Pigeons

We had a thread about this a while back [well, it was on another thread about something but you know how threads go off at tangents]. They don't leave the nest [for that read ledge or whatever] till they look like grown up pigeons because they have to be fed by their mums on milky stuff. I try to put food out for the little song birds [that need it more than they do when the weather is bad] but the pigeons just swoop down and gobble it all up. Grrrr

In our previous house we had a cypress tree in our garden where pigeons regularly nested. As Tegan said, the young don't put in an appearance until they are almost fledged, when they will sit on an exposed branch, flap about exercising their wings and being fed by the parents. We occasionally had an unfledged baby fall out of the nest. They are a nuisance though; they make a horrible mess of our conservatory roof and are greedy feeders. They are, however, very entertaining to watch when they are courting, going from the pursuit to the copulation and then the very tender preening sessions that follow! We watched all this one evening a couple of weeks ago going on on a roof opposite our house. While all this was going on, a magpie sat at the other end of the ridge watching. I wondered if this was the bird equivalent of "dogging". When they had finished, it flew away!

Are they on the increase? I'm fed up of de pooing the lawn before anyone goes out on it. Especially GCs.

I have ruined a carpet by accidentally walking poo on to it and then cleaning with Vanish!

x

Greyduster "bird dogging" lol!

It doesn't matter where we park outside, they poo all over our car. We've got a few elderflower trees in our garden and they love the berries which are due out any minute. Am dreading the resulting poo...

We have a bird feeder for the birds, happily the pigeons are just too heavy to land on it so the smaller birds get a look in.. we have Wood Pigeons round and about not much we can do about them. The other day we noticed a Parakeet on the feeder they are a bit lighter than the pigeons but are very greedy so OH runs down the garden flapping his arms at regular intervals.
We have flocks of Parakeets in Ealing and sometimes they stray into our garden at roosting time they must of spotted our feeder.

Well there must be babies because they are "at it" ALL the time.
"Gwanny, why is that birdie getting a piggyback?"

BTW I love the thought of Mr Tanith running down the garden flapping his arms and (no doubt) being watched by assorted birds commenting on his attempts at flying!
"Nope, he's not got it. He ought to try starting higher up, like off that tree"!!!

Alea , Tegan does explain in her post why we don't see baby pigeons..

Yep I saw that, just wanted to add in DGS's contribution.

I've got a couple of those squirrel proof bird feeders. Pigeons can't get in those .
I'm just going to put in a word for the pigeons here... they can't help being pigeons and are all God's creatures. The wood pigeons who live around here are so beautiful.

Alea OH is also watched by the grandkids as he flaps his way up the garden , they think he's bonkers..

The big wood pigeons we get here are too fat to get to get near enough to eat the food from the seed feeders.
They grovel about underneath to catch the seed the smaller birds knock out of the feeders.
Great fat randy beggars these Cheshire wood pigeons.

Like this one who doesn't seem too well.

Nelliemoser our pigeons do the same, I've also noticed the robin only feeds from the ground I've never seen it on the feeder.

tanith, I saw a robin hovering by the seed feeder and managing to get some seeds that way. Later, I saw possibly the same robin feeding from the seeds just the same way as the tits and finches. This time, he collected seeds and took them down to a fledgling beneath the feeder.
Nelliemoser, the pigeons here are just as greedy as yours in South Cheshire, but the real villains are the squirrels, especially a big fat one with an exceptional tail, which I am sure must have been responsible for knocking the nut container off its hook and scoffing the lot.

I have decided the pigeons are unintended consequences of feeding the small birds so I have given in a they have their own feeder now. In fact 5 white pigeons /doves? Have joined them and they are sat waiting every morning then fly off and arrive back about now to top up for the night.

I think the collar dove fledglings out of the nest now. There seems to be a lot more activity on and around the big conifers where (I assume) they nest. Did you see the item on (I think) Springwatch where they showed how baby pigeons (squabs) are fed on crop milk? I never knew that!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_milk

Yes I've got the randy Cheshire pigeons in spades here. There is a wood nearby where they go at night but from before sunrise until sunset they are on my roof and the noise and dirt is appalling. The most annoying thing is that all the other small birds have now deserted my garden, presumably having been warned off/starved off by the marauding pigeons. Any advice anyone?

Shotgun? No, no, I didn't say that! Large picture of peregrine falcon strategically placed on roof! Ignore me, I've just had a lovely beef stroganoff and a couple of glasses of Merlot! Feeling flippant!

NanKate- I used to ask about baby pigeons never seen. Until a pigeon nested in a tree just opposite my kitchen window. I watched her sitting so patiently on the eggs, hardly ever leaving them - then these punk pigeon babies entertained us for weeks. She came back year after year- wonder if she still does now (our house has been a childrens' nursery since we left). Must say it changes my attitude to pigeons. And as we had pet chickens, we also had several collared doves nesting in the garden (they liked the grain too).

No pigeons at all here up in t'mountains- can't say I miss them though. Our black redstarts and resident swifts, swallows and house martins and so many more are great company.

We have turned our birdbath on it's side because the pigeons were using it to bathe in then would do large poos and spoil the water for the small birds. I thought they just disliked our bath but several people have told me that the pigeons display this trait in their gardens too. They really do want to rule the roost.

The big fat pigeon in my photgraph sits over the drinking water bowl and poos in it. Disgusting! I can't really keep hom off.
The sparrows were bathing in the drinking water the other day.
There is no chance of teaching them the difference between a drinking bowl and a bird bath.

Squabs.

what a shame that little birds have lost their water source for bathing and drinking. Isn't there a was to put some sort of netting over that would stop pigeon getting in, but still allow small birds. We've had very hot weather recently and our little birds really need their water.

perhaps some clever person here could think of a good design? We have squirrel proof feeder- so why not pigeon proof watering devices? Could make a fortune ...and be great for birds