Time to relax and Angelo had a Fight

From the

Diary as of  9/7 – 9/11/09

9/7 Emma and Winnie are still sitting on their plaster eggs. I have the feeling that they love the time to relax and not running around. Willy has become much calmer and has entirely stopped to chase the babies from their cardboard box on the closet. He seems to be happy when he sees his kiddos enjoying the outdoor life.

9/8 Angelo appeared to have had a bad fight. As he is moulting as well he has not so many feathers around his beak and neck any more and showed some minor bloody injuries. Hopefully this will heal soon again. It is quite clear that the missing feathers make it more likely to get hurt by other pigeons. Their beaks are quite sharp as we have seen with the attack on our little ones.

But his appetite was excellent so I assume that everything is okay with him. When creatures do not have any appetite any more then something is deeply wrong. This applies even to humans!!!!

Angelo’s injuries were better the next day.

9/9 – 9/11 Nothing special. As usual the babies want to get out at 6:30 in the morning although it is not even really light out there. But they announce their wishes by fluttering around in the livingroom.  When I hear this I know they want to get out. I wonder how long they will be sleeping on their board in the bookshelf??

During the day Pina is often coming in to take a little rest on the board or in the cardbox. How I know that she wants to get in? Well – either she hangs like a swift on the hey bag which is mounted on a hook outside near to the balcony door. Or she jumps on the little board where my orchids are standing and picks at the window, looking at me, giving me the reproachful look or she simply lingers in front of the door. She then normally flies to the table first to indicate that she is thirsty. So she will get some fresh water then something to eat. Peppi apparently does not need this time out besides a few exceptions. But then he is a boy and not a wimp. He also comes in much later in the evening than Pina – as it is common for little boys too.

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That’s how they are sleeping during the night (photographed with flash in total darkness)

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Blessy is back and the Pijjies have their Moods

From the

Diary as of 6/23/ – 6/24/09

Joey is sleeping in pigeoncity since 2 days – the weather is so awful – raining and raining and raining and he is in the moult.  Pete also seems to be very depressed – he is hardly eating. He does not even quarrel much with the foreigners who do not belong on our balcony. I really hope that he is not sick.

It is quite apparent: pigeons have their moods just like humans. It is unbelievable but they seem to know depressive feeling. If we only could communicate with them – many things would be so much easier. Maybe I am a little bit crazy about all this but then I simply don’t care. I KNOW that these wonderful birds are more than just wild animals. Every one of them has his and her own personality and there are days where they are feeling bad and there are days where they feel a whole lot of joy. You can simply see this.

If you only could see Angelo flying on a bright sunny day. He is showboating, he behaves like dolphins who are surfing on a wave. Clearly they have fun – a lot of fun! So do the piggies. I only wished I could fly with them together….

Blessy appeared today on the balcony again after such a long time – and he seems to be doing well.

Angelo, our little icebear, is becoming more and more trusty – he sat on the stepper’s railing and ate the seeds from my hand again (see last post). Willy became jealous and chased him away. Silly Willy but Angelo came back soon and continued eating.

Jimi is coming every day at the moment too – eating from the seeds. From the bowl with the old sock…

This is a photo of Blessy with his colourful plumage:

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Angelo is eating from my Hand for the first time!

From the

Diary as of 6/21 – 6/22/09

6/21 Nearly all of “our” piggies are in moult – I am brooming tons of feathers each day….

6/22 And YES - Angelo ate from my hand for the first time!!! Our sweet little icebear – as we call him in the meanwhile. Oh my – he is soooo sweet  – he is a consolation for both babies that died 2 weeks ago. He did not miss a single day so far to visit us and get his seeds of course – LOL. You get nothing for nothing – do you?

This morning Joey was so greedy for food that he nearly jumped on me when I called him – i.e. he flew immediately to the little bowl I had in my hands for him with the result that half of the seeds were spilled on the balcony floor. He could not wait any longer. Was so funny! He apparently lost all his timidity from me. But only me! That’s good.

All the piggies were awfully hungry today – the weather is still awful – rainy and hardly 14° C. The poor animals – not only the birds  – that is not fair – we had such a long winter and now this. I really have big sympathy and I think that many young babies, birds, mammals will die with this weather. I am very sad about this because this means another year with no cuckoo, only very few swifts i.e. 3 or 4 pairs only circling above  our home. In the past years it were groups of 15 to 20 birds, chirping loudly while flying around and showing their awesome tricks. Such fun to watch them.

We have hardly seen any rabbits and nearly no hares. I think all the babies died in that bad weather. What a loss. They are always so funny to watch.

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Oh – btw – this is the new way how I am feeding “our” pigeons now: instead of having them spilling all the corn all over the balcony floor – I have little plastic bowls covered by an old sock (washed!) with a hole in it. The little buggers get used to this quite quickly and stick their little heads deep into this bowl. Now they can be messy without the known consequences and no food is contaminated or spoiled!!! Also their feathers are not damaged because the sock is soft of course while they are digging like crazy…
I have the feeling that they love it being fed like this!

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New eggs and little Vultures

From the

Diary as of 9/26/ – 10/1/08

9/27/08 Emma laid another egg. ANOTHER ONE. I have given up counting in the meanwhile.

Each morning all 6 pigeons are here and our orphan child Fritzi – who is now part of the family – sunflower seeds eating. Every morning at the same time, patiently waiting for me to come out with the seeds pots in my hands….

Winni looks now as if she is going into moult also…

9/28/08 Weather is getting better now – a bit warmer and not so wet.

Pete and Jimi are sleeping in pigeoncity regularly each night – without exception. Emma is sitting on her egg in the pigeon villa.

Jimi is still moulting and looks terrible now – really like a little vulture. This morning I realized that Emma is moulting as well. This happened nearly from one day to another…

9/29/08 Emma has laid the second egg as anticipated. This time I did something different. I removed one egg when Emma was gone for a snack, emptied and cleaned it completely and thoroughly and filled it with plaster. I waited 2 days until it was completely dried out and put it back under Emma’s belly. Funnily she tolerated this without too much hazzle.  I think this will work better than the oil. The egg is much heavier now and I wonder whether Emma will realize this. Maybe she thinks she will get some monster babies – oh my… ???

10/1/08 I filled the second egg with plaster. Before I emptied it with a syringe I held the egg against the light and you could already see the little embryo, the blood veins. I don’t feel very well that I had to remove this egg also but I also don’t want Emma to create more and more chicks. She won’t live long if she continues like that – I want to give her a pause. I am curious how long it will take this time until she realizes that there will never be chicks coming out of these eggs…

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This is Winnie as a little vulture – she looks ridiculous but also sooooo sweet:

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Moult and Tons of Feathers and a Love-Nest

From the

Diary as of 9/21 – 9/25/08

Only Jimi and Emma and Pete are sleeping on the balcony in the meanwhile. Pete is losing pounds of feathers, Emma as well. And Jimi – he looks like a vulture. Nothing to notice on Winnie – moultwise – which I find strange. Maybe she starts later with it.

We have a new orphan child which we called Fritzi. He is such a sweetie and begging for food all the time. He is completely dark grey and still has those yellow needle feathers. He has eye rings through which he is easily recognizable. And he seems to look sad somehow.

Winni and Willi are best friends now – always together appearing and flying away. Joey – who was Willi’s girlfriend before – was left by Willi – naughty naughty….

Each morning all 6 piggies appear on the balustrade to get their seeds for breakfast. Well – we have a 7th now: Fritzi, who always tries to get his share… with huge success. He is the smallest and the youngest and the cheakiest. And he confirms his appetite with loud squeaking noises. Very funny.

Emma and Pete are mating AGAIN. Oh my what can I do???

9/25/08 Emma finally started with her moult and suddenly looks like a rat.

And here are the lovers, Pete and Emma, in their cosy love-nest:

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