[TAWhatley]

Well, my birds have surprised me again.

Darth Vader (WOE) became a widower last year, and I thought he had taken up with Cameo (Frillback). I KNOW I saw them billing not too long ago. Turns out that Darth Vader has actually paired up with Aspen (Fantail and now known to be the DAUGHTER of Castor and FanFan). They are proudly and diligently sitting on two eggs for the past three days or so now.

In another aviary, it appears that Silver (banded and presumed to be some type of Tumbler, but don't really know) has taken up with a big, beautiful, unbanded and unnamed white pigeon. They have one egg as of today and are hard at work adding to their nest.

Assuming these babies hatch, they should be some interesting looking little ones and hopefully will grow into lovely adults.

Aspen and Darth Vader on New Year's Day 2007. They definitely were not a pair then .. Aspen was hardly more than a baby and Darth was mated to Stinky.

Cameo who I thought was Darth's chosen:

Have to go look and see if I have pics of Silver and the white mate.

Terry

 

[philodice]

Wow. You have some beautiful and lucky birds in your aviaries.

 

[Skyeking]

Congratulations Darth and Aspen. You will have a couple of REALLY GOOD LOOKING kids!!

Cameo is no slouch in the looks dept. either...

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Rooster2312]

How nice that Darth has found love again with Aspen! Congratulations!!

Lindi

 

[maryjane]

Gonna be some beee-yoooou-teeful babies!

 

[FloridaLuv]

..........Seems like Darth has chosen a girl with less "Fro" maintaince...lol.... ( more princess Leah style) But If I do say so myself, I LOVE Cameo's " curly Fro"..... so either way ... I think he's one LUCKY lil' guy to have the pick of such beauties! CONGRATS..... Can't wait to see the babies!!!!
Jenn

 

[amyable]

Oh they are so beautiful, what stunning looking birds.

It will be very interesting to see the babies when they develope.

Janet

 

[TerriB]

So glad Darth found a new mate - and a very attractive one, too! Must be spring, all these pairings. Gonna be some adorable babies!

 

[TAWhatley]

Thanks everyone! Darth and Aspen are certainly working hard on incubating their eggs. Sadly the eggs of Silver and mate were both cracked when I checked on them this morning. Perhaps they will try again .. we'll see.

Terry

 

[TAWhatley]

..........Seems like Darth has chosen a girl with less "Fro" maintaince...lol.... ( more princess Leah style) But If I do say so myself, I LOVE Cameo's " curly Fro"..... so either way ... I think he's one LUCKY lil' guy to have the pick of such beauties! CONGRATS..... Can't wait to see the babies!!!!
Jenn

LOL! Great post, Jenn! Yes, Cameo definitely has some "maintenance" issues with all those curls, but then so does Aspen with that big beautiful fantail!

Terry

 

[spirit wings]

Im in love with Aspen...Ive seen her pic before and totally fell in love. the others are pretty too of course, just she is perfect dove like color and that tail !

 

[TAWhatley]

Im in love with Aspen...Ive seen her pic before and totally fell in love. the others are pretty too of course, just she is perfect dove like color and that tail !

Thank you! Here's a better pic of her:

Terry

 

[Lovebirds]

OH goody! MORE babies.........these should be interesting............

 

[TAWhatley]

Deadbeat Dads ??

Well, I think some of my pigeons are either very strange or their internal clocks are off. Every time I've checked the two nests that are going, the hens (Aspen and Silver) have been sitting on the eggs. Silver didn't waste any time in replacing the eggs that were cracked and had to be tossed. Today I checked about every half hour, and it was just a few minutes before 1 PM when Darth and El Blanco finally got on for their shift.

Last week I found Pepper sitting on Aspen and Darth's eggs with her brother and nestmate, Parfait, hovering nearby. Uh Oh, I thought .. don't tell me these two want to be a pair! Finally Aspen got back on duty and Pepper and Parfait went on about their business.

Aspen and Darth have been a bit flaky about their nest duties, so I'm not at all sure there will be any babies for them this time around, but we should soon know. Silver and El Blanco have been quite dedicated with Silver taking most of the duty.

If the Dads are as shiftless at caring for the young as they have been about nest duty, the poor Moms are going to have their work cut out for them.

Terry

 

[TerriB]

Maybe the Daddy mode will get stronger as their hormones build. Feeding some hemp seed might help with that, too.

 

[TAWhatley]

They are still deadbeat Dads, Terri. They take over their shift so late in the morning and give it up so early in the afternoon .. poor Mom birds here. I rather doubt that any of these eggs will hatch, but we shall see shortly.

Terry

 

[TerriB]

It's funny how the drive to set eggs varies between birds. Both Walter and Charlie love to set on the eggs. Charlie will sometimes wedge himself under KD and pop her off the nest, all the while she's grunting in protest! Bliss is attentive but just wants to hang with his mate, Mieke. She has a heck of a time getting him to take his turn on the nest! If I ever need to foster a baby, it's going under Walter and Grace. It would be the best fed, best protected baby ever!

 

[TAWhatley]

Valentine's Day Babies!

Whoo Hoo! Silver and El Blanco have two brand new babies today! I just got a glimpse of them a few minutes ago. Both babies have very long and very thick down.

Nobody was on Aspen and Darth's eggs. I picked the eggs up to see if I could tell if there was anything going on, and both eggs feel like they are hollow. Thus, I'm sure there will be no babies from Aspen and Darth this time around, but I'm sure they will try again soon.

The parents of little Ebony and Ivory are on eggs again. I'm going to let them raise one more clutch just to see what we get this time (that's assuming all goes well and we do get babies). Ebony and Ivory are going to go live with George whenever we can find a time to make that happen.

Terry

 

[TerriB]

Congratulations on Silver and El Blanco brand new babies!

 

[della]

I do hope Aspen and Darth Vader sit again - they are both stunning birds and make such a cute contrasting couple. Keep us posted!