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BirdWear - Custom made nappies/diapers for pigeons and chickens.
Matilda's List - An international list and directory of pigeon friendly veterinarians and rehabbers.
MickaCoo Pigeon & Dove Rescue - A division of Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue dedicated to the rescue of doves and pigeons in the San Francisco Bay area.
People for the Preservation of Pigeons - A blog that supports pro-pigeonism, strives to eliminate pigeon persecution and prejudice, and promotes the positive portrayal of pigeons in society.
Pigeon & Pet Chat - A forum where members can discuss all things about pigeons; whether they are pet pigeons, wild pigeons, fancy or homing pigeons.
Pigeon Aid UK - A site that provides advice for those who have picked up a sick, injured or baby pigeon and need guidance.
Pigeon and Dove Rescue - A website aimed at providing help for anyone that has rescued a pigeon or dove by providing details of pigeon friendly rescue centres, vets and guidance on how to care for orphaned, sick or injured pigeons.
Pigeon Angels - A forum dedicated to the support & care of all pigeons, feral or fancy, that find themselves in jeopardy.
Pigeon Blog - A bona fide urban pigeon telling it how it is for the pigeons of London.
Pigeon Control Advisory Service (PiCAS) - PiCAS specialises in the provision of non-lethal, holistic and sustainable bird control systems, which will result in a permanent reduction in bird numbers.
Pigeon Control Resource Centre (PCRC) - An online resource for anyone with a pigeon-related problem. All information and advice provided on the website is geared towards completely solving pigeon control problems by the use of humane and non-lethal control methods.
Pigeon Protection - Website aiming to provide accurate information about pigeons and pigeon control in all its forms and to prevent pigeons from suffering and dying as a result of human actions based on misinformation.
Pigeon Tales - Interesting blog following the lives of a family of feral pigeons living with the author.
Pigeon-Talk - A global forum open to all pigeon lovers.
Project PigeonWatch - Project by Cornell Lab of Ornithology that is involved in observing the behaviour and colour morphs of feral pigeon populations for scientific research.
Rescue Report - Wonderful blog about fostering and adopting pigeons (from MickaCoo Pigeon & Dove Rescue).
Urban Wildlife Society - Their mission is to promote appreciation for all animals, particularly pigeons, that share the city and suburbs with humans. The website is filled with information and articles about inhumane pest control and offers advice on alternative measures.
Wild Bird Fund - Website for the non-profit organization that provides assistance for wild birds, including feral pigeons, in New York City.
Pet pigeons - what we mean Explaining what we mean when we talk about keeping pigeons as pets. In brief: We mean keeping tame, imprinted or disabled pigeons that would not otherwise survive in the wild.
Hand-rearing pigeons - right or wrong? Controversial post on whether it is right to hand-rear a pigeon on its own and therefore potentially cause them to become imprinted on humans.
Invisible babies Why we don’t normally see baby pigeons, their growth rate (photos included) and info on what to do if you find a baby pigeon.
There are a few things Elmo is afraid of. In order of the most scary thing:
Hats and helmets – he’s scared of anyone wearing a hat or helmet.
Vacuum cleaner – but then again, who isn’t?
Feathers – yes, Elmo is in fact afraid of any feathers lying about, and will peck at them vigorously to make them go away. However, if we hand him a feather he will most likely take it to his nest as bedding.
Other people have told me that their pigeons are afraid of sunglasses and towels on heads. What about yours?
Things Elmo likes to attack:
Toys
Pens
My toes
My hands
Bizarrely, Elmo loves my heels! He’ll coo to them romantically and do a little dance, however, if I show him my toes, he’ll attack them.
Georgie likes: Revati (a.k.a. mummy), popcorn, peanuts, hot chocolate, brioche, cuddles, being sung to, baths and sunbathing.
Georgie dislikes: torches, camera light and socks on feet.
Elmo likes: Richard (a.k.a. daddy), popcorn, peanuts, cuddles, fluffy socks, shoelaces, baths, grass, earth, the colour green, cooked rice, and men.
Elmo dislikes: Georgie, hats, towels on head, pens, feathers and women in general.
Georgie no longer likes popcorn or peanuts, and I have no idea why, she just stopped eating them. But she will still try to drink my hot chocolate, although she is strictly forbidden to do so since chocolate is very poisonous to birds. She still hates any lights shining on her such as torches or camera lights. And she loves to peck at socks, especially if you wiggle your toes.
Elmo likes to sleep a lot. He’s at that age (coming up to 12 years old this year) that he nods off at any opportunity (in between chasing toes and attacking toys – tiring stuff that is!). So this week I’ve caught Elmo taking a nap in various locations. It seems he’s trying to find the perfect spot.
First I found him on the fluffy mat:
Then next to the window:
And today I caught Elmo taking a nap next to Georgie’s nest, the silly boy:
Georgie is sitting on (infertile) eggs again (she laid a new pair this week) and for some reason Elmo decided to sleep near her. I have no idea why since he hates Georgie. And as you can imagine, Georgie was not impressed with the close proximity. She’s very protective over her eggs and doesn’t like to be disturbed. So she quickly told Elmo off:
I often get asked what many might view as a simple question:
“How can you tell if a pigeon is male or female?”
Telling the sex of a pigeon is actually quite difficult. Even with years of experience people can still get it wrong. However, there are two methods that give good results.
The other method is even less intrusive: Simply wait to see if your pigeon lays an egg!
I’ve had a look through the few books I have about pigeons and found this about sexing fancy pigeons (not ferals):
“Sexing young birds with any certainty is 50-50 at best. … Older birds of some breeds can be more reliably sexed, once you gain a little experience. In most breeds, the male’s head is fairly round, but the top of the hen’s skull will typically have a flattened area. In some birds this can be quite pronounced, but again, this is not true in all breeds. The only surefire way to tell a bird’s sex is obvious – the one that lays the egg is the hen, for sure!” (Vriends and Erskine, 2005, page 11 and 14)
“With pigeons the difference between males (cocks) and females (hens) is difficult to see. Sometimes the cocks are a little bit rougher around the edges and a little heavier. The head also offers some clues when trying to determine the gender. This however does depend on breed. The real difference can only be determined through their behaviour. A cock only shows that he is a male when he becomes an adult.” (Rijs, 2006, page 48)
Many people will tell you their method of sexing pigeons is the way to go, such as checking the shape of the head, tipping the bird onto its back (please check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I4iU4KTJRo), checking the length of the toes, etc., however, I believe that there is no real science behind those methods and you may get an incorrect answer. This is obviously bad if you’re trying to buy a mate for your single pigeon.
Generally speaking male pigeons behave differently than females. When they become sexually mature they’ll start to look for a mate. Hinsaw Patent (1997, page 39-38) has this to say about feral pigeons in the city: “Almost any time a flock of pigeons walks about on the sidewalk pecking up bits of food, at least one male bird will be trying to impress a female. He puffs out his neck feathers so they gleam in the sunlight, and he coos softly as he struts about. The females are just as likely to ignore him as to pay attention.” Sound familiar?
Males will do their strutting dance to females, so if you see the dance, it’s usually a male pigeon. For illustrations and videos of the courtship dance, please visit: Pigeon courtship – romance is alive!
However, just to confuse you, I have found that tame/imprinted female pigeons will behave like males towards humans. So you may think you have a tame male pigeon who is cooing to you and dancing about, but in fact it may be a female pigeon who’s trying to get your attention. And since you’re obviously not giving her the right pigeon mate signals, she’s taking on the male role to ensure the relationship is going ahead.
If you have a tame pet pigeon who thinks you’re his or her mate, they will soon want to mate with you and, if they’re female, lay eggs. From my experience with tame pigeons, if the pigeon mates with your hand or an object (by rubbing its vent against you or the desired object) then the pigeon is male. If, when you pat its back, the pigeon crouches down and presents its vent to you (flattening its back and moving its feathers away from the vent) then you have a female pigeon.
Example of female presenting (0:08 and 0:34):
Example of male mating (Elmo isn’t too good with his balance so he cannot actually rub his vent against us – which is good for us!):
And of two pigeons mating (0:29):
Did you notice the male pigeon crouch down (0:42) when the female was walking towards him as if he was presenting himself? Interesting behaviour from a male.
I’ve not tried the mirror method with my pet pigeon, Georgie, because she cannot see properly anyway – and we know she’s female already because she lays eggs. Elmo ignores the mirror but we know he’s male, so you can take what you want from all of the sexing methods. If in doubt, DNA sexing is your best bet!
I love what this man has written about the subject – point three is excellent! – but I don’t suggest the first method at all:
Posted by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten on Apr 15, 2007
It is very difficult to determine the sex of a pigeon. There are three ways to do it:
1 – Check their reproductive organs
Not the outer ones but the inner ones. Pigeons genitalia all look alike so you will have to cut them open to actually see what you want to see.
2 – See who goes on top
There isn’t much variation in the sex life of a pigeon. Males go on top. No Kama Sutra here. Fortunately all they do is eat and, well you know, so you won’t have to wait very long to see that happen. But you do need 2 pigeons and some patience.
3 – look at their faces
Yes, pigeons have faces just like humans.
It takes years to be able to read the face of a pigeon. I kept up to 30 pigeons as a kid so I can tell the sex of any pigeon just by looking at it for 2 seconds. Just like with most humans. Humans have the added benefit of clothing, hair and breasts (or not) but even without that a face looks feminine or masculine.
I thought about that as I was watching the Dutch version of Dragons Den. The investors try to look under all those feathers but up close all excel sheets look the same. They try to see who goes on top but then you would have to wait until the entrepreneur meets an actual client.
But once you have met enough starting entrepreneurs one look at someones face is usually enough. You know what you have got and who is a good bet and who isn’t.
Pigeon people can be so ridiculous sometimes. Well, at least in this household.
I’ve noticed a few silly things we do that have seeped into our normal behaviour. One is that whenever Georgie raises her wings in the air we do the same. Here’s what I wrote about it in 2010:
“…Georgie has an odd behaviour when she’s broody. Occasionally, and quite suddenly, she’ll lift both wings straight up a couple of times. She doesn’t take off or get up for a stretch, she simply raises her wings then settles back. Not sure what that’s about, but everytime she does both Richard and I raise our arms in response. It’s become a little game of ours. We’ve even done it when we’ve had guests over. … I know, we’re weird pigeon people.” (from Georgie eggbound)
Another thing we do is shout “Pigeon!!” whenever we see one on TV (e.g. in an advert or movie). I guess we should develop this into a drinking game.
And then there’s The Running Game! Elmo loves to chase things and will run after Richard if he runs away – it’s a fun little game they play sometimes.
…
On a totally different subject, here’s Georgie girl falling asleep on the sofa. She’s sitting down in a funny position and I managed to take a photo without disturbing her.
I tried to take a few relaxed photos of Georgie (she doesn’t like the camera light) and I managed to get a few before Elmo jumped on the desk, wanting a piece of the action. He then tried to mate with my hand before deciding it wasn’t good enough and attacked it!
On the sofa enjoying a TV programme. When I turn my head to see what Georgie is up to I see that she’s on the backrest trying to feed the corner of a cushion. … What a silly girl! She has the cushion in her beak and she’s shaking her head about, trying to regurgitate a bit of food. Then she swings around and dances up and down the sofa backrest before presenting herself to be mated. I just turned back to the TV, totally incapable of commenting on her outrageous misplaced behaviour.
Later that evening I find Elmo picking bits from his mineral pick-pot. He LOVES his pick-pot, so much so that the white patch of feathers on his chest have now turned pink – from all the time he spends leaning against the red minerals!
I tried to take a photo of him with his head in the pot but Elmo became too excited over the camera and wasn’t cooperating. Sadly, this photo doesn’t show the delicate shade of pink his feathers are now. They may look white, but trust me, they are pink!
What a glorious day it has been today! Since the sun decided to make an appearance I quickly set up the run in the garden to give Georgie and Elmo a chance to be out in the sunshine.
And they loved it! It’s been a while since they’ve been outside and they enjoyed every opportunity to soak up some rays (the sun started to play peek-a-boo behind some clouds) and to peck at the grass and earth.
Pretty Georgie
Since both Elmo and Georgie are disabled and cannot fly properly, we put them in the run for their own safety (not at the same time otherwise Elmo would attack Georgie!). I also had Georgie on the grass outside of the run for a while (when it was Elmo’s turn in the run) and kept a very close eye on her in case she decided to flap into the air and be carried away by the wind.
Elmo is usually a bit scared in the garden but today he was a champ. He saw a bit of dirt and started pecking at it and then preened himself in the sun. He wasn’t bothered by anything.
Elmo pecking at the ground
Elmo in the run
I took a little video of Georgie but she wasn’t sure about the camera (you can see her backing away at the sound of the camera in the beginning and end of the video).
After yesterday’s egg laying drama (please read: Valentine present) Georgie is happy sitting on the egg in her own nest. I guess we’ll get a second one tomorrow, although last time Georgie only layed one egg.
I do end up missing Georgie’s company and attention when she’s incubating but I know that it’s probably better for her psychologically to go through the motions than to interrupt her broodiness. She’s such a sweetheart (and sometimes a real pain!) and every day I’m in awe of my pigeons. They are amazing creatures and although their continuous pooping can be a real pain in the backside sometimes, their love and affection towards us is so inspiring.
So far we have captured on video Georgie laying an egg three times. Last year she had layed one in Elmo’s nest, but that time he was on the floor so he didn’t know it.
We knew one was imminent from her behaviour (nesting and mating displays), dropping consistency (very loose) and body posture (arched lower body and tail feathers), however, her decision on where she wanted to lay the egg took us by surprise.
At around 8pm Georgie raced across the sofa from her end, climbed over Richard, and jumped onto Elmo’s nest with him still in it!! We quickly removed her before Elmo attacked her and placed her in her nest, however, she had made up her mind and wasn’t going to change it! Georgie raced across again to Elmo’s nest, so this time Richard covered Elmo so he couldn’t see her, and Georgie settled down next to Elmo and laid her egg.
Georgie (right) with Elmo (left) in his nest.
Georgie lays her egg! Elmo has a look to see what's happening.
After Georgie had laid her egg (which is infertile, by the way) we placed her and her egg in her nest but unfortunately Georgie doesn’t recognise it as her own and is trying to get back to Elmo’s nest. Oh dear. Elmo is keeping her at bay with threatening pecks but I think I will have to take the egg away to stop Georgie from being too broody and to stop her harassing Elmo.
We caught the egg laying on video. The egg appears towards the end (2:27).
Humans don’t have the monopoly on motion sickness. Many species can become ill from travelling in a car, something that I never really thought about before – so when my semi-blind pet pigeon, Georgie, started to throw up during car journeys, I was a bit surprised. My poor girl – it must be worst for her since her vision is blurred already from her scarred eyes. (Read up on the causes of motion sickness: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Motion-sickness/Pages/Causes.aspx).
Elmo, on the other hand, is a trouper in the car. Nothing in the car fazed him. When we drove down to Cornwall (a 6 hour journey for us) Elmo was quite content in his travel cage – eating, sleeping and cooing happily. No motion sickness for him. (We didn’t take Georgie with us because we already knew she didn’t like travelling. She had to stay with a pet sitter.)
There doesn’t seem to be much online about motion sickness in birds – only the usual instructions on slowly introducing longer car journeys to help the bird get used to the motion (which I don’t think would work with Georgie because she vomits after 10 minutes of being in a moving car) – and some people suggest giving ginger or camomile tea to sooth the gut. I haven’t tried those on Georgie yet since we haven’t had the need to take her anywhere lately, but one day I’d like to take her on holiday with us so we need to have a plan in order.
I would really appreciate hearing your experiences with motion sickness in birds – particularly pigeons – and if you know more about the science behind it all, please let me know!
