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.

One is to have the bird DNA sexed (from blood, feathers or the eggshell), which I believe is a safer and less intrusive option than surgical sexing. For more about DNA sexing please visit these websites: http://www.avianbiotech.co.uk/dna_sex_testing.asp and http://www.dnasexing.com/index.html

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.

The topic of sexing pigeons is discussed at length in this forum: http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f5/can-you-tell-male-from-female-5146.html

And the wonderful people at Pigeon Angels suggest presenting a mirror to the pigeon to see if they coo and dance to it (male) or if they ignore the mirror (female): http://www.pigeonangels.com/t2254-how-do-i-tell-the-sex-of-my-pigeons

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:

.

REFERENCES:

• Vriends, M.M. and Erskine, T.E. (2005) Pigeons. A Complete Pet Owner’s Manual. Hauppauge: Barron’s
• Rijs, A. (2006) Fancy Pigeons. Prague: Rebo Publishers
• Hinshaw Patent, D. (1997) Pigeons. New York: Clarion Books

I know I cannot avoid it, I know it will be upon us, but I’m mostly uninterested in the upcoming Olympics. However, one piece of news about the 2012 Olympics caught my eye:

London 2012: Olympic dove plane unveiled

3 April 2012 Last updated at 15:34

British Airways has repainted the first of nine A319s with a dove design to mark the London 2012 Olympics.

The artwork by designer Pascal Anson was the result of a contest run by the company and judged by artist Tracey Emin.

It will be seen for the first time on BA’s 1420 Heathrow to Copenhagen flight on Tuesday.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17600839

The designer Pascal Anson, says that “He chose the dove because as well as being a symbol of peace and social unity, it was used in ancient Olympics as a messenger to send Games reports to outlying villages, and the bird also played a role in Olympics ceremonies such as that at the last London Games in 1948.”

In the video the reporter states that “They’re calling them celebratory aircrafts for the London 2012 games, describing the dove as ’sweet, lovely and peaceful’.” (Then he ruins it by saying, “Would you agree?”)

It’s nice to see the dove is still being championed as a symbol of peace. Since there is no scientific difference between a dove and a pigeon, will we be able to convince the masses to view the feral pigeon the same as the dove? Maybe we should rename all pigeons as “doves” and peoples perception of them will change? What do you think?

More about the new dove planes:

3 April 2012 Last updated at 12:50

London 2012: British Airways Olympics dove plane unveiled

By Michael Hirst
BBC 2012

It took a 10-strong team 950 man hours to paint the A319 – which carries 132 passengers and is one of the smaller passenger planes in BA’s fleet

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Well, actually, it’s a plane painted to look like a bird.

British Airways has repainted the first of nine A319s with a dove design to mark the London 2012 Olympics. The artwork by Brighton-based designer Pascal Anson will be seen for the first time on BA’s 1420 Heathrow to Copenhagen flight on Tuesday.

The design is the result of a contest, run by the company with the aim of promoting British talent in the run up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Turner prize-nominated artist Tracey Emin was on the judging panel which picked Mr Anson’s design from hundreds of entries last July, and she has mentored the Kingston University design tutor throughout the project.

Inspired by planes he saw flying in and out of Gatwick during his commute, Anson said that as a three-dimensional designer, he wanted to turn something ordinary into something extraordinary, while playing with people’s perceptions of flying objects.

“I wanted to do something that would make people stop and think differently about what they were looking at,” he told the BBC. “I’ve often looked up at aircraft landing and wondered if it’s a bird or a plane, and the idea developed from there.”

Scale of a dove

He chose the dove because as well as being a symbol of peace and social unity, it was used in ancient Olympics as a messenger to send Games reports to outlying villages, and the bird also played a role in Olympics ceremonies such as that at the last London Games in 1948.

Tracy Emin mentored Pascal Anson throughout the project

Although Anson wanted to avoid creating a photographic representation of a bird, he did want the design to be dove-like, which meant BA for the first time has painted the whole of the plane’s livery, rather than just its tail-fin.

This created both design and artistic challenges, in terms of scale – as an A319 is 500 times larger than a dove – and surface, in terms of trying to get the soft lines of the dove’s feathers onto the hard metallic surface of the plane.

He wanted to use a metallic colour but metallic paints are not allowed on aircraft as they interfere with radar signal so a new mica resin was mixed to give the bright gold finish – a colour which the team have dubbed “dove gold”.

BA’s operations manager for external appearance, David Barnes, said the job was the most complex his team had undertaken – both because of the intricacy of the design, and the fact that it encompassed the whole plane.

Emin praised the completed work at the plane’s unveiling on Tuesday, saying she liked the way it “brings back back the excitement of travel”.

“I will constantly be looking up every time I hear a plane fly over,” she said. “You never know, maybe I will turn into a plane-spotter.”

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17565838

Once upon a time, as a little girl wandering about my local library, I found a book on origami. As an art form it intrigued me, however, I wasn’t much good at it. I seemed to lack the ability to fold a piece of paper in a neat fold. So the book was returned and my attention went elsewhere.

Today my husband showed me a photo of an origami blue bar pigeon (the photo below) and I went, “Wow! I want it!!” Isn’t it impressive? Looks like he gift wrapped a pigeon! Blue Bar Pigeon by Seth Friedman:

Blue Bar Pigeon by Seth Friedman

Upon searching for other origami pigeons I found this amazing one, called Paloma de Barras Azules by Roman Diaz:

Paloma de Barras Azules by Roman Diaz

We may not be able to make such complicated and delicate folds as the above origami sculptures, however, I’m sure we could make this one: Origami Dove. Such a simple and beautiful design:

Origami dove

And isn’t this origami pigeon gorgeous?

I also found this website that has a gallery of origami pigeons and doves: http://www.origami-kids.com/photo-birds/pigeon-1.htm

My knitting addiction has led me to knit another pigeon.

I have now knitted five different pigeons and here they all are:

Back row:

• Feral pigeon, pattern from Mad Monkey Knits: My pet pigeons
• White “Wonky” pigeon, pattern from Alan Dart: Percy the pigeon
• Fat woodpigeon in nest, pattern modified from Petite purls: Fat Robin

Front row:

• Cooey pigeon, pattern from Stitch London
• Tiny pigeon, pattern from Mochimochi Land: Tiny perching pigeons

And a close up of the feral pigeon:

We visited the zoo at Chessington World of Adventures today and were amused in seeing woodpigeons flying about, mingling freely with the captive animals (one woodpigeon was sorting through the ostriches straw bedding – possibly looking for suitable bits of straw to steal for nesting material).

Walking past a large enclosure that housed a big white bird I did a double-take. Something about the bird caught my attention. My “pigeon sense” was tingling.

The large white bird was a Pied Imperial Pigeon (Ducula bicolor).

Pied Imperial Pigeon

We sadly couldn’t get a better photo of the pigeon (you can just about see it on the branch), however, these websites will give you more information and photos on the beautiful pigeon, which is a frugivore (fruit eater)!

• Avian Web: http://www.avianweb.com/piedimperialpigeons.html
• BirdLife International: http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=2743
• Paradise Earth: http://www.paradiseearth.com/Bird%20Articles/Pied%20Imperial%20Pigeon.html

And here are two videos of the pigeons (from two different zoos):

Isn’t it always the case when visiting zoos or other animal collections – the wild pigeons or fancy ones catch our eyes first! (Such as when we visited Porfell Wildlife Park & Sanctuary in Cornwall: Star attraction!)

We saw some other lovely creatures at Chessington Zoo, such as this handsome ostrich:

This plucky chicken (I want one!):

These adorable meerkats:

And our highlight of the day, Harley the sealion:

Rev receives a kiss

Harley gives Richard a hug!

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!

Elmo in his travel cage

Georgie hops into my case when I'm packing

I have been bitten by the knitting bug. I cannot stop. … Must create knitted pigeon flock!

(Oh, sorry pigeon folk if I’m boring you with all my knitting posts. I promise to write about Elmo and Georgie again soon.)

I first knitted Percy Pigeon by Alan Dart, however, my pigeon is more “Wonky the Pigeon”. Have a look:

Wonky pigeon

Wonky pigeon

Please bear in mind that this is the very first toy that I’ve ever knitted. While I found it easy to knit the pieces, I found it very hard to stitch the pigeon together. Practice makes perfect, though, so hopefully the next one will be more “together” and “with it”.

Although, with his wonky tail and lopsided body, he does look like a pigeon in need of care and rehabilitation – so he’s really the perfect mascot for my work at the wildlife rescue centre!

I next knitted a flock of tiny perching pigeons by Anna Hrachovec.

Tiny perching pigeon flock

The first tiny pigeon I knitted

There will be more to come!! I think I’ll have a few hundred of these little guys perched around the house and possibly in the garden too.

Mr. Pigeon (not knitted by me, by the way) wanted to meet the new additions and I think they’ll get along just fine:

Mr. Pigeon (top right) with the new knitted pigeons

My next pigeon project will be Cooey the Pigeon by Lauren O’Farrell (once I buy the book. Couldn’t find the pattern for free). I will be looking for pigeon patterns to knit and will one day have a big flock of different pigeons to keep Elmo and Georgie company.

Elmo has decided to make his own Percy Pigeon.

Having found the wonderful world of knitted pigeons, we couldn’t wait to receive our very own Mr. Pigeon, which we did in June (see: New addition: Mr. Pigeon!). While Elmo loves Mr. Knitted Pigeon, I think he wants another one (greedy boy!) so he stole my wool and knitting needles to start on the project:

Elmo covered in wool

Elmo takes the knitting needles

I’m new to the knitting game, so it may take me a few years to actually knit a pigeon – but it will happen one day, and when it does, I’ll post the results. Cannot promise, though, that it’ll look like a pigeon (might be a mutant one).

The internet can be an amazing thing. One day you make contact with like-minded people and before you know it you’re packing the car with pigeons and bags to visit them!

Yes, Elmo and Georgie decided they weren’t going to miss out on visiting a Wing and a Prayer Wild Bird and Owl Haven in Norfolk on the Haven’s Open Day (see also their facebook page: www.facebook.com/wingandaprayerhaven).

Getting to Norfolk wasn’t going to be a problem (only about a 3 hour drive) but would we find a pigeon-friendly hotel or bed & breakfast? Some hotels allow pets but after enquiring what species they allow we find out that “pets” really only means cat or dog, pigeons not allowed.

However, with the help of our new friend in Norfolk we make contact with a bed & breakfast that sounded perfect. Richard makes the call, asks about availability (yes, they have a room available), and then crunch time; the question we know may cost us the deal (conversation goes a bit like this):

Richard: “We have two pets. Would that be a problem?”

B&B lady: “What sort of pets?”

Richard: “Um, well, pigeons.”

B&B lady: “Pigeons?!” (she said with surprise in her voice) “We have all kinds of animals; hens, sheep,  goats. They’ll love it here!”

Richard: “Ok, great!”

The lady at Hengrave Farm was so nice, we couldn’t believe our luck in finding a pigeon-friendly bed & breakfast. So with a room booked, travel plans made, we couldn’t wait to be on our way.

My only concern was how Georgie would feel on such a long journey, since she gets motion sickness. Yep, you heard me right: motion sickness! You wouldn’t think birds could but they can, just like any other animal out there. (Does this mean that some birds are afraid of heights?) Since we want to take our pigeons with us on holidays to Cornwall and possibly a drive through Europe, we really need to sort out Georgie’s motion sickness. So the trip to Norfolk became a test to see how Georgie would handle a long drive.

All pigeons ready in the car! (Georgie is hidden on the left)

Elmo doesn’t get motion sickness and was fine in his carry-cage as long as he could see us. We strapped the cages to the backseat and off we went (it always amazes me how some people let their dogs stand unrestricted in the car, sticking their heads out the window. Imagine what would happen if the car crashed into something). Sure enough, we soon heard Georgie vomiting. Poor girl. She seemed to have emptied her crop and then stood still for the journey. A few times Georgie had a little preen, which might indicate that she was feeling ok.

When we arrived at the Haven we took Elmo and Georgie with us in their carry-cages. A few people thought we were bringing them in to stay, so at one point I thought it would have been a good idea to put a sticker on the cages stating them as our beloved companions (next time I’ll have to remember to do this).

Wing and a Prayer Wild Bird and Owl Haven is a wonderful place, full of welcoming, nice people and beautiful birds (both free-ranging and ones in the large aviaries). Being the pigeon fanatics that we are, we honed in on the pigeons at the Haven, but they also have different owl species, chickens, ducks, rheas, corvids and songbirds.

Free-flying pigeons sitting quite happily on an owl aviary

Disabled pigeon aviary

The people at the Haven were happy to meet us, especially Elmo and Georgie, however, I think our pigeons were a bit reserved because of all the new faces (there were lots of people visiting on the Open Day). So rather than skip and hop about in his usual charming self, Elmo stood still and simply looked about. Later on he emerged a bit and did a little dance but I think he held back most of the time. Georgie was quite quiet too, which isn’t unusual, but I think she was still recovering from her car sickness.

It was a good day and we were very impressed with the premises and the wonderful team at the Haven. They help all sorts of injured and orphaned birds, and need all the support you can give in continuing their essential work (they are funded entirely by donations).

We later drove to Hengrave Farm and met the lovely lady in charge, who showed such sincere enthusiasm towards Elmo and Georgie that we couldn’t help feel we had found the perfect place to stay. The buildings, rooms and surroundings were so beautiful too!

Elmo looks about the room

Elmo (left) and Georgie (right)

Elmo and Georgie wasted no time in exploring the room. The clickety-clack of their feet as they walked around (or ran about as in Elmo’s case) was a nice sound. I do prefer wood flooring to carpeting.

Road to Hengrave Farm

I didn’t waste any time in going to see the lovely sheep, goats and hens at the B&B, although the ram wasn’t very welcoming so I kept my distance.

Stand-off with Mr. Ram

Swallows

We had a lovely dinner at a nearby pub (The Hainford Chequers, very large food portions!) with the founders and volunteers of the Haven, and the next day a drive to the coast and a quick lunch was in order (Elmo and Georgie stayed at the B&B). Then, sadly, it was time to make our way back home. Georgie seemed less bothered by the journey down and this could be due to the fact that she hadn’t eaten a lot that day (so less food to make her feel nauseous?) or maybe she didn’t feel as ill this time. I’ll be looking into motion sickness in birds to see if there is anything to give to help alleviate her nausea. If nothing helps then Georgie will have to stay behind when we go on holiday next time, however, I don’t like this idea since she does miss me a lot and doesn’t eat very well when I’m away (she loses quite a bit of weight).

All in all we had a wonderful mini-break and we are looking forward to visiting again next year when the Haven have another Open Day.

A big thank you to everyone who welcomed us and made our stay so enjoyable!!

(I don’t like naming people without their permission, but you know who you are! )

The sea, the sea

Pebble beach

Mr. Pigeon tucked in for the night

Elmo trying to feed Richard. Look at his tongue!

Georgie is a friend of the Haven!

Elmo shows his support too!

As many of you may know, I work at a wildlife rescue centre. The animals we receive are either injured or orphaned (or both) and need our help to recover and grow up for release. It is hard, continuous work. Feed, clean, feed, clean, medicate, feed, clean and more cleaning. The wildlife in our care depend on us and we have a responsibility to ensure they are clean, comfortable, stress-free and receiving the best care we can provide. The ultimate aim of all this: release back into the wild in tip-top condition for best chance of survival in the big bad world!

Sometimes we receive horrible cases of cruelty: pigeons and doves that have been shot!

Pigeons (ferals included) are protected by law in the UK. It is illegal to kill any bird unless a licence is held or if the person (or pest control company) isn’t following the criteria of the general licence. Please go to the following websites for more indepth information: PiCAS: The Law and Is it legal to shoot pigeons?

It is hard to see these beautiful birds with shot wounds, knowing that the bird is suffering because of a fellow human being. On the 4th April we received a white pigeon that had a horrific infected shot wound in her chest. The hole was very large! The photo is shocking to look at and I have to admit, I didn’t think the pigeon would live.

Shot white pigeon - 6th April

6th April

We immediately gave her medication to fight the infection and relieve her of any pain and kept her in the intensive care unit (I.C.U.) for observation and care. Every day her wounds were checked and cleaned and medication was given. She wasn’t happy about the situation and soon became quite restless. She wanted to get out but we couldn’t put her in an aviary where flies could lay their eggs in the open wound. So the dear girl had to stay in her cage in I.C.U.

Slowly, very slowly, the wound started to close up (as you can see in the photos).

Her wound is dressed - 2nd May

25th May

All healed! - 14th July

One day a thin feral pigeon was brought to my work and he was placed in a cage near the white pigeon. The male pigeon started cooing, calling, testing her reaction. They couldn’t see each other easily, only through thin slits at the side of the cages, but they could hear each other and they began to flirt. First the male pigeon said his piece and waited. Then the white female pigeon responded. The male pigeon twirled and cooed joyfully in response to what she had said. You get the picture! Sure enough, the two fell in love. I made the mistake of putting them opposite each other one day and they had an unobstructed view of one another. They cooed and danced all day (no kidding, ALL day!), the little flirts!

The day we could put the two together in an aviary was a very happy day for them. They started kissing and prancing about like the newly-weds they were. They were released together on the 15th July. What a wonderful result!!

White pigeon and her new mate the day before their release - 14th July

Ps. Now you may be wondering why I hadn’t named the white pigeon. I try not to at work for two reasons: 1) the animal is a wild animal and not a pet, and 2) not all the injured and orphaned wildlife live to be released, and since giving the animal a name forms attachment it can be tough on us humans if the animal dies. Sometimes, though, it is hard not to become attached to an animal, and equally hard not to cuddle and talk to the animal, but when it comes to working with injured/orphaned wildlife, you have to remain distant because you want the animal to remain wild so that it can be released (since you cannot release tame or imprinted wildlife!).