I love the way Elmo sleeps. He sleeps so deeply and looks so comfortable that I try not to wake him up. … Oh, ok, I sometimes wake him up because I have to give him a kiss! I cannot help it! He looks so cute!!

Elmo asleep on the floor

Elmo fast asleep on the floor

Elmo has also mastered the “standing on one leg while falling asleep” stance. Please see: Sleeping beauty.

And when Elmo is dreaming and he nods his head and twitches in his sleep, it’s so adorable. Occasionally he’ll wake himself up with a “woof”. I don’t know how many of you have heard a pigeon “woof” before but it’s such a wonderful little sound. It just comes out suddenly and sounds so foreign that often I look at Elmo and wonder what he’s trying to say. I believe the “woof” sound is made when the pigeon sees something they are worried about and it may be a kind of alarm sound. Our previous pigeon, Dora, used to woof too (I mentioned it in Angry Dora, Sweet Dora).

I tried to take a photo of Elmo alseep on the floor from the other end of the coffee table but Elmo woke up and danced towards me in glee.

Elmo is awake!

"I'm so happy to see you!"

Last night Georgie stayed up late past her bedtime without any problems. Usually, if she’s on the sofa with us after 10pm, Georgie gets very moody and starts to peck us. She doesn’t like the TV on (the flickering light from it) and doesn’t like it if I move about. She basically wants us to go to sleep. So, at 10pm I put Georgie in her cage and cover half with a cloth to prevent the light from the TV disturbing her (her cage is in the living room). Georgie will then fall asleep without any problem and is quite content with this arrangement.

However, last night, Georgie was with us past midnight. She was asleep on me, snuggled up under my chin – her favourite spot! (And I have the scratches to prove it! Georgie likes to scratch about to make her “nest” more comfortable.) I had to stay still so as to not disturb her – and I have to say, a pigeon under the chin is a very warm and soft “neck-warmer”!

We’ve been thinking that Elmo also needs a bedtime because he gets restless if we stay up late. My husband is going to try putting Elmo away on the bedside table (where Elmo sleeps at night) after 10pm and see if that works. I’m not sure Elmo will approve of going to bed without his “mate” though.

Elmo often falls alseep on Richard’s chest anyway:

Elmo, one content little pigeon

In other news, we bought Georgie a cat nest to hide in. We were going to get it for her hatchday, however, we weren’t able to get to the shops in time, so we gave it to her the day after. Georgie seems to like it, although she often uses it as platform to launch herself across the room in an attempt at flying (she still manages to fly backwards).

Georgie, "King of the hill"

Georgie checking out her new nest

Our sofa space is now reduced even more. Georgie taking up one end, Elmo the other. I think we need a bigger sofa!!

So Elmo’s not particular in where he sleeps or where his nest is right? … Wrong!

Elmo’s nest wasn’t in the right place so he fell alseep in the spot where it should have been. Ok, so we get the idea Elmo, no need to rub it in our face! We’ll make sure your nest is EXACTLY in the right spot! Sheesh, what a fussy boy!

In other news, Elmo took a fancy to the light switch cord:

Elmo pigeon is a lucky boy because he gets to sleep right next to his mate (a.k.a. my husband!). Richard’s bedside table has been claimed as Elmo’s roosting spot – and we’ve put a nice fleece down for him to grip on. When it’s time to go to bed Elmo eagerly hops onto the bed and then onto the bedside table. He stands there, head down, cooing madly – calling Richard to bed!! It is really quite sweet and endearing. On the weekends we tend to go to bed later but if Elmo thinks we’re staying up too late he’ll go to the bedroom and call us to go to bed. What a sweetheart!

Sometimes Elmo stays up a bit to preen himself after I turn off the lights. We can hear quite clearly when his primary or tail feathers run through his beak. Sounds a bit metallic. If he’s a bit tired Elmo might fall asleep before I turn off the light. Elmo tends to sleep standing up on one leg with the other one tucked away. I often wonder how he doesn’t fall over in his sleep standing on one leg. I know that when birds perch the tendons in their legs tighten and their toes lock around the perch which prevents them from falling over in their sleep, however, what about pigeons that don’t perch on branches when they sleep?

Sometimes we can hear Elmo ‘grinding’ his beak as he goes to sleep. It’s hard to describe what he’s doing and I haven’t a clue why he does it but a soft grinding type of noise is made as he opens and closes his beak – like he’s chewing or smacking his lips together! It’s a very sweet thing to hear just as you’re falling alseep. To me it sounds as if he’s content and comfortable, gently falling asleep as he makes this soothing sound. Elmo’s our sleeping beauty!