[RueBehavior]

Hello! I am new here, and excited about joining as I have become a huge pigeon lover in the last two months.

I moved into an apartment almost two months ago, where i have a flock of pigeons as my neighbors, lol. They live right outside my window. Two of them have their nest on the window ledge that is right across from my window. So for the past two months, i have seen these two pigeons almost 24/7... well excluding the times i am gone, which isn't often.

I am writing this because about 5 days ago one of their eggs hatched. I know this because when the female took over sitting on the nest, she picked up an empty egg shell that was cracked open on top... and flew it out of the nest as she was wanted to get rid of it to keep her nest neat and tidy.

Well i havent seen any signs of the baby. No squeaks... nothing. I can't get a look really in the nest as the window ledge they are on is about five feet higher than mine.... i have even tried standing on my couch (which is right by my window) to see if inside the nest would be visible to me, but no. Sometimes the two pigeons will bend their head down like they are preening something and possibly feeding... but i haven't really seen them do that in the last day. But they still continue to sit on it.

What do you think is going on? Im assuming she laid two eggs as i have read that that's what usually happens. But kind of thinking that the first one passed away since i haven't seen any signs of him/her...... :'( i would assume that the second egg would have hatched by now if the first hatched 5 days ago???

What do you think is going on? Hopefully this all makes sense.

I know its silly, but i kind of consider these two pigeons as pets.... just because they have resided here since i first moved in and i have gotten to know them since... hopefully that doesn't sound weird or crazy??
Right when i moved in, i believe the male was trying to win over the female... as i don't really remember seeing her right at the beginning... but i could be wrong.
Anyway, I just spend a lot of time watching them as i find them fascinating, and entertaining. I try to speak to them a lot too so they get use to me and my voice. They know who i am and know my voice. The other pigeons get more freaked out by me, except for these two as like i said, i have been trying to form a relationship with them since i have moved in.

Anyway i hope someone can help. It really saddens me to think that one of the babies might have passed away.... :'(

 

[spirit wings]

Sometimes only one hatches , for many reasons, one not being fertile. Sometimes the second hatched is too weak or small to compete with a bigger sibling, esp if hatched a day apart. You will want to give them as much privacy as you can so they can feed their hatchling/s stress free. You will know if there are two or just one in about a week when they don't sit on them as much and take breaks .

 

[RueBehavior]

Thank you!

After watching her this morning, I could tell there was indeed a baby in there... she seemed to be preening a baby like crazy. I thought i saw some baby limbs flapping around while she was doing this but that could have just been the pink on her neck that i was seeing.

And i have been leaving them alone, thank you. I have been keeping my blinds closed so i can give them their space.

What do they do when one of their babies die though? Isn't it hard for them emotionally to see a dead baby of theirs continuing to be in the nest?
I hate nature... hopefully a baby hasnt died.

 

[kiddy]

In my pigeon's first round of eggs, one hatched as scheduled but one never hatched, that was infertile.in second round of eggs both hatched on time but second one didn't survive being weak.so anything can happen.even many times both hatch and grow together so you never know. When one/both will grow up you will be able to see and don't forget to update here. Yes when you are seeing some pink it is a baby without feathers and they are feeding it so soon he will grow up and you will be able to see how fast they grow and within 15 days they will be covered with feathers and in a month wings will grow.so have a great time ahead with them. And btw you don't sound crazy , you seem to be a pigeon lover like all of us here.so enjoy neighbourhood and enjoy pt.thanks for your love for them.

 

[RueBehavior]

Thank you so much!!!!!

And I will definitely update! Thank you again!

 

[RueBehavior]

So there are two baby birds. I can now see them clearly when they are being fed. Soooooo cute! I have never seen baby pigeons before. Their heads are so tiny compared to their bodies and their necks are so long.
They are so cute! I am so happy both hatched!!!!
Just wanted to update on them.

The parents are doing such a good job! I am pretty sure this is their first time ever being parents, because i think the male and female only starting courting when I first moved in. I am so proud of them.

 

[kiddy]

So Great as both are alive!!! So you would not hate nature any more.
You can't say if it is their first time with babies, , they mate and lay eggs almost every two months.
Yes it is really good to see babies growing up so have a great time with them. The neighbourhood is awesome!!!

 

[RueBehavior]

Thank you

And yeah, I know, that is true. I said that because i think they first got together when I moved in to my place... from remembering back then, i don't remember seeing the female so much and going off his behavior, i think he was trying to win the female over right when I moved in. But i could be wrong.
I read pigeons mate for life, but it is possible one of them or both of them had mates before and maybe one left them or unfortunately one could have passed away.

So the reason i said i think they are first time parents is cause of this.. but yeah, you are right. I could be wrong.

 

[kiddy]

Nothing like right or wrong, just some possibilities.Since you observed them closely they may have their first round of babies together. They even may be first mates. Yes they usually bond together for lifetime but if anyone of them gets lost/dead they find new mates. So this is what life is. Once a hen pigeon of a pair was caught by a ceiling fan , the pair was there for years but we couldn't save the hen because of her wing was bleeding badly and bled to death so after her the cock would daily come to our roof cooing and calling her and we would feel so bad seeing him but then after 1-2 weeks he stopped cooing, might have understood and found a new mate.so this is how it goes. Life with happinesses and sorrows and all in all they go together....

 

[RueBehavior]

Aww the poor thing!! That's so sad she died.

I know sometimes they will die too after their mate dies because they are so heartbroken, but that goes with all other animals too.

How do pigeons normally react when a baby bird of theirs has died? Like say for instance they have two in a nest, and one dies while the other lives.. how do they handle the loss emotionally?

 

[kiddy]

Aww the poor thing!! That's so sad she died.

I know sometimes they will die too after their mate dies because they are so heartbroken, but that goes with all other animals too.

How do pigeons normally react when a baby bird of theirs has died? Like say for instance they have two in a nest, and one dies while the other lives.. how do they handle the loss emotionally?

I don't know if they die because of dead mate , people say they are good at moving on.
I had a weak squab dead on same day of hatch. Hen went inside nest and saw one baby dead, came out immediately and then took 2-3 rounds of nest but then settled in there hiding both the babies under her (one was dead). Me too felt quite uncomfortable so I took him out and placed infront of her for some time so she could understand he is no more.but fearing of infection to another baby after almost half an hour I tried to pick him out and bury but she started pecking me badly (that they usually do if you try to take out either eggs or babies off nest).but then I had to remove him and she continued raising up another baby. Actually we can't know what they think , we can see how they react but dont know how long they take to forget.they abandon infertile eggs and push off the nest and so the dead babies but probably they take some time to consider if one of them is dead. May be any other experienced may have inputs as well.I shared what I saw but I think too much for them.I consider them as family

 

[Miss-Sassypants]

You are too cute, Rue!

Thank you for caring for the pigeons, bless you! Perhaps if you leave some good food outside your window and a plastic bowl with clean water, that could help the parents get nutrition for their babies?

You can sprinkle some seeds (not to much!) at the balcony or something, I'm sure they will appreciate it!

Some good seeds are: red milo, white *****, maple peas, oat groats, austrian peas, whole wheat, safflower, white millet, canary seeds, vetch, buckwheat, rice, barley, flax seeds.

Do update us!

 

[spirit wings]

Thank you!

After watching her this morning, I could tell there was indeed a baby in there... she seemed to be preening a baby like crazy. I thought i saw some baby limbs flapping around while she was doing this but that could have just been the pink on her neck that i was seeing.

And i have been leaving them alone, thank you. I have been keeping my blinds closed so i can give them their space.

What do they do when one of their babies die though? Isn't it hard for them emotionally to see a dead baby of theirs continuing to be in the nest?
I hate nature... hopefully a baby hasnt died.

No there is no proof to show they mourn their hatchlings, They can be smart or crafty when it comes to survival, but emotions are not part of that. They would not notice it and continue sitting or they may fling it out, or even a predator could smell it and bring attention to the nest.

 

[Woodnative]

They care for their small babies with great tenderness. However if they die they rarely stay on them for long and will quickly begin courting and nestbuildng again. Likewise if squabs are removed or separated they will come and look for them but soon walk off. They may check again a little later. If a tiny hatchling accidentally gets flipped out of the nest, even though it might be in plain site they don't seem to recognize it (and have no way of carrying it back anyway). However when the squabs are older and "running around" they seem to easily recognize them as their own.
It is impossible to fully know what an animal is feeling. However, pigeons have a high reproductive rate and lose a fair amount of eggs and babies. Compare to humans which have a 9 month gestation and more than a decade of raising to do. I don't think it would be fair or make sense evolutionarily if pigeons grieved for a lost baby like a person (or perhaps another animal that invests much time into an individual offspring....e.g. elephant) would. Their reproductive clocks "reset" quickly.

Enjoy watching them. You will probably not bother them too much if they see you....once they get used to seeing you, and it is obvious you are not a threat, you become part of the "normal" around them. Pigeons are smart and learn quickly about their environment.

 

[RueBehavior]

Thank you guys!

 

[RueBehavior]

Update:
The baby birds are growing up. They have lots of hair and most of their feathers on their wings have grown in. They are still very small though. They still need to be fed by the parents. Today though, the parents were making me mad because they were both trying to get into the nest to hang out in, and it was scaring the baby birds. One was even pushed out of the nest because of this and it was really upsetting.the baby bird was so scared, and so wad the other one who didn't fall out. It had a hard time climbing back it but it did it. At least they aren't on a tree or else the bird would have fallen to the ground, causing injury and maybe death due to injury or it would just make it vulnerable to prey. But they live high up on a window ledge so if one of the baby birds fell off the ledge it would be a very bad ending as its far down and it would hit metal at the bottom..... so the bird would die from major injuriesand be in excruciating pain if didn't die instantly.

Im actually worried about when they learn to fly... because if they hop out into the air to try to fly and arent sucessful, like i said, they will be severely injured and die due to the injuries.

 

[kiddy]

Thanks for the update but sorry I wasn't able to log in to reply. Don't get worried about them falling during flights because they do not fall when they grow their wings instead they will land somewhere else or to the ground flapping their wings if they aren't able to land on some desired landing spot. Hope they must have started flying by now and you must be enjoying seeing them learning to fly.

 

[RueBehavior]

I need help. So out of no where a crow flew to the nest and scared the two babies away. Then I scared the crow away so he couldn't harm the new eggs in the nest..
Well the baby birds flew away but they still are not okay on their own... I say this as they never fly and they only did to fly from danger. They still are fed daily by the parents. But since this morning they have been away from the nest and they do not know what to do. The younger one who is maybe two days younger is scared I think.

What do I do? The other one is just hanging out on these stairs...

But they will starve.... since they are still relying on their parents for food.

Im not sure if I could get back there or if I should even try. There is a door outside that leads to this open space to where all these pigeons live but not sure if I could get through the door. And i worry I would get in trouble from my apartment manager.
And if I were to try to get the two babies they would probably fly away....

But I do not want them to starve.

 

[RueBehavior]

The are both almost a month old... On the 18th they should be a month old then

 

[kiddy]

Oh that's not good. Have they ever left the nest before?
Well as they are not a month old yet, they haven't grown their filght wings and tail feathers fully. They are easy bait for predators. Even I don't think they will be able to fly well if you try to catch them. They need to be fed. Have a close watch on them, if you see they aren't being fed by parents and not flying as well, they need your help. I don't know how apartment manager could reach but seriously I would try my best to catch and feed them if I think they need it tho it is always better if they are growing up with parents as they make them learn how and where to find food. You just keep an eye on them first and see if parents feed them, if so it is good but be aware that crows, dogs, cats, hawks etc . anyone can get them easily and when they are so scared, less likely they will return the nest. Hope they survive.