Elmo the adorable

Hi everyone,
I've just realised that I never properly introduced my second pigeon, Elmo, to you. By now many of you already know about him and his funny antics, however, I thought I should post his story for any newcomers who may not know about him. I feel I must share Elmo.

Elmo hatched sometime in 2000. Unfortunately, I don't know what month because I haven't got any contact with his finder and first carer. A lady found him and took care of him because besides being a lost little baby, he also had paramyxovirus. This illness left him with permanent damage. He is unable to fly properly and sometimes has balance problems (especially when he tries to stretch). Since Elmo had to be hand-reared as well as recover from the virus, he became imprinted on humans, craving their attention.

After about a year of living with his finder, he went to live with another lady (I don't know the exact details as to why). By this time he had grown into a strapping young pigeon, albeit a disabled one. He lived with his new carer for 7 years, surrounded by rescued cats, dogs, rabbits and another pigeon. Elmo seemed to get along with the cats but chased the rabbits about. He had attitude!

Sadly for his carer (but luckily for us), in 2008 Elmo was brought to a wildlife rescue centre for rehoming after she was unable to continue to look after him. Due to his unique nature Elmo had to be rehomed to a household that could give him the attention and care he needed. Prior to being taken to the rescue centre attempts had been made to rehome him in an aviary with other pigeons, however, he became very distressed in that situation. He doesn't like other pigeons. Thankfully the rescue centre knew that my husband and I had another pigeon in our home (semi-blind Georgie) and asked us if we could give Elmo a home. As you can imagine, it didn’t take us long to say yes!

Since 2008 we've been living with both Georgie and Elmo and loving every minute of it. Elmo bonded immediately with my husband and decided that I was competition and also the enemy! As you can guess, I receive a fair share of pecks and attacks when Elmo thinks I'm coming too near to his "territory".

During the day Elmo has the run of our bedroom, and he spends his time sleeping, preening, eating and looking out the window into the garden (we know this because we set up a webcam to spy on him). When we return home from work he's elated to see both of us and runs about, cooing and bowing with excitement. It's the best "welcome home" to receive after a long hard day at work!

I have to say, Elmo is very spoilt. He receives endless cuddles and kisses from my husband, and I have to admit, I get a bit jealous!

At night, Elmo sleeps on the bedside table next to his "mate", my husband. Now, is that spoilt or what?!

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he si always adorable....

Thank you for telling his story. It's a nice story, and he is an adorable little guy.

Thank you for sharing Elmo's story with us, Revati.
I love that picture.

Elmo, LOTS!!

I'm so glad to learn more about Elmo Thank you for sharing it with us.

I love that little character, Elmo. I'm surprised to learned he's an older fellow. I hope you and we have many more years to enjoy his quirky ways. Give him a kiss from me, if he'll let you.

Thanks everyone, I'll let Elmo know that you all love him. And Charis, I'll attempt to give him a kiss but I may get a few pecks in the process, but I don't mind.

Elmo is gorgeous! I cant imagine the delight of waking up every morning with a pet pidge right at the side of you, it must be wonderful
I just want to bury my nose in his feathers and smell him

AnnieBirdy wrote:

Elmo is gorgeous! I cant imagine the delight of waking up every morning with a pet pidge right at the side of you, it must be wonderful
I just want to bury my nose in his feathers and smell him

Thank you Annie!
Elmo has an amazing smell! My Georgie, unfortunately, doesn't have much of a smell. Don't know why.

Thank you Annie!
Elmo has an amazing smell! My Georgie, unfortunately, doesn't have much of a smell. Don't know why.[/quote]

Hmmm, have you noticed if your deoderants are running out faster than usual ??

What a wonderful story. Elmo is adorable, the pic is priceless.

Reti