Feeling a bit frustrated and stupid. I think Hilda, the golf pigeon, is in fact a Harry. Saw ‘her’ cooing and strutting ‘her’ stuff to one of the female pigeons in the resident aviary. I really do have the worst time trying to guess the sex of a pigeon.

You’d think it simple: Males dance to females; females don’t dance like males!

However, both Dora and Georgie – who are proven females (the ultimate proof: an egg pops out of them!) – coo and dance to me like males do. So you can understand my confusion in trying to sex a pigeon (please try… don’t lose faith in me just yet!! )

Also, to add to my confusion, sometimes I’ve seen the male pigeons in the aviary dancing to other males – and to my eye the song and dance looks just like a courtship dance – however, it could be a territorial dance or other emotion/purpose. I cannot always determine the difference.

I think that I need to spend a day or two living in a pigeon aviary to really get to the bottom of their behaviour. Pigeons keep surprising me with their character and behaviour, and there is a lot to learn about them. Learning about pigeon behaviour from two imprinted and disabled pigeons really isn’t the best way, since their upbringing and circumstances are quite unique and they are not at all like wild feral pigeons. I can imagine that different fancy pigeon breeds also have unique behavioural characteristics.

I know I keep saying ‘one day’, but really, one day when I have a pigeon aviary for disabled and other pigeons that need to be kept in captivity I will learn so much from them. I really cannot wait.