I have questions for any of you with experience taming/befriending feral ADULT pigeons. First a bunch of explanation, but if you have advice and don’t want to read, just know that I’m trying to befriend an adult male rock-pigeon who was hit by a car, whose first experiences with me all happened at a time when he was in major pain, getting vet care (poking and prodding an animal in pain), and he came to the logical conclusion that I’m a horrible, scary, no-good giant.
More detail:
Almost a month into my care, he’s now officially named Daniel. Yes, I do sing to him, and yes, the tune is from the Elton John song. “Daniel my pigeon, you are cuter than me! Do you still feel insane, to get back to your tree …” (Lyrics vary from one occasion to the next.)
After about a week and a half in captivity, I gave him the vet-recommended treatment for bird-fleas and mites. I thought, “Hey, why don’t I put on gloves and a mask when I do this, so he associates the mask and gloves with evil-human behavior, and my normal face and hands with not-that?” Alas, that occurred to me after I’d given him one treatment, so he already had opinions. I decided after that to drop the spray and just get some permethrin poultry dust. I didn’t want to do anything else to cement his negative perceptions.
That was when I realized that my whole bird-relationship understanding was skewed by the fact that I’d raised baby sparrows and rescued injured wild birds—NOT dealt with an injured ADULT bird. I wouldn’t expect a raccoon to warm up to me in just two or three weeks, so it’s not reasonable to expect Daniel to start warming up to me that swiftly. I gave him two days of a virtual silent-treatment. No looking at him. No reaching in to try to stroke his head; only changing his water and food. His cage (soon to be replaced by a loft, but it’s not finished yet) is in my bedroom, and I’ve been sleeping in the living room at night so he can have undisturbed sleep, not feeling the need to be vigilant.
We’re having some less-tense moments, and he’s curious about me now, and more willing to tolerate my interest in him. Still doesn’t want me to touch him, though.
In the first week he was here, before I got the huge bag of pigeon-pellets from Mazuri, I gave him some maybe-treats; acorn grubs, butternut squash, raspberries, tiny cut-up apple pieces. I think he ate the acorn grubs and the butternut squash. I understand they like sunflower seeds, so I need to get some of those. I haven’t been giving him treats after that, mostly because I wanted to wait until I have a better sense of everything, and because at some point I want the treats to be coming directly from me, during out-of-cage time, drawing him closer to me.
At any rate; I’m open to any suggestions on how to get him used to me, how to get him to consider me as a nice creature who can pet him on the head, perhaps even invite him to come snuggle with me. I think my expectations are a lot more reasonable than they were even a week ago; Daniel has his own opinions, and he learns quickly, but he’s smart not to trust a large predator. What are some ideas you have about what might accidentally give mixed-signals, what to avoid doing around him that I might not think of as scary, but that he wouldn’t like? How did you get your wilder birds to start considering you as a more friendly animal in their environment?
Thank you, folks! All the advice I’ve received so far has been very helpful, and I really appreciate it!
~KT and the Paranoid Pigeon
More detail:
Almost a month into my care, he’s now officially named Daniel. Yes, I do sing to him, and yes, the tune is from the Elton John song. “Daniel my pigeon, you are cuter than me! Do you still feel insane, to get back to your tree …” (Lyrics vary from one occasion to the next.)
After about a week and a half in captivity, I gave him the vet-recommended treatment for bird-fleas and mites. I thought, “Hey, why don’t I put on gloves and a mask when I do this, so he associates the mask and gloves with evil-human behavior, and my normal face and hands with not-that?” Alas, that occurred to me after I’d given him one treatment, so he already had opinions. I decided after that to drop the spray and just get some permethrin poultry dust. I didn’t want to do anything else to cement his negative perceptions.
That was when I realized that my whole bird-relationship understanding was skewed by the fact that I’d raised baby sparrows and rescued injured wild birds—NOT dealt with an injured ADULT bird. I wouldn’t expect a raccoon to warm up to me in just two or three weeks, so it’s not reasonable to expect Daniel to start warming up to me that swiftly. I gave him two days of a virtual silent-treatment. No looking at him. No reaching in to try to stroke his head; only changing his water and food. His cage (soon to be replaced by a loft, but it’s not finished yet) is in my bedroom, and I’ve been sleeping in the living room at night so he can have undisturbed sleep, not feeling the need to be vigilant.
We’re having some less-tense moments, and he’s curious about me now, and more willing to tolerate my interest in him. Still doesn’t want me to touch him, though.
In the first week he was here, before I got the huge bag of pigeon-pellets from Mazuri, I gave him some maybe-treats; acorn grubs, butternut squash, raspberries, tiny cut-up apple pieces. I think he ate the acorn grubs and the butternut squash. I understand they like sunflower seeds, so I need to get some of those. I haven’t been giving him treats after that, mostly because I wanted to wait until I have a better sense of everything, and because at some point I want the treats to be coming directly from me, during out-of-cage time, drawing him closer to me.
At any rate; I’m open to any suggestions on how to get him used to me, how to get him to consider me as a nice creature who can pet him on the head, perhaps even invite him to come snuggle with me. I think my expectations are a lot more reasonable than they were even a week ago; Daniel has his own opinions, and he learns quickly, but he’s smart not to trust a large predator. What are some ideas you have about what might accidentally give mixed-signals, what to avoid doing around him that I might not think of as scary, but that he wouldn’t like? How did you get your wilder birds to start considering you as a more friendly animal in their environment?
Thank you, folks! All the advice I’ve received so far has been very helpful, and I really appreciate it!
~KT and the Paranoid Pigeon
