We’ve recently had a few people (racing pigeon people by the looks of it) contact us on our YouTube account who are critical of us and our two tame, disabled pigeons, Elmo and Georgie.

We have been told to get homer pigeons instead since they are smarter and better looking than Elmo and Georgie (who are feral pigeons).

How superficial!! As if we care what pigeon is the best looking or the smartest. We love our pigeons because of their loving nature and amazing character.

We have also been told that our pigeons are not as happy as we think they are because they are ill.

Let me first state that neither Georgie or Elmo are ill. They both were affected by disease when they were babies – 11 years ago in Elmo’s case and 4 years ago in Georgie’s case – but are now perfectly healthy. However, according to one man (who has 34 years of experience keeping racing pigeons), our pigeons are not happy, we are spreading disease and we should euthanise them.

Our pigeons are very happy. I may not have decades of experience, but I do know my two pigeons. Georgie I have known since she was a baby; I’ve cared for her and learnt to read her behaviour and needs. Elmo is an open book. We can see the contentment and love in his eyes when he’s snuggled up to us – there is absolutely no doubt in our minds.

I find it hard to understand how anyone who views our videos of Elmo and Georgie can possibly think that they are unhappy. For someone who has 34 years of experience keeping pigeons he’s not very perceptive.

I will not engage in further conversation with these people since I have found them unwilling to listen, so I won’t get upset and drawn into a protracted argument, however, it does upset me to a degree to know that there’s someone out there who thinks I should put my pigeons to sleep because, according to them, they are unhappy and diseased.

I’ll be going away for a week and will be back in action on Tuesday 12th July (I’m going to Hungary to see family). Unfortunately I cannot take Georgie with me, nor Elmo or my hubby!

While I was packing, Georgie tried to smuggle her way into the bag:

"Will mummy notice me?" thinks Georgie

I know she’ll miss me, however, Richard will give her lots of attention and affection (whether she wants it or not). Georgie can be a bit of a pain, though. She has mood swings: one moment she’s sitting happily by your side, the next she’s attacking you! So Richard will have to be careful with his interactions with her. I hope she doesn’t peck him too much!

Elmo, on the hand, will be happy to have Richard almost all to himself!! For one whole week he won’t have to share the sofa with me nor have to tolerate (or not! as is often the case) my vain attempts to cuddle him. I just hope Elmo’s not too disappointed to see me when I return.

Georgie made one last attempt to get into the bag, but I can only take one pigeon with me and I’ve chosen Mr. Pigeon as my travel companion.

Mr. Pigeon and Georgie

I’ll try to check our facebook page and emails, however, I might not have the opportunity to be online every day. Richard will have to keep an eye on things for me.

I hope to see some pigeons in Hungary (I know there’s collared doves at my grandmother’s house because I’ve heard them cooing) and I’ll try to take photos of them. A sort of pigeon-spotting trip!

Last night Georgie snuck onto Elmo’s nest on the sofa and laid an egg. Yes, you heard me: She laid an egg on Elmo’s nest!! What a sneaky girl!!

Here’s the girl caught in the act:

Luckily, Elmo was on the floor at the time so he didn’t know what was happening (otherwise he would have attacked her since he doesn’t like other pigeons). We removed the egg and Georgie walked away after taking a moment to recover. We’re happy that she isn’t moody about her eggs and she’s now sitting happily on my lap, cooing away.

However, we did have a very moody pigeon today. Richard put the fake eggs under Elmo to see what would happen (big mistake!) and Elmo was a little git, running about attacking us both in his moodiness. So we removed the eggs and after Elmo had his fill attacking Templeton, the soft toy rat, he’s returned to his normal sweet self.

I found Elmo on the window sill again today! Yay!

I could hear him cooing through the closed door and when I opened it I saw him bowing up and down on the window sill, cooing to a woodpigeon that was in the garden. Silly boy!

As soon as Elmo saw me though, he flew onto the bed and danced over to me – obviously happy to see me!

Elmo’s flying has been getting better (who’s been giving him lessons?). When we first received Elmo he was understandably unsure about us and his new home, and he would do some nervous backflips when he tried to fly. Over time, as he realised how much we love him and how safe his home is, Elmo’s flying became more controlled and less erratic.

Although Elmo cannot fly properly, he does like to have a good flap every now and then. He’ll stretch his wings and lift off from the sofa and land on the floor – then take off from the floor for a few more short flights up.

Once Elmo actually flew at Richard when Richard was mock-running away from him! He’s never done that before and hasn’t done it since, but it was very impressive.

Here’s some old footage of Elmo home alone (taken from the webcam):

Elmo greeting us through the window:

And when we opened the door:

It’s been a very good weekend for us here with Georgie back to good health. She’s been snuggling up to me a lot and stealing food from my plate whenever she’s had the chance. She managed to run away with a piece of my tortilla yesterday, dragging cheese, corn, lettuce, tomatoes and salsa across the sofa. Lovely.

Elmo has been his usual wonderful self, cooing and twitching and loving. He loves shredded cabbage and lettuce so I’ve been dropping pieces on the kitchen floor whenever he’s in there keeping me company. He likes to keep an eye on things. And he loves his mineral pick-pot! The kitchen floor is covered with the pieces he’s been throwing about. He has very messy eating habits.

There are so many wonderful quirks of Elmo’s that I want to record. I think I need to hire a film crew to follow him about all day so they can capture his funny behaviours. A documentary about Elmo and Georgie would be a good idea.

Another project for me, I guess.

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:

We returned late last night from our holiday and we couldn’t wait to see our darling pigeons! Elmo was fast asleep when we arrived, however, as soon as he saw us he rushed around in greeting – he was so happy to see us!!

Georgie on the other hand was a bit stand-offish. I think she was annoyed with me for having gone away. She was also tired and so after a quick cuddle and kiss I put her back to her cage to sleep. The next morning Georgie started to warm to me once she realised that I was back for real. Looking a bit scruffy because she’s moulting, Georgie is otherwise loving me in her usual wonderful way. I have to say that we missed our darling pigeons and are happy to be back with them.

I took the day off to spend time with the pigeons, as well as to unpack and do the laundry and Elmo was delighted. He kept following me around, cooing and beckoning me to him. After I had breakfast he spent an hour on my lap, snuggled up to me. … Now as we all know, Elmo doesn’t usually like me – he’s Richard’s bird – however, because Elmo hadn’t seen me for a while he didn’t mind my company at all! Once Richard got back from work though, Elmo was back to his normal attacking and telling off! Cheeky lad!

Here’s a video of Elmo loving my company and attention this morning:

Georgie helping me with the laundry!

Georgie is moulting and looking a bit scruffy.

Elmo is very happy to see us!

Elmo on my lap!

Richard has been away on holiday for 4 days, I was away for a day and a half. During the time we were both away my mum-in-law and a woman pet sitter were drafted in to check on our pigeons.

I returned home this morning to find Elmo almost tripping over himself in excitement and happiness in seeing me. Georgie had laid an egg and was a bit more subdued as she was still egg-heavy with the second egg.

Elmo did his mad pigeon dance and would not leave me alone as I wandered about the flat sorting out things. If this is how he greets me, his least favourite human, then how is he going to react when Richard, his favourite person, gets home tonight?!

Elmo can see me through the window. I haven’t noticed him yet as I check our bird feeder in the garden but when I glance over to our bedroom window I can see him already in full swing into his pigeon dance. He’s prancing about the bed, bobbing his head and cooing like mad (although I cannot hear a thing through our wonderfully double-glazed windows). He hasn’t realised yet that I’m wearing my warm woollen hat since there’s sleet raining down and the air is cold. In a minute though he’ll see it and stop dancing and start shaking like a leaf, as if I’ve just turned into a big dragon coming to eat him.

Elmo doesn’t like hats. No idea why, but he’s scared senseless of them, even if Richard is wearing one. And Elmo LOVES Richard. Why should a simple hat transform the love of his life? But it does and Elmo will run a mile if anyone is wearing a hat (I could understand it if the hats stick up and are funny shaped but he’s scared of simple beanie type hats too. Weird).

Anyway, I digress. So, I take off my hat and bob my head up and down, shaking my shoulders at Elmo. This gets him even more excited and he’s jumping on the bedside table and back onto the bed, fanning his tail out and cooing. I quickly top up the empty bird feeders with seed, then go open the door to our flat. I can now hear Elmo cooing. He’s probably on the bedside table now waiting for the bedroom door to open. I can also hear Georgie flapping about in her cage. She’s heard me coming in and is eager to come out.

After dumping my coat, shoes, bag, etc., I open the bedroom door and the cooing stops. I peer into the room and I see Elmo stretching his neck forward to see who it is from the bedside table. So sweet! He immediately begins his cooing and his excited dance, showing me how happy he is to have me there. This is the one time that Elmo will like me, when I come home from work. And it is hard not to love him even more when he’s strutting his stuff and telling you he’s so happy to see you.

Georgie is no different. I take her out of her cage and put her on the sofa and she starts twirling around, cooing madly. She’ll follow me around now and demand to sit on my lap, but I must prepare dinner and check my emails and write this blog. I can hear both Elmo and Georgie calling me now, wanting attention and cuddles. Richard isn’t home from work yet but they’ll both start their mad dance again when he gets here. Who could ask for more after a long hard day at work?