[fergus_the_feral]

Hi all!

I just wanted to see what your thoughts were on my pigeon Fergus's behavior. (It's not problematic at all, in fact it's very cute and I'm just curious.)

I have a large dog and two cats. None of them are very interested in Fergus himself (although he is NEVER unsupervised outside of his cage, and I'm never more than a foot or two away from him). My Siamese totally ignores him, and Fergus ignores him, too. However, my tabby cat and my dog approach his cage a lot, looking for stray bird seed (I know, it's weird, haha). When they approach, Fergus (in his cage) does the cooing and bowing dance, and will even peck at them. I'm assuming this is a territorial display. Funny enough, my dog and cat will then walk away disinterested, and Fergus thinks he's a tough guy!

Does anyone else have experience with this? Do you think that Fergus thinks they're pigeons, or just flock members? He treats me like a flock member, pecking and wing-slapping when he doesn't want messed with. He is a rescued feral that I've had since the end of June this year.

 

[FredaH]

I've got three ferals and two tumblers and the ferals are interested in EVERYTHING, including my two terriers. If the dogs go near the cages they'll get the full works in pigeon dance rituals or warning 'growls'. What the ferals don't know is the dogs are only interested in any grain that's left on the floor after the birds have been put away - especially the corn. The dogs take no notice of the birds at all, the tumblers take no notice of the dogs at all but the ferals have something to say about everything, lol. Such characters they have.

 

[fergus_the_feral]

Haha, how funny! It's neat to hear that your ferals behave similarly to mine. He really does have a ton of personality and character.

 

[kiddy]

Interesting, pigeons do anything to show their power to defend territory. Amazing characters.
They fight me like the hell. One of my cock even pushes my hand back to the door of his cage whenever I put seeds and water there in his presence and growls and dances when the hand is out.
Really tough guys