I’ve made it back home from my holiday, safe and sound. Needless to say, Georgie girl is now very happy. Richard took her out of her cage and she perched on his hand while I let her know I was there. I could see her cock her head to one side a bit and stretch out as if to determine that it was really me in front of her! Then as I held her in my hands she started cooing and snuggling into me, I couldn’t put her down; she was too excited in nesting on my lap!

Elmo was very excited too. He ran about cooing and bowing as he does, then he sang to me on the sofa, prancing about my outstretched hand as I tried to stroke him.

Today, as I spend the last free day with them, they would not leave me alone. Elmo and Georgie have been calling to me constantly and I’ve had to give them both attention and cuddles at the same time while keeping them separate so they don’t fight. I guess this means Elmo did miss me after all.

Of course Georgie was jealous whenever I gave Elmo any kisses and cuddles (she always makes a bee-line to us when she hears me giving him any attention) and now she’s a bit touchy with me, pecking me every now and then as if to let me know she doesn’t approve of my “cheating”.

I’ve missed my pigeons a lot and am glad to be home with them. Here are the two rascals together, vying for my affections:

Georgie (left) and Elmo (right)

The sun is up and the curtains are drawn, however, sunlight is seeping through and the room is light. A little feral pigeon is waiting patiently on the bedside table for his mummy and daddy to wake up. What’s this? One of them stirs, turns over. Cue loud cooing and wing waggling from the pigeon. “Good morning, mummy. Good morning, daddy,” he’s saying. No response from the bed. The humans haven’t woken up yet. The pigeon goes quiet again, settles down and waits. Again, one of the humans have moved and the pigeon starts cooing, calling them to wake up. This occurs every time there is movement from the bed. The pigeon is waiting and watching.

Eventually the humans wake up. Cue ecstatic morning greetings from the pigeon on the bedside table. Mummy and daddy greet him back. Having a lie in is nearly impossible when you have a watchful pigeon by your side.

This is how we are woken up by Elmo in the weekend. If Georgie hears us getting up and moving about she’ll jump at the bars of her cage, demanding to be let out. So, the other morning I went to get her and brought her back to the bedroom. I wasn’t ready to get up and start the day just yet, so Georgie was allowed to be on the bed for a bit.

Elmo tucked his head under his body and waited for Richard to give him a cuddle. The head-tucking is a quirk of Elmo’s (a possible side effect from having had PMV as a baby). We find it so adorable.

Georgie is thinking of having a preen. Elmo's keeping an eye on her.

Georgie preening. Elmo decides to hop off the bed.

After a bit of time on the bed both pigeons decide to hop off the bed to start their day. Elmo hides behind the bedroom door – a favourite cooing spot – and calls incessantly to us. Georgie finds a nice spot behind the mirror and coos and dances excitedly when I come down to see her.

Elmo is now officially friends again with the bedroom window sill (Elmo has free reign in the bedroom when we’re at work). Last year, during the summer, he spent a few hours every day on the window sill watching the live drama show that occurs in our garden (click on the Categories tab above and select “Garden” for posts about the garden). During the winter, however, he stopped standing on the window sill and I had no idea why. But I think I’ve now figured it out! The window sill is cold during the winter!! There are some ventilation strips above the window and there must be a bit of a draft which was too cold for Elmo. Now that summer is well on the way and the air is a warmer, Elmo has decided that it’s no longer too cold by the window. I’m almost 100% about this. (I have so many theories.)

I’ve caught Elmo out a few times – he’s been flirting with the woodies and feral pigeons! Which is so funny because he cannot stand Georgie so why flirt with other pigeons? Sometimes when I return home I can hear him cooing and when I open the door he’s dancing and cooing on the window sill to visiting pigeons. I don’t know if they notice him but it must be a funny sight for them. They probably think we’re horrible people because we’re keeping a pigeon indoors. If only they knew the life of luxury that Elmo and Georgie have! They’d all be queuing to get inside!! LOL.

I had a half day at work today so I’ve been spending a bit of quality time with Georgie and Elmo. They’re ecstatic to have me home early: they were dancing and prancing about with excitement for the first hour or so.

Now Georgie is on my lap and she’s fidgeting about. I think she wants to nest and is finding my lap unsuitable, which is bizarre because usually my lap is the best spot! Earlier I found her in different places that she was exploring for their suitability as a nest site.

"Is this a good spot?" Georgie in the bedroom.

"Maybe here?" Georgie on my bag in the corridor.

"How about here?" Georgie in the coffee table shelf.

Also earlier Elmo jumped up onto the “pigeon-free” sofa, and after a quick photo I removed him from it. Our pigeons have full access to the whole flat except for our smaller sofa which is in my reading corner. We want to have at least one surface (besides the kitchen counter tops) that doesn’t get bombed with pigeon poop.

Elmo on the forbidden sofa!

Elmo wasn’t impressed though. He quickly ran away in a strop. But as soon as I pointed the camera at him he came running back with his tail fanned out and he made some impressive flirting moves to the camera.

"Here I come!"

I also managed to take a video of Georgie and Elmo mucking about. In this video Elmo is playfully preening a plastic bag. I’m lying on my stomach taking the video and Georgie climbs onto my back and takes offense to the camera. You’ll hear her coo angrily and wing slap as I turn the camera towards her!

Elmo is moulting around his face and he’s got lots of flecks of white there which are in fact new feather growth still in their follicles. He looks quite different but soon he’ll be back to his normal grey self (he does have a few white feathers on his head).

New feather growth on Elmo's head.

Finally! I’ve managed to upload the videos I’ve been wanting to share. Hope you like them!

Here’s Elmo boy welcoming us home when we return after a long day at work:

Here’s Georgie girl spinning around on my hand in excitement:

And here’s Elmo on his back:

Due to car problems we arrived home 3 hours late after work (normally we get home in less than half an hour). As you can imagine, we are fed up and tired, however, I couldn’t help thinking about poor Georgie and Elmo who were waiting patiently for us to come home.

When we finally got home Elmo and Georgie had already put themselves to bed – seeing as the sun was setting and the flat was getting dark. However, as soon as Elmo woke up and saw us he ran about in excitement – wings slightly out and tail slightly fanned! Georgie took a moment to warm up (she is a grumpy girl in the evening) but was quick to snuggle up to me under my chin as I kissed her hello.

I hate coming home late because I know that our pigeons are waiting for us, and since they have been alone for most of the day I hate to make them wait any longer than is needed.

… I’m quite tired so I’ll stop here – you’ll find me cuddling up to Georgie with a nice cup of hot chocolate! – and Georgie won’t get any!! She’s been chocolate-free all year!