Need Advice: Little Pidgee Has Lost an Eye

I'm afraid we've had a tragedy today (Saturday). It looks as if Little Pidgee has lost her left eye after apparently getting into a fight with or attacked by a large pigeon we'd not seen before.

She was fine all day. I was out giving the balcony a good cleaning. Little Pidgee and Henry, her new mate and who considers our balcony his own daytime home, kept flying close, even landing on the concrete edge of the balcony occasionally, on a far side from me, but mostly they watched from the window frames. I finished close to 5pm, but that's pretty late for them, especially Henry, and they had left.

Less than an hour later, shortly before 6pm, Little Pidgee showed up in the dining-room window, chased by a large pigeon that looked like her or Marty, her son (and former mate), only bigger. I did not see this, but the wife was working at the table and saw it immediately. She said it was definitely not Marty, because no "socky feet," the feathers that some pigeons have that go all the way down onto the feet. This pigeon was acting aggressively, but left when he saw Little Pidgee was not going to respond. She was scrunched into the corner of the window frame. Or it could have been the large pigeon was spooked by my wife, but she has the impression it was the lack of a response from Little Pidgee that did it. And when the large pigeon left, the wife saw something was wrong with Little Pidgee's left eye.

I was downstairs at a nearby convenience store while all of this was going on, getting stuff for us to drink for dinner, and Little Pidgee and her attacker showed up just before I returned. I took a close look by the window. Little Pidgee did not try to flee, and yes, her left eye seemed gone! not bloody or oozing, just gone. A blank space. The wife and I went out onto the balcony and took a look. Our dining-room window is next to the balcony, and Little Pidgee was still on the far side. It was after 6pm by this time and getting close to dark. We thought maybe she came here on purpose, considering it a refuge, so we didn't want to scare her away. But she did not seem concerned by our attention.

As mentioned, I had cleaned the balcony today. I had already put out fresh water. We had removed the flower box earlier this week but, since Henry and Little Pidgee seemed to be a couple, planned to put it back out with fresh earth inside covering up what food was left. (They'd all made a real mess knocking the dirt out of the box getting at the food that was in there.) So we did that quickly, and Little Pidgee saw us. Shortly before it was completely dark, Little Pidgee flew over to the balcony. She seemed a bit disoriented. Probably in shock, as she had just lost her eye. Drank water but seemed to misgauge the bowl and stuck her entire face in. Drank a lot, though. Then walked right through the water, sort of staggering. Hung out between the water dish and the flower box and seemed to "droop." Didn't act startled at all when I went close, but as I reached out slowly through the door, she perked up and jumped up onto the edge of the flower box. Then she moved to the tree pot we call their "living room" and from there, to the balcony rail that Big Pidgee always used to sleep on. I sprinkled a little birdseed on the floor by the water dish while she was looking, so if she wants that, it's there.

And she's out there now. It's about 7:45pm as I type this. Again, she may have thought of this place as a shelter. Looked like she was sleeping earlier, but she opened her eye when I turned on the light to check on her. Didn't act to move, though. I think she needs some rest.

We've seen one-eyed pigeons in the city before, so we know this is not necessarily fatal. Little Pidgee still does not want to be touched and is active enough to flee. We'll let her sleep here tonight and see how she is in the morning. Henry possibly knows nothing of this now.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what we can do?

Hi Sam,
I am very sorry to hear about Little Pidgee.

There really isn't anything you can as far as thoroughly examining the eye unless you are able to catch her.
I have no doubt she is in shock and in pain.
If the opportunity presents itself I would suggest catching her to check her over.
The likelihood of her crashing into something while flying is pretty good.
I worry about her getting somewhere and not being able to find food or water.

I'm sure the balance and inability to eat and drink normally are due to her not being able to see properly. Her equilibrium is probably way off kilter.
At this point, my suggestion would be to put a deep dish of seed out for her. Make sure her nesting area is padded enough to give some warmth. When a pigeon or dove sustains an injury or becomes ill, their body temperature decreases rapidly.

Please do keep us posted on how things are going.

Thanks. I'm not too up on trying to catch Little Pidgee right now, and the wife is against it too. Says let her rest for now, and she is indeed in a very deep sleep. We can see her easily. The poor thing must be exhausted. Back in her nesting days on the balcony, as much as pigeons hate flying in the dark, she did fly away a couple of times when I went too close while trying to change her water at night. She returned after a short while, but I'm afraid if I spook her now, she may fly away and not be able to find her way back. And she did run when I tried to reach out and touch her earlier.

Little Pidgee did manage to fly to our window frame. And from there, she flew okay to our balcony. We watched her, and she landed okay. If I did catch her now, I'm not sure what I could do after that, and she'd freak as soon as I let her go again, I'm sure. We have no birdcage.

I'm inclined to agree with the wife and let Little Pidgee get a good night's sleep. The fact that she's snoozing away now while we're right by her with all the lights on says how exhausted she is. It's only 9:20pm. During the squab days, I think we kept her awake a good part of the night, until we finally went to bed, but she's out like a light now. Breathing normally, it looks.

This is Thailand, so temperature's not much of a problem. It's pretty warm outside. This is our "cool" season, but that just means it might drop down to only 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and it's not even been down that low lately. We have fresh, soft earth in the flower box if she wants to use that. I'm worried about attracting too many other pigeons by putting the food bowl back out, but we'll figure some way to make her know there's food. If we have to use the bowl again for now, we will, but she did watch me, with her good eye, pour a small pile of birdseed on the floor outside.

I would keep an eye on her and see how things go.
I would also watch for excessive sleeping.

With regard to the warm temps, even if the 'outside' or 'inside' temp is warm a pigeon's body temperature will still drop when injured or ill. Supplement heat of some kind is advised, if possible. This helps to maintain their normal body temperature.

Please keep us posted.

Thanks again. We'll see how she's doing first thing in the morning.

So sorry to hear about Little pidgee's condition How is she doing today?
I would agree with Cindy, if you can catch her and give her a check just to figure out how badly she is hurt...the members here would help you out with what treatment to give and how to care for her once you can update on her condition and post some pics.

I will be having Little Pidgee in my prayers and hope she recovers soon..please keep us posted

priya wrote:

So sorry to hear about Little pidgee's condition How is she doing today?
I would agree with Cindy, if you can catch her and give her a check just to figure out how badly she is hurt...the members here would help you out with what treatment to give and how to care for her once you can update on her condition and post some pics.

I will be having Little Pidgee in my prayers and hope she recovers soon..please keep us posted

Still Saturday night here. It's been maybe 4-1/2 hours since the incident occurred, so the shock has probably still not worn off.

I just stuck my head out to test the waters. Little Pidgee started getting a little nervous and took a step away. Where she's positioned on the rail, she can easily flee if I try anything. We're going to let her rest and see how she is in the morning. I don't want her getting lost out in the dark.

Sam.........I have two pigeons that both lost an eye under tramatic circumstances. I know you are against it but you really need to catch this bird. The eye needs to be cleansed and ideally the bird needs to be put on antibotics. I am sure she is still in shock, and will be disoriented. She has a blind side now and is at risk. Easiest way to catch her is to sneak up on the blind side.

Louise

Sam...I do agree with Louise and the others.
If you do catch her please have a cage or small animal carrier ready to contain her.

Good news! Little Pidgee's eye is not gone. Sunday morning now, and she's back to normal. Got up at sunrise to look out. Her new man Henry was out there by the water. Then Little Pidgee popped her head up from just beneath the balcony door, where she'd apparently been eating the small pile of food I left out. Unlike last night, my presence startled her, like normal. She looked at me from both sides of her head, and her left eye was clearly open and functioning. Then she ran over to the edge of the balcony and flew away, followed by Henry. Phew!

I can only assume the attacker had been pecking at her eye, causing it to close up. And she must have been exhausted and in shock from the fight. But I saw the eye, albeit briefly, and it looks okay this morning. We expect her back later, and we can take another look. I put another little pile of food out there, and Henry is eating it now. And we saw them both together over on the mansion grounds this morning.

Thanks for the advice, but in this case, it looks like leaving her alone to rest was the right decision. She must have been scared out of her wits last night. I'm glad she thought of us as a safe haven.

What would have made that other pigeon attack her? Just from what we've seen on our balcony, it looks like males attack other males and leave the ladies alone. The wife says this pigeon was seriously angry at Little Pidgee.

Sam............I am so happy to hear that Little Pidgee' eye is still there.

Keep an eye on her for the next few days, watch for any signs of swelling or infecton.

Don't know why the other bird attacked her........usually it is territorial.......but could be any reason.

Keep us posted.

Louise

That's just wonderful!

And she's out there eating now. Seems completely back to normal. Skittish if we get too close. There's no swelling or anything remarkable about her left eye now; it does seem okay. The wife has a little pair of cheap binoculars she can look through, and all seems well.

Sorry about the false alarm, but it truly did look like her eye was gone last night. The wife and I have compared notes, and we both thought that.

I am so glad to hear Little Pidgee's eye injury is not as bad as first thought.

No problem about the false alarm, Sam. Panic would have been the reaction from any of us. Henry and Little Pidgee are very dear to you (and us).

As always we enjoy your updates and love hearing about your balcony pijjies.

Thanks. She was one seriously shaken-up pidgee last night.

Siam Sam wrote:

Thanks.
She was one seriously shaken-up pidgee last night.

I'll bet she was. Bless her little birdie heart.

Fancyfeathers wrote:

I am so glad to hear Little Pidgee's eye injury is not as bad as first thought.

No problem about the false alarm, Sam. Panic would have been the reaction from any of us. Henry and Little Pidgee are very dear to you (and us).

As always we enjoy your updates and love hearing about your balcony pijjies.

Agree with Cindy
So glad to hear that all's well with Little Pidgey

Thanks, all. It's just past 6:30pm Sunday now, and it's been dark a short while. Just over 24 hours since The Incident. I was sort of hoping Little Pidgee would choose to sleep here again tonight, but no go. She and Henry were here several times today, and she's doing well. Henry probably has no idea anything happened.

Siam Sam - what a relief about your Little Pidgee!!! So much better to get in panic without reason than with a severe injury. I am very glad about this little happy end