Pigeons

[ppppenguin]

Ah yes, the birds and the bees

Telling M from F in penguins is difficult for people but presumably easy for penguins.

[Terry]

Well, you should be the expert on that, Jeffrey!

[Refugee]

The big birds are nesting down by our local pond.
They will certainly see off any other birds that touch there nest.
I would have to wait for a change over or the one on the nest to get an itchy bottom before I can take a photo of the eggs for the count.
They hiss and peck if you try to count the eggs any other way.

[Crackle]

We believe the egg hatched yesterday, there was a slight change in the behaviour of the parents, a lot of head down fiddling with something.
Today we caught out first sight of the little squab, a pink head with grey fluff feeding from mums beak taking her "milk".

Mike

[Refugee]

The swans on our local pond are taking turns on the nest and glaring at a third one that is not family to keep it off the water.
The pond is not big enough for two pairs so the third one will have to go before the eggs hatch for sure.

[Crackle]

We were a bit worried last night as by dusk there was no sign of the parents and the baby was left on its own all night.
But mum and dad returned this morning at about 5:30 (I am always an early riser) and the baby looks fine.
Mike

[Crackle]

Here is a photo of Mildred about to dispose of some droppings. You can just make out the ghostly image of baby standing up in the background.
With mum standing at the front, every time I spoke and said "where's baby" it would stand up and then squat down again.
It was quite amusing, and clearer in real life, my camera just couldn't capture the detail.
   
Mike

[Crackle]

When mum and dad were both off the nest I took the opportunity to sneak in a little closer and took a slightly better photo, but the baby would not keep still.
The baby now has a name, "Gonzo", can you see the similarity.
   
Mike

[Crackle]

Just a quick update on how things are going.
The baby continues to grow and has been flapping some fairly large wings whilst being fed.
The mum looks like she has gone broody again, and has possibly laid some more eggs and Dad has been seen to add a few more twigs.
We have read is known that they start a second clutch before the first lot have fledged and dad does the work teaching the young ones to fly, whilst mum does the egg sitting. I suppose the young birds can also help egg sit whilst mum pops out for food.
It seems it is quite a well organised family life, my opinions of pigeons has gone up a lot whilst observing this young family of birds.
   

Mike

[Crackle]

Just a short update on the story of our family of feral pigeons.
The baby is fledged and is getting flying lessons from his dad. He is quite handsome with white head, grey body and lovely white flight feathers, a cross between his mum who is mostly white and dad who is mostly grey.
There were lots of days where he just stood on the front of the bird table and flapped his wings, there were many false starts, you could see him trying to will himself to jump off and fly but could not muster the confidence. The first day he flew he basically almost fell off the table whilst practising flapping his wings, but managed to make it onto the roof of the bird table, he looked surprised. The next day he made it onto the ground and back, then the next day onto the shed roof. Today he made it to the shed roof and the garage roof and over a few gardens and back to the roof of the house at the end of our garden.
Each time dad has been around, calling to him to join him and rewarding baby with a drink of pigeon milk when he made it.
Here he is on the corner of our shed with his dad.
   

Mum must be sitting on another batch of eggs, for the last couple of weeks at least, as the nest is never left unattended now.

Mike