No rest for the wicked

I'm sorry to hear about your flock, Teresa.

Sweets and Boss sound like a couple characters. That is too cute trying to get into your pocket.

Tigga does look so sad and definitely feeling under the weather. Bless his heart.
I'm glad to hear he's beginning to rally back.

Bless your heart as well.
Please keep us posted.

Charlie, the squeaker I caught jay-walking near the park 2 weeks ago, is doing great! She's put on 70 g since then and she's flying really well!

Here she is with George (this morning), pretending to be interested in the seeds she had flung out of her foodie! And George obviously has no idea how handsome he is -- see how nervous he is of her!



Charlie is almost as big as Pippin now, and they have exactly the same markings, except round the eyes! By the way, are they bars or checks? Or chars? Or becks?

Baby Tigga has been eating well and he looks so much better! I haven't got any new photos of him yet, but I may take some shortly.

...I think Charlie is a spread and George a blue check.

Great photo, Teresa.
I'm so glad Charlie is doing so well.

George is quite a handsome pij. :Yes:

NO!!! Tigga is dead!

I was stupidly overconfident, should have checked on him every 2 hours, not 4! I went in to see him, full of the joys of Spring, with his food and the camera, and there was no rustle when I opened the carrier. He looked asleep, and nothing looked wrong except for his thinness and a half-full crop. I just cried out, then sat and rocked him for a while.
I really thought he had a chance...

I'm so sorry Teresa. I was also encouraged when he was eating and up walking.
You did everything you could. I know exactly how you feel. I lost one yesterday in almost the same manner. Seems like some of them we find are just too far gone by the time we get them.

FLY FREE AND HIGH PRECIOUS LITTLE TIGGA


Louise

I can't believe it!!!!! I'm so sorry.
Fly free little Tigga.
Teresa...don't beat yourself up. I don't think there was anything you could have done for him. Sometimes it's just too late by the time we are able to catch them.

Thank you, Charis and Louise. And Louise, I'm sorry you lost one of your little patients too.

I'm going to phone the vets first thing tomorrow and ask if they'll do a necropsy. I need to know what's involved, two lives lost are two too many. Besides, the dog and I keep walking in the park, and goodness knows what we could be bringing home to the pet pigeons... I have to find out exactly out to attack this killer disease. I'm done believing in miracle pills.

Teresa wrote:

Thank you, Charis and Louise. And Louise, I'm sorry you lost one of your little patients too.

* I'm going to phone the vets first thing tomorrow and ask if they'll do a necropsy.

I need to know what's involved, two lives lost are two too many.

** Besides, the dog and I keep walking in the park, and goodness knows what we could be bringing home to the pet pigeons...

I have to find out exactly out to attack this killer disease. I'm done believing in miracle pills.

* That's a good idea. Losing two birds in two days from the same flock is certainly worthy of being suspicious.
Didn't you say there were some others that didn't look quite right, but you were unsuccessful in catching them?

** Good point.

Please keep us posted.

Fancyfeathers wrote:

Teresa wrote:

I'm going to phone the vets first thing tomorrow and ask if they'll do a necropsy.

That's a good idea. Losing two birds in two days from the same flock is certainly worthy of being suspicious.
Didn't you say there were some others that didn't look quite right, but you were unsuccessful in catching them?

Midnight and Tigga came from the park, where I also found a dead bird yesterday, and I was told about 2 dead birds two days ago, one beside the park, and the other in my street -- so this last one could be from the flock I feed on the roof. Also, some of the poops on my roof looked far from healthy, so I've been treating all the indoor and outdoor pigeons for cocci. They had the last dose today. But of course, with a 5-day treatment, you run the risk that not all the pigeons will be treated during each of those 5 days.

Your words were prophetic though, because when Nightflier came to eat, after sunset, I saw a fluffed-up squeaker on the roof beside him. I climbed up there when it got a little darker, but the squeaker had gone.

I hope you get to the bottom of this, Teresa.

So very sorry to read about Tigga

Teresa I wouldn't bring anymore sick pijjies from the park around your birds, finding all the other dead ones sounds very bad to me.

EgypSwiftLady wrote:

So very sorry to read about Tigga

Teresa I wouldn't bring anymore sick pijjies from the park around your birds, finding all the other dead ones sounds very bad to me.

You're right, it's a big risk, but it breaks my heart to see them standing there helpless, being harrassed by children, and there's always that small chance that it may not be too late...
What I've done is keep them totally separate from the rest of the household, by changing the guest bedroom into a makeshift hospital wing, and not allowing anyone else to go in there. The clothes I wear when I pick them up or tend to them, go straight in the wash. Their towels, cages and carriers are thoroughly washed and disinfected, and everything else is disposed of.



Well, little Tigga was delivered to the vets yesterday morning, and I hope he may yet help me to help the others.
As before, the vet said that if viruses are involved, they wouldn't be able to do an identification of the species. I asked especially for an investigation of what led to their extreme thinness and the inability to absorb food -- whether there was a blockage of the digestive system, and what caused it.
The vet wasn't surprised that both patients had improved before the end. She said they would have perked up with the electrolytes and what little food they were able to absorb, but she thinks that the major organs would already have started to shut down, and it was too late to save them.
She also said that human action couldn't be discounted, especially if there were a lot of victims over a very short period of time. I haven't seen any of the symptoms commonly associated with poisoning, but I later remember that at this time of year the Abadias Park, which starts 200 m away from the smaller Municipal Park (where the victims were) has its stream treated with insecticide (to kill mosquito larvae) and the vast lawn is sprayed with herbicide -- actions that are never made known to the public, in spite of the fact that there are children's play and sporsts areas there, and people take their dogs there for walks! Maybe that's what happened, and birds that were already sick suffered the most ill effects. There were no new casualties yesterday. I'll see if I can find something out from the gardeners.

Appreciate the update, Teresa.

The reasons the vet gave for the pijjies showing signs of improvement just prior to passing way makes a lot of sense.
And the insectitcide spraying is certainly a thought to ponder.

It will be very interested to hear what the necropsy finds and what the gardeners have to say.


I'm so glad to hear there were no new casualties yesterday.

Please keep us posted.

I'm very interested in what the necropsy may reveal. I'm really glad you decided to have one done.

Teresa wrote:

...at this time of year the Abadias Park, which starts 200 m away from the smaller Municipal Park (where the victims were) has its stream treated with insecticide (to kill mosquito larvae) and the vast lawn is sprayed with herbicide -- actions that are never made known to the public, in spite of the fact that there are children's play and sporsts areas there, and people take their dogs there for walks! Maybe that's what happened, and birds that were already sick suffered the most ill effects. There were no new casualties yesterday. I'll see if I can find something out from the gardeners.

BINGO! WEEDKILLER! Perhaps through the skin, rather than ingested.
The gardeners said the council men were spraying weedkiller last week -- not at the Municipal Park, but wherever there were green areas in town with clover. But they weren't sure which day it happened.

Oh my goodness!!
Those poor babies.

Although I'm glad you found out what the culprit was, I am just sick about this as I know you are as well.
Sending you a BIG

That's just terrible.

Can you find out what exactly they use?

Teresa, I just checked in and was totally caught off guard by your sad reports I feel very bad about these pijjies dying because of the ignorance and stupidity again of certain people. You must feel awful because of that and I do not know what to say to comfort you. It is very sad and so annoying because it is so unnecessary.
But how do you cope with this ongoing stress on your soul? I wished I could send you a miracle that would just make all this suffering disappear. You are in my heart and I send you much love and hopefully the days are getting better again with only healthy pigeons around you.

Thank you so much, Petra! Some moments are really hard to bear, but the happy moments, the sight of the ones who make it, and all the encouragement I get from the wonderful people here, make it all worthwhile.

Charis, I will try to find out what it is, but often the simple people who carry out the deed have no idea what exactly they are using. I heard though that this happens more than once in the summer, so it probably ties in with the sudden spates of 'disease' that victimised several birds very quickly. I'm also wondering what percentage of 'PMV' symptoms here may actually be a direct result of mild poisoning...
What an idiocy, putting lives at risk just because they can't bear to see weeds growing in their manicured public lawns!

Fortunately there have been no deaths since. I'm still taking clean water for the park pigeons at least once a day, and twice a week I put a little ACV in it -- that's about all I can do.

My feral flock are getting the best food money can buy, and I hope that will strengthen them and stop them foraging for rubbish/unsafe stuff. They've all been medicated for cocci, and a local pet shop is trying to find me something like 'fish zole'.

It's been a busy 3 days, but I have some good news!

• I've been looking after 2 human patients -- my mum had her second cataract operation 2 days ago, and my daughter had dental surgery today to remove an implanted wisdom tooth -- both are doing well!

• Little Charlie was successfully released yesterday.

• Today I managed to catch 2 pigeons with string on their feet and free them.

• Got some photos!

So, without further ado, Charlie's update:

This was Charlie when I brought her home:



And this was her yesterday, looking very annoyed at the camera, ready to wingslap, and sporting her band with the initials of her name and my phone number:



Having completed her treatments for canker, cocci and worming, she was ready (and more than willing, lol) for release. Here is the moment -- after a careful inspection of her surroundings, she flew like a rocket and joined her flock straight away. Within minutes she was going everywhere with them.
(Please click on the picture to see the video):


String pigeons -- I'm not calling them 'String Injuries' because thankfully they were not injured, and they were released straight away.
One I caught on my roof (and no, it wasn't one of the two I've been trying to catch) and I have no photos of him. The string, wound round both legs, hadn't pressed hard on the skin yet, so it was easy to gently unwind it, and I didn't even have to bring the bird indoors.

The other was caught in the park, and I called her Dash.

First picture:



Ten minutes later, lots of string but no injuries!



Just before take-off:



Funny moments on the roof today:

This is Boss, one of the two little daredevils in my feral flock. See how he opens his wings to protect his food supply, and how determined he is!
(Please click on the picture to see the video):


This is the other cheeky squeaker, Sweets. He knows that food will eventually appear in that hand when he pecks at it!
(Please click on the picture to see the video):


And this is the trick Sweets does, going right to the pocket the food comes from! Only by this time, he got spooked by BrownBar, one of the string injuries I'd rescued last year.
(Please click on the picture to see the video):


Last but not least, My darling Merlin came up close -- he's the wary, beautiful BlueBar with only 5 toes. When this video ends you can see, far below on the left, a red pigeon with pale wingtips and tail -- that's Mac, one of the two I've been trying to catch. He doesn't come anywhere near a human, even if the rest of the flock do.
(Please click on the picture to see the video):

That's a pretty flock you have there, Teresa.
I can't believe how much Charlie has changed.

You have had a very successful day.

Thanks, Charis! They're great company!

But I've just realised there was one video missing, the one where little Sweets flies right onto my lap to claim the contents of the food pocket! It's there now!

...that was really cute.