[gillymcd]

Hi
About an hour ago I heard a thump at my patio doors. When I looked to see what the noise was, I saw a young pigeon and an adult pigeon on my doorstep (there was also a stray feather on the window, so I assume it banged into the window). The young pigeon looked in a bad way and the adult seemed to be doing something with its beak (bit like mouth to mouth...?)

I went to the kitchen and threw some bread out for them and when I came back the adult pigeon was gone but the young pigeon looked much better. It was moving about and walking up and down the ledge. It did this for a while then settled down. After this a few flies came near it and it began to get agitated and waked up and down again. It tried to get into the house and was tapping on the door.
I saw on your forum that you should give the pigeon something to drink so I got a bowl of water and took it out and set it beside it.
Unfortunately, I must have scared it and it walked off to the back of the garden and moved behind a tree. I brought the water close to it but didn't want to scare it anymore than I had.
I have a bit of bird phobia and really didn't want to bring it into my house.

The pigeon looked to be moving quite well and doesn't seem injured apart from the fact it's not flying off. There is a nest in the tree that it's sheltering under which I assume it came from. I'm not sure whether it is just stunned and I should leave it be or if I should be doing something for it.

Really hope someone can give me advice...

 

[little bird]

Nest in the tree????? Are you in the UK??

 

[Feefo]

The "mouth-to-mouth" was the adult feeding its fledgeling. You said the young one "looked in a bad way". As he was feeding there was probably not much wrong with it, but can you describe what you saw to concern you?

Can you pick it up (or get someone to pick it up for you) and put it out of harm's way on the tree for a while. The parent birds will provide it with the food and water that it needs and you will be able to determine from a distance whether its inability to fly is because it is too young to do so or whether it is because it is injured.

As Little Bird's post about gardens suggested, if you are in the UK or Europe then it is most likely to be a wood pigeon that you are watching (the parent bird would have a white band on its neck). Can you have a look at its tail and tell us how long it is? That will help us calculate whether it is old enough to have left the nest.

Cynthia

Cynthia

 

[gillymcd]

Yes, I'm in Northern Ireland so probably is a wood pigeon. My main concern was that it looked a bit dazed at the start. It did move quite well to the back of the garden and managed to jump on a small rock behind a bush under it's tree. I was just concerned that it wasn't flying away. I can't see its tail as it's sheltered pretty well and I can only barely see its head so can't tell how old it is. The branches of the tree are too high up to place the pigeon in them.

 

[Feefo]

Is there anything that you can use to lift him into the tree? It wouldn't be necessary to touch him, you could get him to step on to the head of a rake and lift that up to the tree. At the moment the main threat is from predators.

Cynthia

 

[gillymcd]

The tree is not that big I don't think the bird could sit on the branches without falling off. I can put a hanging basket in the tree, fairly high up and put the bird on it. My husband is a bit worried that the bird might panic and fall out of the hanging basket and kill itself.
Should we put it up there or leave it be?

Also got a look at its tail feathers and they are about 2 and a half inches long...

 

[little bird]

The basket is an excellent idea. Hopefully the baby and the parents will consider it a substitute nest. Keep an eye on it as the baby is definitely too young to be out of the nest and flying as yet.... most likely he fell accidently in the first place. He can probably ''glide'' but can't control his flight as yet....perhaps why he hit your window.