Richard and I were on holiday recently and we sadly had to leave our two disabled pigeons at home, however, they were in the care of two lovely pigeon-sitters who ensured the Elmo and Georgie had everything they needed. This would usually mean human company as the top priority, however, this time both pigeons were broody and sitting on fake eggs the whole week. So it was an easy job for the sitters to come in and clean and give fresh food and water with Elmo and Georgie snuggled up in their nests (separate! Elmo sadly hates Georgie). I had to warn the sitters that Elmo WILL attack their feet since he gets very protective when he’s broody. I just hope he didn’t scare them away!

Upon returning home Georgie and Elmo decided to leave their eggs alone and snuggle up to us instead and so there was a happy home welcoming. And the weather stayed lovely so I was able to take them both out for some more adventures in the garden!

I think Georgie is the Sunbathing Queen!!

I love taking my pigeons out into the sunshine. They really enjoy it and love to explore the garden. I particularly love looking at Georgie in the sunlight. All the little feathers on her head and face shine and are really distinct. They look amazing! And Georgie has such a delicate little face, she’s a real stunner even though she’s not very colourful.

Since Elmo can see normally, watching him explore the garden is a joy. He peers into the grass to see if there are any clumps of earth he can peck at and eat, he’ll pick up different twigs and shake them about in his beak, and he’ll play with the long pieces of grass. Elmo often ‘tells’ me when he wants to go outside by standing near the front door. If I haven’t noticed him there he’ll fall alseep, and I’ll find him in that position later and take him out for a play in the garden.

Here’s Elmo playing with a stick:

Georgie preening in the garden:

Georgie wasn’t impressed that Elmo is stealing all her broody glory so she laid some eggs to compete. We now have two moody, broody little pigeons.

Ps. We moved Georgie’s nest out of the cat igloo bed so she can have easier access to food and water in her cage.

This year we’ve been blessed with a wonderful sunny May Bank Holiday weekend (in the South East of England at least), and I’ve certainly been taking advantage of it and had a wonderful time out with Elmo and Georgie in the garden.

It’s such a pleasure to know that my disabled, indoor pigeons are gaining so much from being in the sun. And I know they enjoy it too because of their behaviour. Georgie wouldn’t stop sunbathing – stretching out her wing and tail feathers to maximise their exposure to the sunshine. She was loving it! … When she started panting I knew she was a bit too hot so I gave her a drink of water and put her in the shade to cool off.

Elmo simply wanted to stand on the picnic blanket and preen by my side. He kept stepping closer and closer to me in between bouts of preening until he was right against my leg – which he then started tickling with his beak (as if he was preening it).

I really do hope this summer will be a sunny one so Elmo and Georgie have more goodness in the sun!

Earlier last week I saw a lovely brown coloured feral pigeon in our garden:

We’ve had one before (see: Brown pigeon) so it may be the parent of this one. Such a pretty colour!

No sooner had Elmo decided he had incubated the fake eggs for long enough (9 days) when Georgie thought it was her turn and laid an egg! So now she’s all moody and broody while Elmo is back to normal. Go figure!

Georgie lays an egg.

We were blessed with the sun shining throughout the weekend and so we spent most of our time out in the garden with our two disabled pigeons. They love to sunbathe and enjoy pecking at the grass and eating bits of dirt. I hope we have more sunny days so I can take them out often during the spring and summer. We sure need it after the dreary winter!

Looking at the photos I took of Elmo I can see how much he loved last weekend:

And Georgie certainly had fun:

Both Elmo and Georgie had a shower and bath this morning. We then took them out to dry in the sunshine and I must say it was such a lovely morning, so relaxed and peaceful. Our pigeons took the lead and showed us how to have a lazy Saturday out in the garden, preening and soaking up the suns rays. Pigeons know best!

Georgie (left) and Elmo (right) enjoying the sunshine

Georgie girl

Elmo boy

Elmo has a bit of a flap

Pigeons in the garden

"For you."

After coming back into the flat Elmo wanted to spend some time on the windowsill preening and watching the other birds flit about in the garden:

Aren’t the manuals appropriate for such a flight-challenged pigeon?

Georgie loves it when I sing or hum to her. She finds certain songs irresistible, such as ‘Mmm mmm mmm mmm’ by the Crash Test Dummies. She also likes the Dr Who theme tune.

I took a video of Georgie’s reaction to my off tune humming:

As you can see, Georgie gets aroused. … Silly girl. I often tell her off for being so rude. Georgie will present herself on odd occasions, sometimes without any obvious reason for her arousal. I guess she is just in love and likes to show it.

(As I’m watching the video Georgie is getting excited over hearing my voice through the computer!)

In other news, Elmo is still broody and sitting on his fake eggs:

I’m not sure how long we’ll allow him to incubate but he seems content enough to perform his ‘daddy’ duties for now. When Elmo gets bored of it all we’ll take away the eggs and hopefully Elmo will revert back to his normal cuddly cute self.

I’d like to leave you with some photos we took of us in the garden with Elmo and Georgie on a sunny afternoon last month:

Georgie laid two eggs in March (on the 24th and 26th) and after the second egg she had post egg-laying paralysis in her legs which she’s had in the past. Usually, after a few days Georgie is better, however, this time I was worried that she was struggling with the condition so I decided to take her to the vets for a check up. Since Georgie gets terribly car sick I thought it best to take her to the vets in our town, Tunbridge Wells, instead of driving 40 minutes to the avian vet in Maidstone.

I took Georgie to the vets I work for, Culverden Veterinary Group, and she made an impression. She didn’t peck anyone, even when a bright light was shone in her eyes! Amazing!! Here’s their Twitter tweet about Georgie girl:

https://twitter.com/CulverdenVets

“Georgie the pigeon visited TW with her owner recently. We hope her leg’s on the mend!”

https://twitter.com/CulverdenVets/status/319919270681264128/photo/1

Georgie is fine now, after the care from the vets, but she did throw up in the car even with only a 5 minute drive. Poor girl. I don’t think she’ll ever feel good in the car.

With the weather taking a turn for the worst – cold, windy and lots of wet white stuff falling from the sky – Georgie and Elmo have made the wise decision to hunker down for the day in the warmth and safety of our home. Georgie peered out the window this morning to “see” what all the fuss was about and turned round to let me know that she didn’t need to have another experience out in the snow.

Georgie

So she got fed some pancakes instead!

Pancakes!

Elmo didn’t want any, the silly boy. He decided the floor was comfy enough to nap on:

Elmo

Living with pigeons is amazing. The love and affection they show us is incredible and I truly believe that every child should grow up with pigeons to care for. You can learn so much from observing them. Pigeons are intelligent, comical, beautiful, loyal, and of course loving. I couldn’t imagine how my childhood would have been if I had been deprived of learning to care for animals or watching pigeons in the city. Animals brighten my day and those short times when I didn’t have a pet, I knew I was missing something special.

Although I never ever thought as a child that I’d end up with pigeons in the house. Dogs, rats, gerbils and guinea-pigs? Yes! But pigeons? Never even crossed my mind.

Nowadays you’ll often find me on the sofa with a pigeon by my side. Sorry, with a pigeon on me. Whenever I’m on the sofa Georgie will leap onto my lap, demanding to nestle down. Once settled she is the most content little pigeon in the world, all relaxed, safe and comfy. Elmo will usually be in his nest, twitching his wings and cooing softly to call me over. If I look at him he’ll go into spasms of excitment (i.e. the wing twitching goes up a notch and his coos increase in volume!) as he anticipates my hand coming over to stroke him. What a darling!

Having said all of this, there are days my pigeons drive me mad with their attention-seeking and demands. Take today, for instance. Georgie insists on sitting on my lap for cuddles despite me obviously being busy with my knitting. Georgie grabs hold of the needles and shakes them about, which of course makes it difficult for me to continue. If she’s quick enough she may even pull them out of the knitting, leaving me with open stitches just itching to unravel!! Infuriating… and yet, so cute. Even when I’m screaming in my head, I give Georgie a kiss and a cuddle and tell her how cute she is. Georgie is of course oblivious to my frustration. She simply accepts my affection and settles down for a nap. If I need to get up for any reason, I have to carry her with me.

Elmo is much the same – very needy! He likes to find places to attract me over to (e.g. Georgie’s nest) by cooing loudly and he won’t be quiet unless he falls asleep. … Which he usually does since I think he’s a bit narcoleptic. So I know that any cooing episodes from Elmo will be short-lived. Not so with Georgie. She can coo and coo forever!!

There are some traits in Elmo that make me giggle. When he’s nodding off he’ll usually open one of his eyes slightly to see if I’m still sitting near him. If I give him the smallest, almost imperceptible nod he’ll immedately start twitching and nod his head back. Sweetheart!

The other is that Elmo can be quite fickle. One minute he’ll be attacking my fingers – peck, peck, die, die – then he’ll notice something he likes and run away to court it. Then he’ll give me his “I’m interested in you” coo and start to court my hand. When I hear him cooing in his “I’m interested in you” voice in another room I know he’s found a sock or shoe (or other item on the floor) that’s perked his interest and that he’ll be puffing out his chest and dancing to the inanimate object with gusto.

I love my pigeons!!

Elmo has finally had enough of Georgie stealing his nest and food. When she wants to lay an egg Georgie prefers to do so in Elmo’s nest, even though he doesn’t like her and will attack her if she gets too close. But Georgie doesn’t stop trying and has succeeded many times (please see: Valentine present, Sneaky George, Sneaky George part 2).

So Elmo is taking revenge. He’s now stealing her nest!! I caught him in the act:

Elmo asleep in Georgie's nest

Elmo lets me know that he likes it in there!

Elmo in Georgie's other nest on the sofa!