Our Willy has disappeared!

Teresa wrote:

Oh my... Jimi has turned out to be quite a Casanova!

Yes he is, Teresa but I am quite glad about this. At least Pina seems to really enjoy him - that helps her to get over Willy!

Matilda wrote:

Thanks for the update, Petra...I've been wondering all week.

Thank you, dear - I am sorry that I have not been around but I have so much to do at the moment - it is really difficult to keep up but I'll try....

We so appreciate the update on how things are going, Petra.

Cindy - thank you so much for caring

Petra...we do understand how busy you are with all you have to do and we are happy when you find the time to up date us. Please do so when you are able but don't feel pressured by us to do so.

Just to let you know I'm thinking about you and your pidgies, hoping all are well, and sending positive thoughts!

Matilda wrote:

Petra...we do understand how busy you are with all you have to do and we are happy when you find the time to up date us. Please do so when you are able but don't feel pressured by us to do so.

Ah Charis - I try to find some minutes to peek in now and then - thank you for your understanding

Teresa wrote:

Just to let you know I'm thinking about you and your pidgies, hoping all are well, and sending positive thoughts!

Teresa - this is so sweet of you - I know you do - I am thinking about your little angels too and about you trying to help them all the time and all the others....

Nothing really new actually - Willy still did not return, nor did Angelo. But when both have a new mate the earliest I can expect them to come back when their babies have fledged I think and then they might be introduced to us. I dearly hope so. I miss them both so much.

In the meanwhile I am continuing to take care for Pina and Winnie. Pina does fly a lot in the appartment. She wants to get outside so desperately but her stress level is still much too low. I try to play with her as often as possible to distract her so that she does not become too bore. Not so easy. She loves to play the feather game: I have attached a feather to a long stick and then, when she sits in her cardboard box on the clsoet - I have to attack her with the feather so that she can fight with it. It is so funny. I try to make a little video one day that you can see. I slowly doubt that Pina is a pigeon - she rather behaves like a kitty or a little dog. Always chasing the feather, attacking it and all the time she is laughing - making funny squeaky noises full of pleasure. She would love to play the whole day with me - :eek: And then we play the "can-you-see-me"-game. This means she is hiding in her box and I am hiding below the bow of the closet - then you can see her slowly moving her head over the edge of the box to see where I am. And when she sees me she squeaks in delight. Very sweet!

Winnie - is feeling better again I think. For a couple of days she started vomiting (not much but I was a bit worried) and I put her back on formula feeding with less but more often. I think she had a bit of sour crop and her poop became very loose. She also had a couple of relapses where she stargazed a lot and was circling again. Poor little girl. I am so sad for her. I don't know if she is still missing Willy but I suppose so because very often she is just hiding in a dark corner of the appartment and we have sometimes to search her.
But in the very moment when Jimi comes in she is totally awake again and coqueting with Jimi. She also suddenly stops stargazing completely and you would not know that she is still sick!

Jimi and Alice come in a couple of times a day. I think that they must have monster babies with a tapeworm - they are eating like crazy. Also they try to make a second nest here inside now so that I have to throw them out each time after they have filled their little tummies. It's really getting complicated now. Pina has started to fight with Alice because she wants Jimi for herself and I cannot allow that of course. We are a decent family and not a bunch of bitches! :Yes: Winnie is highly interested in Jimi as well - oh my - and of course not so very fond of Pina - reacting with jealousy.

So you see the days are still very busy on top of my regular work. But I try to peek in from time to time and give you a little update...

On top of all these days are very depressing. We have such an awful weather since the end of April!!! I think from 31 days of May only 4-5 days were sunny - the rest rain rain rain. At the moment it is so cold again that you can see the breath in the morning. Everything outside is cold and damp and dark. I still keep my orchids inside because it is simply too cold for them outside. When will this end? No wonder that the pijjies are still sick. It is simply awful. The only sunshine is our Pina with her squeaky noises and Winnie, who has become quite tame - stepping on my hand when I put it in front of her. She loves being carried around....

Oh dear Petra...I hope the sun will start shinning all around and for each of us.

Thank you for the update and let you feathered flock ofcharacters know that they are loved from thousands of mile away.

Apprecitate your update, Petra.
You definitely have a full plate these days.

We love having you pop in as time permits.

Hi dear friends,
a little update is due but there are so many things to tell I hardly know where to start.
First - still no sign of Willy nor Angelo. Oh how I miss them!!!!
But something wonderful happened: I don't know whether I ever talked to you about Flecky, a pigeon man with wonderful colours - breast totally white and the rest of the body white patches but also purple metallic feathers and emerald colours, a wonderful mix of browns etc. He appeared for the first time in Feb last year as avery young pijjie.

We once called him Angelino because when he was flying and you could see him from below he seemed all white. This was last year and I forgot about this name again. Then he disappeared for many months until early this year and so I did not think about him any more. During last winter suddenly two young pigeons appeared on the opposite building, looking alike and nearly exactly like Angelino - so we called them "The Twins". A third bird could be seen with the similar colouration and quite obviously he was a parent of the twins. It could not be mistaken. Their colouration was only slightly different. So we had The Twins and their one parent Flecky (this is German for "patch"). At that time I did not remember that Flecky was in fact Angelino from last year. I only found out when I checked the photos in my Pigeon Tales where I suddenly realized that Flecky was in fact Angelino - stupid me. I should have known.

In the meanwhile one of The Twins has disappeared and only the other, "Flecky junior", and Flecky are rummaging on our balcony. Both absolutely sweet and very beautiful birds. Flecky has learned that I have a hotel and restaurant and he is used to walk into our livingroom to get his snack. He is quite devote towards Winnie and Pina and wiggles his wings when Winnie is getting angry at him, when he dares to eat from her dish. Oh my. Flecky junior is working to learn this habit from his father, i.e. he tries to come in but is not brave enough yet. Very funny to watch this.

NOW: About 2 weeks ago two absolutely stunning squeakers appeared on our balcony together with Flecky who obviously was their father. One is totally snow white - therefore we called him Snowy - and the other one has the same coloration as Flecky only with more white and he also has a white head - we called him Patchy. They are stunning birds with incredible faces and I was immediately mesmerized. In the meanwhile Snowy and Patchy are on our balcony every day to pick up some seeds, even waiting for them right in front of the door. Yesterday - while it was very hot - they even took a bath in the bowl I currently have on the balcony.

You know I have the feeling they both have been sent by Angelo, as a kind of consolation because he is not here any more. But maybe I am getting crazy only. Anyway - Snowy looks like a true angel for me. The view is breathtaking when he is flying in the sun. His white wings are glowing! Will keep you updated how this is going on....

More later but here are some pics:

The first 2 pics are from Angelino=Flecky of last year:






And the following are from Patchy and Snowy:











And this is where Patchy lost his head....

Oh Petra...what a wonderful gift. They are beautiful babies and I'm so happy for you.

It is, Charis, and it makes me smile each day when I see them. Both are veeeeeery sneaky and already have learned a lot of tricks to defend themselves while feeding.

F.e.: they open their wings in order to hide the seeds from others. This is a habit a certain water bird does, which belongs to the family of the herons but I cannot remember the name. Apparently this is also a habit one pijji once invented and now many do they same trick. Did you guys observe this too with your feathered friends???

They are gorgeous Petra love the markings on Flecky and Patchy...have never seen anything quite like that

Snowy looks so much like Angel who visited me for a month before disappearing never to return again She was very tame and used to eat out of my hand! I really do hope she is safe somewhere and will return someday It's been nearly an year now. Here's her pic

Priya - what a beautiful bird your Angel is! She seems to be a tiny bit coloured on her wings though - Snowy is absolutely pure white and does not have a single darker spot. Very interesting genetically I think because her father is coloured and if I am not totally wrong their mother is a dark one. So how could this be that one kid is pure white without being an albino? Does anyone know?

pigeonwriter wrote:

It is, Charis, and it makes me smile each day when I see them. Both are veeeeeery sneaky and already have learned a lot of tricks to defend themselves while feeding.

F.e.: they open their wings in order to hide the seeds from others. This is a habit a certain water bird does, which belongs to the family of the herons but I cannot remember the name. Apparently this is also a habit one pijji once invented and now many do they same trick. Did you guys observe this too with your feathered friends???

I'll look for that. Usually, feeding is a real frenzy.

pigeonwriter wrote:

Priya - what a beautiful bird your Angel is! She seems to be a tiny bit coloured on her wings though - Snowy is absolutely pure white and does not have a single darker spot. Very interesting genetically I think because her father is coloured and if I am not totally wrong their mother is a dark one. So how could this be that one kid is pure white without being an albino? Does anyone know?

Very strange indeed!

Wonderful pictures, Petra! And wonderful pidgies! I love the way Flecky has some white nails and some black ones! His colouring is just gorgeous!

I don't know anything about genetic colour transmission in pigeons, but I know who does -- Frank Mosca: http://www.angelfire.com/ga3/pigeongenetics/ Good hunting!

As for the spreading-the-wings-to-keep-the-other-pigeons-off-the-food, my ferals do it a lot too! Surely it's not only European pigeons who do that?! (Could give us both a bad name... )

Teresa wrote:

As for the spreading-the-wings-to-keep-the-other-pigeons-off-the-food, my ferals do it a lot too! Surely it's not only European pigeons who do that?! (Could give us both a bad name... )

Beautiful birds and wonderful photos, Petra.
Thanks for sharing them with us.

Well...I've been paying attention about the wings thing and I have concluded that it is indeed...a European Pigeon phenomena.

Teresa wrote:

As for the spreading-the-wings-to-keep-the-other-pigeons-off-the-food, my ferals do it a lot too! Surely it's not only European pigeons who do that?! (Could give us both a bad name... )

Nope! It's not just European pigeons who do that.
Several in my feral flock do this all the time.

Matilda wrote:

Well...I've been paying attention about the wings thing and I have concluded that it is indeed...a European Pigeon phenomena.

Better include the Southwestern part of the US as well. Or maybe just Arizona.

poooooooohhhhh - Teresa - what a relief for us?????????