involved with pigeons. So here goes my part.

The "Lady Tarheel" came about because North Carolineans are nicknamed "tarheels" and I am also a huge fan of the UNC Tarheel basketball team. I just stuck the "Lady" on to show I'm female.

I think I was born loving animals/birds. My entire family was always rescuing one critter or another, particularly my mother. There was always a rescued dog or cat we cared for and even though my mother was desperately afraid of dogs she usually wound up being the caretaker. She found an injured garden snake once and when I came home from school he was in a fishbowl on the piano. He stayed there until one day she put him out to sun and "Clarence" escaped. I have had pet chickens - one named Trudy who was blind and crippled and she lived a long time. We had one old rooster that stayed in the house until we went on a trip and a neighbor said she'd take care of him, and she did, right in a pot. Mother was so mad!

I married a man who grew up the same way I did with animals always around. He raised many pigeons when he was a child and has always loved them. Early in our marriage he rescued one pigeon and we kept him until he could be
released. The next bird we had was an Evening Grosbeak named Starsky (about 25 years ago). He was in our back yard with a broken wing and we
had him for a little over 3 years. We didn't get into the real pigeon business until my husband and I retired and he started walking several miles a day and began finding all these little fellows and bringing them home. Early on, we got in so many sick ones that we started looking around for help and found other rehabbers and veterinarians, took classes on bird rehab, read everything I could find and did a lot of it "by the seat of our pants".

Rehabbing is a little different from what most forum members do, we suffer more losses and have more disappointments BUT our successes have far outweighed the losses and that is what is important. We love what we do because we love these wonderful little pigeons.

maggie

you got an amazing life

[Pikachu23739]

I'm right know living with my mom and i go to serrano middle school going to San gorgia highschool

[andinla]

new members to post and read about everyone...

Andi

[christina11]

Well my first real pet pigeon was Todum I found him hiding near a church wall he was all scared and looked hungrey so I took him home.I had no Idea what to feed him im embaressed to say I actualy fed him bread and water the hold time of his little life then I started to add seeds but he turned out healthy and now I know not to feed a baby pigeon bread.

As Todum grew he followed me and danced and did everything a pet pigeon would do.Unfortunatly Todum was eaten by a family of racoons because I had a lack of experience and did not know how to house him.

After Todums death my dad took me to this auction and I got 2 pigeons Mountain who looked exactly like a bald eagle and Whitefeather who looked like a paint horse.
I had those 2 pigeons for about a month now and I went outside one day only to find Mountain dead In her cage I didint know why she died maybe from old age.After Mountain died I just played with Whitefeather and she grew so attatched to me and even tryed to follow me to the store.

Somtime's I could not play with whitefeather so I decided to buy her a mate and thats when I got Whiteriver the fancy footed crown headed pigeon also known as The king.
Now it took about 2 months before Whitefeather paired up with Whiteriver and when they did 2 eggs apeared and when they hatched only 1 survived that was Kyara the 2 diff coloured eye'd pigeon she was pure white with one big borwn patch on her back.

Later on a new pigeon was to come and when he did I named him the one and only Argranade as you all should know.
Months pased and Kyara and Argranade where full grown but sadly Whitefeather got killed by a coopers hawk and I still think of Whitefeather almost everyday.

My pigeons moved out of the house and into the making of my shed they where in this large cuboard thing that I then stuck there large cage in and at night I closed it with large strings and wires.Kyara was killed about 3 months from when I moved them outside it was a racoon and her body was torn all over the cage all I could do was swear and cry.

Ok this is getting long so Im gona make it short from here Ill just say the pigeons I sold I have some other birds but there not pigeons.

Spirirt sold her.

2 runts sold them.

Kestralfeet sold her.

2 pouters sold them.

1 Lahore sold her.

1 hommer sold him.

Swiftarrow died.

Now all I have is Argranade,Whiteriver,Lakote,Homming pigeon and a Pouter.

And I shall never sell another pigeon again because I love them all too much and I regret selling some of them.

[amandajay]

hi all, i'm pretty new here but enjoy reading posts and learning about pigeons and the people here. my name's amanda and my middle initial is "J" so i made it into "jay" so it would pertain to birds in some way.

i love all animals. when i was about 7 i found a mocking bird that had fallen out of it's nest, and despite always being warned not to touch them, picked him up and brought him home...it'a amazing how much those little guys can eat!! i spent hours digging worms out of our garden for "tweety." my mom was a substitute at my elementary school, and she brought him with her so i could visit him and feed him throughout the day. he was growing and doing just fine until a friend told my mom to feed him bread balls soaked in milk, which she tried...i'm heartbroken to say that was a horrible idea, and tweety passed. ever since, i've loved birds.

so for the pigeons... pretty unexciting story, a friend has racers and rollers and some lahores, and i visited him and got "bitten." i stumbled onto this website in my course of learning about pigeons before i acquired two lahores of my own. clive bird is a male lavendar lahore and midge pigeon is a black lahore. they're a little grumpy and wild, but we are getting along just fine. i guess they've decided not to have children yet, but maybe some day...

anyway, i really enjoy this forum. i don't have much to post about, but i love reading everyone else's posts, and everyone here is so kind and truly loves pigeons and animals in general. it's really nice.