Hello from Bangkok!

Oh, I'm not disbelieving you. I'm just trying to figure out how this could have come about. A very odd occurrence.

Siam Sam wrote:

Oh, I'm not disbelieving you. I'm just trying to figure out how this could have come about. A very odd occurrence.

I know what you meant... I was scratching my head about where Venice had sprung from, too!

Tuesday morning over here, and our flight out of here is tomorrow. Will have to try to be extra nice to Henry and Geri and the other regulars today. But we hope this trip weeds out many of the new ones, as we're really getting too many now. Many more new babies showing up almost every day, mostly gray ones. We hope the core group is still here in a few weeks though.

Here's a new guy who showed up on Sunday for the very first time. And a rear view. Have not seen him again since. A male judging by his size, and very young, as his eyes are still black and have not taken on the normal orange coloring around the pupils. Seems certain he's related to Henry and Geri somehow. Note the "white-paint splotches" on the front of the face, similar to Bumpy Head's.

And Squeak! Taken just this morning. He's turned into a very health male. Seems afraid of most pidgees though. That's a white dot just above his eye, not an out-of-place feather.

See you in a few weeks!

Hope you've been having a grea holiday, Sam!
Do tell us all about it when you get back!

Well, finally! We've been back home six whole days now, and only just now has Henry showed up. I've been waiting in hopes of being able to report some good news in this regard but just about gave up hope until now. Some of the regulars started trickling back after we returned this past Monday morning -- Ladyboy, Spooky, a couple of white spotty ones who may have been babies when we left but still remember us -- but no sign at all of Henry. Or his mate Geri. The very first one to show up after our return was the one we most wanted to see leave -- Big Pretty One. He's a bad bully to all the others.

Again, we had just about given up hope when Henry appeared this morning. We were trying to feed Spooky (a small black one). Figured Henry had maybe left the neighborhood. Well, he's back now and seems hungry.

Henry's returned for the second day in a row, so I guess we've settled back into our routine. He even remembers how to jump up in the window to order some food. I hope Geri's okay, still no sign of her. Seems April was especially brutal over here this year, the daily temp averaging above 104 degrees Fahrenheit with hellish humidity. Luckily there are other water sources in the neighborhood, but drinking swimming-pool chlorine can't be good for you. The mansion next door has some sort of big water fountain though.

And one more note. Geri appeared shortly after I wrote my previous post, so all is well. It's odd, but Henry must have somehow conveyed the information that we're back. I have no idea how that works. Maybe she just finally noticed increased activity in our direction, dunno.

And we've already noticed a couple of new Henry-looking pidgees stopping by. Our main camera fried during our trip, so we're looking to get a new one. The wife has a smaller camera, but it may not be possible to upload photos from there, so it may be awhile for any new pics.

Another photo, this time of a new one named Spotty finding an unusual perch. Spotty showed up in March I think, shortly before we left for the US. Even then, he would fly to that ceramic plaque on the wall and perch there. Looks uncomfortable, but he still likes to do it. That's an apsara, which is actually part of Khmer (Cambodian) culture -- a sort of angel -- and not Thai culture, but we got it here in Bangkok. Why he decided that makes a good perch, we have no idea. No other pidgee has ever gotten it into their head to do this. And he'll just sit there for the longest time. His left foot is clutching the apsara's face. He really grew while we were away.

We're certain that Spotty is related to Henry, but we don't think it's his son, because he hates Geri. He will bully and chase her until we intervene. I don't think he'd act that way toward his mother. He could be Ladyboy's son, which would make him Henry's grandson.

The small black one standing on one leg is Spooky, an all-black pidgee who also showed up shortly before we left. We're pretty sure Spooky is female.

Some of the other regulars have started getting the word. I thought I saw Pinky briefly this morning, and right now her father/mate Big Red is out there.

Took a photo of a beautiful B&W whom I think belongs to Henry and Geri. He seems nervous around Geri. Will post soon.

Hi Sam,

I hope your holidays in the US were pleasant!
It's funny the way the pigeons passed the word, or seemed to, about your arrival! They certainly are much cleverer than most people imagine! I wonder if they thought you'd moved, and were trying to figure out where to?

Spotty's choice of perch really is odd! But he's looking beautiful, so big now! I'm glad all the regulars are turning up, especially Henry and Geri!

Siam Sam wrote:

Another photo, this time of a new one named Spotty finding an unusual perch.

The small black one standing on one leg is Spooky, an all-black pidgee who also showed up shortly before we left. We're pretty sure Spooky is female.

Well, the past week has been bizarre, pigeonwise. First there was little Pinkie, who showed up again after initially appearing only once immediately after we returned from the US on April 30. We came home last Monday night after dark to find her on the balcony. At first we were pleased, then we remembered that these days, pidgees seem to come here at night only if they're distressed. Sure enough, while she looked okay initially, we started noticing something wrong with her throat. Something seemed stuck in it. Something big, apparently. She kept trying to contort her neck. I put a little food down by the water dish, and she flew down and tried to eat, but it was not easy, because she could not bend her neck appropriately. She finally gave up. Tried to drink a little water too. Kept contorting her neck all the while, like she was trying to get something swallowed. We knew if we tried to catch her, she'd just fly away, so we let her be since she didn't appear to be in immediate danger and planned to scope out the situation in the morning. She settled in on one of the green rails over by the wall. I woke up at about 2:30am and decided to take a look. Instead of sleeping, Pinkie was wide awake and stared right back at me. I think she could not pull her neck in like pigeons do to sleep; that and the general discomfort was keeping her awake is my guess. She was gone in the morning, and we've not seen her since. Poor little Pinkie. We've seen her father/mate Big Red a couple of times since, but she's not been with him.

A couple of days later, Spooky, the black one in the photo linked to above, flew in with a broken right leg, the same leg she's standing on in the photo. I tried to catch her, but she flopped around and flew off. Came back a couple of times over the next two days, and we saw her standing over on the window frames with her bad leg dangling down. Then she disappeared.

As if that weren't bad enough, yesterday (Sunday) we'd no sooner finished scrubbing down the balcony than one of the newer white-with-black-speckles babies we've been seeing since returning came in for a landing with both legs broken! This one I was able to catch. About three months old is my guess. It (not sure if boy or girl) flopped around a bit but could not get away from me. Nothing was wrong with the wings, so I had to keep my hands cupped over those. We petted it and made soothing sounds until it calmed down. We put a little food by the water dish and set it down in front of it, and it started eating. It was almost dark by this time. I'm thinking: "What on eath is going on with broken legs?"

The legs were indeed sort of curled up uselessly, but oddly whatever happened had taken all the feathers off the belly. All of them, almost as if it had been shaved. Just skin exposed. No blood, the skin was not broken anywhere, nothing mangled like a dog or cat may have gotten it. I started wondering if maybe it was an electric shock. There's a new apartment building going up close by, and I wonder if any wires are exposed. Maybe Spooky's leg wasn't broken but rather the result of a shock. I don't think any of her feathers were missing though, but I didn't get that close a look at her.

Anyway, there's a small-animal hospital connected to Chulalongkorn University's Veterinary Sciences Faculty, and they have a 24-hour number for advice. We called them, and they said if we wanted we could bring the baby in this morning after 8am. There wasn't anything they could tell us until they'd looked at it. (There's actually a bird specialist there on Sunday and Wednesday mornings, but straight injuries like this can be seen anytime.) So we put some more food out and left it alone. It was alert and not in the least sick; this was clearly an injury, not a disease. During the course of the night, it kept scooting closer to the wall, I guess out of a sense of safety. Still out there this morning. I started preparing a box to smuggle it out of the building in (birds are not allowed here as pets). But then Small Pretty One, Ladyboy's mate, showed up and attacked it! I guess for the food that was nearby. I chased him away, but then suddenly the baby, freaked out, flapped its wings and flew off. Rounded the building, and that's the last we've seen of it. That was about an hour ago.

I will be home all day and will keep a watch to see if it returns. But this has been a strange week for pidgees. In hindsight, I'm thinking now that I should have put the little guy in a box last night, but he didn't seem inclined to fly anywhere. I'm sure I could have proceeded as planned if Small Pretty One had not butted in.

Meanwhile, Henry and Geri are still coming regularly. Together these days, so they've stopped doing shifts on the nest again. Two other babies, one still squealing, seem to be following them. If any of the injured ones show back up, I'll let you know.

No further sign of the kid with two bad legs. :( However, the wife says Spooky showed up again today while I was away, the first time in maybe a week. Still with one useless leg but still hanging in there. The right leg is still useless, but she can flop around some with the good left one while spreading the wings out. The wife didn't want to scare her by trying to catch her, but she did put some food out. Spooky ate some but seemed to be annoying the others with her flopping. Something finally scared her and the others, and everyone took off. But at least she's surviving. The wife said she seemed to have some rice stuck to her beak also.

Still no further sign of Pinky. :(

Meanwhile, here are a few more photos, taken over the last four weeks or so.
This one shows Geri on the right with a rather marble-patterned pidgee who may belong to Henry and Geri. And another one.

This guy is certainly related to Henry somehow. Only showed up the one day.

Henry and Geri eating. And a family photo. The white on the one on the left is super white, and it lets out a little squeak upon landing. Neither of these is the one with two bad legs, but that one does resemble the one at the top of this photo somewhat. And two more of Geri and Henry, here and here. Those two photos show up Geri's clown face well.

Is anyone still here? Trying to call up the website just now, I got a message that said this domain had expired. I managed to log on by finding some sort of archived website at the slightly different Web address of pij-n-angels.forumotion.net.

Are we still in business?

Yep, still here, though it's been getting harder and harder for me to be around on week days!
30 years ago I thought that by now I'd be working less hours... fat chance!!!
The forum address has gone back to the original pij'n'angels form -- sorry if that caused confusion!

So sorry about all the mishaps of the last week... you know what devils pigeons are to remain independent and pretend there's nothing wrong, so if you have the chance to secure any you manage to catch and stop them from escaping, that would ensure they can get help.

I'm glad Spooky was spotted again, but unfortunately the prognosis doesn't look very hopeful. If the leg is broken, after a week it will have started to try to mend (unsuccessfully) and any attempt made now to set the leg will almost certainly be too late. If it was burned on a power cable, it's even worse, as eventually necrosis will set in. I've never heard of a pigeon with power cable burns surviving.
I hope Pinky and the youngster with the two bad legs are still around, poor things.

Hi Sam,

Hope all's well with you and your pigeons! How is Spooky managing with her bad leg?

Hello? I just refound this website. Is this a new Web address? The old one seems to have expired.

And to answer the question from more than a year ago, Spooky's leg is still broken, but she's managed to live with it and has even found a mate. We've even seen them having sex out on our balcony.

Hi there Sam, nice to 'see' you!  

The site has gone back to its original format, as Cindy no longer owns the domain. I had joined before then, so the change has not affected me, but I guess the link you had been using no longer works. So sorry, but I'm very glad you found your way around.

It's very quiet here these days, as all the action has moved on to Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/176239232007/

Thanks for the good news about Spooky! It's marvelous how resilient and resourceful pigeons are!
Hope you, your wife and your pigeon visitors are all well!