Schlomo’s Wife has a bad Eye…

From the

Diary as of 3/9/ – 3/15/09

3/9 Emma has laid 2 new eggs (#19 and 20!! since Mar 2008) – I removed and replaced them by the plaster eggs again.
I found another 2 eggs in the bycicle basket!!! Was too tired to photograph them on sunday when we came home… But the nest was beautiful: they – whoever that was – had used some of my Beaucarnea leaves which are long, narrow and hard. The perfect building material for pigeons. Of couse I could not leave this nest in the basket.
Breakfast orgy – sometimes 5 piggies at the same time at the saucers…

Everybody is there – Willy and Winnie are nearly always the first – longing for the sunflower seeds.
Weather is very ugly – cold, snowy, rainy – simply yuck. When will this change?

3/10 Today I realized that 2  other pigeons  were sleeping in pigeon city – I was amazed that Pete did not chase them away…. it was Joey!! and a very young one – a very dark grey checkered pigeon still with that yellow “hair” sticking out between the feathers.

You wonder how I recognized Joey among all those other grey checkered pigeons? Well – he has that one feather on his left wing that is all grey – see here:

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More often yet it is not so easy to differentiate all those pigeons especially when they do not appear each day. You have to look for a very special mark. But often that is not easy either.

3/11 – 3/15 Schlomo’s wife, Schlomskaja, is sick – she has a bad eye, swollen and red on the right side. She is now sleeping on the balcony – probably because she feels she is safer there. The sweet thing is, that  Schlomo is caring for her, protecting her and never leaves her alone. I hope very much that she is recovering soon again and that her eye heals – what could I do? If I tried to catch her in order to bring her to the vet I’d probably worsen the whole situation by bringing her under too much stress. Have to wait how it develops.

It seems to be a one-sided cold – no wonder with that awful weather – she still looks okay, cleans herself and eats. As long as she does not look too sick I am not too much worrried. Astonishingly she is not chased away by the other pigeons which would be the case if it were contagious… Birds normally have a very fierce habit: if there is a danger to the flock, the sick ones are chased away – sounds cruel but is simply the only chance for survival.

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Happy Birthday to this Diary and Blog!

I just realized that I missed my own birthday for this blog!

While we did not forget Willy’s and Joey’s birthday – I forgot the birthday of this diary! Shame on me!  But I think the whole pigeon gang will forgive me….

Thank you – Jimi – for the lovely flowers !!!

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Second Egg for Schlomskaja and another new Visitor

From the

Diary as of 2/23/ – 3/8/09

Schlomskaja has laid her second egg today – I removed it of course. That’s why they desperately tried to build a nest here on the balcony and Pete got nearly crazy. He cannot allow a second couple to breed here. THAT IS REALLY IMPOSSIBLE!

2/23 – 2/28 nothing really special besides the new citizens: Little Obama – he is a sweet one too, completely dark but not really black with eye rings… he seems to be a companion of Angelino – they often appear together.

I am missing Socks but Stockings is still there, also Blessy. There are a couple of new ones which I cannot identify because they all have that checker morph. Very difficult to identify. Also the birds change so quickly that I don’t have the time to make out a special mark.

I am happy that Joey appears more often again. He has become quite shy but he still remembers the noise I made with the little seed pot with the red lid and comes feeding. This is a great feeling.

3/1 – 3/8 Freiburg – buried my Mom on the 4th. I am terribly sad. She loved my stories about “my” pigeons.

And here a few images from Little Obama:

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Taking a Bath at 2°C – they must be crazy…

From the

Diary as of 2/21/ – 2/22/09

The temperatures are 2 degrees above zero and they are bathing again like crazy. Nearly all of them – they really queued up. This time they were using everything where they could find water in, 2 drinking pots – and today I even supplied them a big bowl. Need to make some photos again – somehow I was so fascinated that I forgot to photograpgh – can you imagine?

Only some of Pete how he took a “shower” while it was hailing!!

You can see the ice on the balustrade???

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DIY in Pigeon Town…

From the

Diary as of 2/16/ – 2/20/09

Mr.  Black as all the other males have started with the DIY business again: that means that they feverishly try to collect all sorts of little stems, twigs, dry pieces from my plants. Mr. Black is so eager to demolish that old basket, that is wired to the balustrade. He uses all his strength to break out some little twigs – I wonder when he will have demolished the whole basket.

Pete is collecting dry long leaves to embellish the nest Emma is sitting in – so funny how busy he is all the time. He works like a horse and hardly gives himself a break. Forgot to shoot some photos of his activity (was soooo solc on the balcony that the camera always showed low battery…)

Schlomo and Schlomskaja try for the xth time to build something like a nest in one of my empty flowerpots as well and Pete is going bananas about this because he cannot accept another couple breeding on the balcony. IT IS ALL HIS OWN!

It is still deep winter here and so cold that I have to change the water still every couple of hours because it is completely frozen after a short time.

Nonetheless each morning I have my fun with Willy and Winnie who are always patiently waiting for me and their social contact. They are sooooo sweet and very gentle. Jimi and Hillary are not quite as “tame” – who would ever have thought this – Willy always was the nervous, sheepish one and Jimi was the one who sat on my head. Now it is somehow vice versa.

Joey does not appear every day – at least I don’t see him ever day but he is perfectly okay. He comes when he is hungry….

Only another photo of Angelino because he looks sooooo cute:

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