Juliek's rescue

@ you all for your help.

Teresa, in hindsight...I realized I should have been doing that...(clapping hands to make her fly). She had barely just started doing that a couple of days ago and it did worry me. Hindsight is 20/20 isent it. I picked up the seedblock and hand fed my regular flock today. But i notice the smaller birds are chucking out seeds from THEIR feeder, so i guess i'll have to do something about that too, as they are still hanging around. I didnt think they woud come to me, with the white one gone, as she always led the pack..but they did, I guess they recognized my voice.

It sounds like you have the perfect setup there where you are. I guess mine will take more work. The hedges i planted along the fence for now, only big enough yet to give shelter to the smaller birds until they grow more. My 2 fake owls only worked for a short time. This hawk caught on. So I will see how this goes for a while, just feeding them one time a day. At the moment i have my "other half" watching over them, lol. Do you think the neighbors would be miffed if i get an air horn? haha.

Have a great day, from your other bird of a "feather"

Julie...i feel how sad you are about the loss of your white pigeon. As you reconsider feeding the birds in your yard, do keep in mind that birds of prey are part of the environment and will follow the birds that leave your yard to find food else where. You cannot stop the carnage by removing the food and you may make it more difficult for the birds by removing a source of food they have become accustomed to. The only thing that will change is that you won't feel the loss of a beloved bird. It will still happen...you just won't know about it.

I have a Cooper's Hawk that comes to my yard every day. Every time I see him, I holler and throw small rocks his way. I do everything I can to make him go away. At first, he caught a pigeon nearly every time. Now though, the pigeons are on to him and seldom does he catch one. As much as I hate that birds of prey hunt other birds, I know they are here to stay and they are only doing what they need to do to feed their young and survive.

Thanks Charis,

Yes i realize this. I've been fighting off hawks that come to my yard for years. I do what you do. Yell, clap, throw a handful of small stones. But they always come back, and probably for an easy meal. I just got too attached to this one beautiful bird...and now thinking after getting her so tame, i should have left well enough alone.

I don't see any harm in becoming attached to a feral pigeon or more, except if the source of danger for them is other humans, who they would no longer fear.
You can still go on making friends with your visitors, but I would try to ensure that they take to the air with the rest of the flock when the alarm is raised, even if that would mean startling them into taking flight when the others do.

Well I have cut way back on my sweet pigeon visitors. A few come in the morning, and a few late afternoon and thats about it. They no longer run to me when I walk out there, but instead fly away until i leave. It makes me wonder if this is my regular flock...because the regulars not only had the white, but a patchy one, and I havent seen any familiar ones lately.

I'm posting here to give you all an update on the bird I rescued and took to Nancy. I called her this morning to see how he was doing . She told me, the first few days she tube fed him ...he wasent getting his food, and also put him on meds. But now, she keeps him in a big pen with a few others, he's eating and seems to be getting along fine. She told me he wasent 100 percent yet, but truckin along like a little trooper, eating and drinking on his own, although he is still a little thin.

Well !!! That just made my day. I told her I would call in a few weeks again. What a blessing she is.

I can't thank you all enough, for your information, encouragement and phone numbers and people I could call to help with that little guy. I am so happy i found this site. I guess I wont have much to contribute here anymore, as I will back off feeding pigeons altogether. I know it's silly but i get too darned attached to some of them, and after i lost the white to a hawk, i found that devastating. It broke my heart. I guess i'm just too soft. I know they face perils out there in the wild, but me luring them to my yard and making them half tame, makes it easy for the hawks, i figure. I will continue to feed my little finches, a couple of woodpeckers, parrots, etc. They seem very safe feeding up under the protection of the gazebo i set out there for them.

Thank you all so very much. You're the best !!!

Thank you so much for the update on your rescued pigeon, Julie, it's wonderful to know how much better he is now! A big thank you also to Nancy for looking after him so well!