Hello from Bangkok!

Siam Sam wrote:

It's about 8am here, and she's shown up. No Henry yet. Odd, but she's been cooing. I think we've only ever heard the males coo -- Big Pidgee, Henry.

Do the females coo much?

EDIT: She's gone, but Henry's here now. Want to see them together again.

Mine don't coo per se. They do grunt though. This usually happens when I'm cleaning around their nest or changing their seed/water dishes.

Well, they both finally showed up together, they started getting VERY friendly ... then Katie and Sammy showed up, turning Henry into fighting mode! Spoiled the mood.

I am pleased to report that Henry and the new pidgee, now dubbed Maggie, seem to be an official couple, as they did the deed on Sunday morning.

I got up early and opened the curtains to the balcony. No one out there. But I was still groggy, so I went and flopped back into bed. When I got up again a short while later, I saw Henry preening Maggie. Then they started kissing. I called to the wife, and we watched from a distance. They hadn't seen us. Then they did the deed!

They've been together a lot since, but Maggie seems to like our place, hanging around a lot of times even when Henry is off somewehere else. Her face and breast actually are black, not "almost black" like I said before. Definitely black. But the rest of her is gray, with the two wing stripes, like Little Pidgee. Looks like a cross between Jack and Little Pidgee. The wife wanted to name her Jackie, since we had a Jack, as in Jack Black, but I pointed out Jack probably was a girl after all, since he/she was finally repeatedly seen in the company of Marty before they both disappeared. So that was probably Jackie instead of Jack. Thus, Maggie it is.

May have to put the flower box back out, but that other couple keeps coming around. One of the Pretty Ones and the Little Pidgee near-lookalike. We don't want to encourage them, as they seemed to be looking for a nesting spot. Henry would not approve.

Unfortunately, we've not seen Little Pidgee for going on a week now. Not since before Maggie first appeared last Thursday.

Maggie must think she's hit the jackpot. Seems young; never saw her before last Thursday. Found a place with food, water and a mate.

And she does coo sometimes. Maggie's the first female pidgee we've heard coo out there. Sounds a bit odd, like her voice is strained.

Thanks for the update, Sam.
I'm glad to hear Henry has found a mate. :Yes:
I hope things work out well for everyone.

You know we'd appreciate a picture when you have a chance.

I hope to post some photos of Maggie this weekend. In the meantime, they've been "doing it" quite a bit, so we've stuck the flower box back outside in case they need a place for a nest. We've not put dirt in it yet, though. But Marty seems to have left for good, and he's the one who really tossed the dirt out looking for food, so we may soon. Might wait to see if they really are interested in using the box.

She eats A LOT. More than Henry, if for no other reason than he has to rush around like a Keystone Kop chasing the other couple away. But he'll often stand guard while she eats. A true gentleman.

Sadly, Little Pidgee seems to have disappeared. No sign of her for more than a week now.

Our technique of targeted feeding has worked to a certain extent. We still get a few visits from other pidgees, but nothing like before.

Appreciate the update, Sam.
Bless you and your wife for keeping such a close eye on Henry and Maggie.
I'm sure they will soon be looking for a place to nest. Where, is anyone's guess. :That\\\'s so f

It doesn't surprise me that Henry is so attentive to Maggie.

I will think positive thoughts that all is well with Little Pidgee.

Henry's definitely become conditioned by the food. Whenever he first sees us, he immediately goes to the spot where we pour out the food and stares at the floor, hoping maybe it's magically appeared. No, Henry, it takes a minute to go get the bag, open the door etc.

:That\\\'s so f That's cute, Sam.

Siam Sam wrote:

Henry's definitely become conditioned by the food. Whenever he first sees us, he immediately goes to the spot where we pour out the food and stares at the floor, hoping maybe it's magically appeared. No, Henry, it takes a minute to go get the bag, open the door etc.

Sam, I've enjoyed this thread and I think Henry is one reeally Handsome pijii !!! Hope everything works out for him and Maggie at your place. That's so cool that you've been able to watch them raise clutches in such close range - and yet they're still wild. Hope your Little one returns, too - even after a week - you never know!

Best wishes,
Carol

Thanks for everyone's kind comments. Jofulsongtree, I see one of your locations is Honolulu. The wife and I are both UH alumni.

It's been two full weeks now since we last saw Little Pidgee. We'd like not to think the worst, but she'd been around for 20 months. Hope it's just that she found another mate and went somewhere else. Henry never chased her away, possibly in honor of their little fling.

As you can see I've still not posted new photos. I am very bad about getting around to those things but promise to get some up by this weekend.

Meanwhile, Henry and Maggie are now a solid couple. Preen each other a lot. Do the deed. They know to look every morning for a feeding, so we usually see them waiting. Henry still thinks the food will magically appear in an instant. We think other pigeons watch them from afar now to see when they disappear from the edge of the balcony to start eating, as once we give the couple their morning feeding, lots more flock over here, and Henry gets busy acting the bouncer. Funny but he literally chases most of them away except Katie. Katie, who is actually a male, is very tough and just ignores Henry, so Henry resorts to doing his Angry Dance and giving bad looks to Katie, who just keeps on eating. I have to step in and help at that point.

No apparent interest in the flower box yet. It would be nice to have some squabs again, and I'd love to see what Henry's turn out to look like.

Photos soon, I promise!

Appreciate the update, Sam.
It sounds like Henry and Maggie are doing well.
I'm quite sure you have pijjie eyes staring from afar watching to see when it's mealtime. :That\\\'s so f

I'm sorry you still haven't seen Little Pidgee, but you're right to keep hoping for the best. I had a few nice surprises in the past when pigeons I'd raised and not seen for months reappeared with a new family!
I enjoyed the update about Henry and Maggie, and look forward to seeing the photos.

Okay, the promised photos, all taken over about a month's time, between December 26 and this past Thursday.

First, a few of Henry, all last month. Henry feeding. Henry staring. Three-quarters view.

Then Maggie appeared out of nowhere one day, I think it was Friday, January 15, and has been here ever since, but never at night. She has a black head and breast, but the rest of her is gray, but not light gray, dark gray, with a bit of Little Pidgee wing markings. May be related. And she doesn't seem to show up as well in photos, I guess because she's so dark.

If we leave the sliding glass doors open but close the inner screen doors, Maggie often likes to jump up on the ledge between the two and stare inside. Maggie eyes the food bag. (Actually, she's staring at me, I think.) And taking a stroll.

Maggie. You can see how orange her eye looks in this one. It's because her head is so black. It gives her sort of a demonic look sometimes, especially when she stares at us, which she likes to do. The wife says it's like she's from the Addams Family, so we often refer to her as Miss Maggie Addams. (Someone said Henry was a Blue Grizzle, so we often call him Mr. Henry Blue Grizzle.)

Maggie squeezing under the rail. One of Henry in a pensive mood. And Maggie in her best Marilyn Monroe pose. And Maggie again.

Meal time! The couple share a meal. Still eating. And eating still. I took those while sitting before them with the doors open. They still won't come eat out of my hand, but if I'm very still, they will come close, especially if there's food on the floor. Henry often has to break off eating to go chase other pidgees away, while Maggie keeps on eating. And a little postprandial nookie. In the designated sex area, of course. That's Henry at the Moment of Truth; you can't see Maggie, but she's there.

And a couple of days later, the loving couple.

Maggie at rest.

A couple of tiny birds have started showing up, taking advantage of the water and the stray seed the pidgees may have missed. We don't know what kind of birds they are. One of them is here. Henry is feeding on the far right. And here's a zoom shot of the little guy, but it's a bit out of focus.

Love the pictures. They really are very pretty Pigeons and it's very clear they feel right at home. That little bird is cute too.

Thank you so much for sharing the photos of Henry and Maggie, Sam. They are wonderful and quite a stunning pair.

The little bird sure is a pretty one.

Thanks for posting the pictures, they're really nice. They're lovely pigeons, and I especially liked the picture you called 'the loving couple' -- they look very happy together!
The little bird is very pretty, but I don't know what kind he is, sorry!

Siam Sam wrote:

Thanks for everyone's kind comments. Jofulsongtree, I see one of your locations is Honolulu. The wife and I are both UH alumni.

Well, then, Sam - and to your wife!
Yep, twenty five winters in Honolulu, but I doubt I'll be getting there during this one due to my current medical treatment...

I really enjoy your updates and thanks for posting the new photos of Henry and Maggie - they're looking good!

Your littler birdie looks to be a Eurasian Tree Sparrow. You may also find yourself with visiting Java sparrows one of these days as they also frequent Bankok. You may remember seeing them in Honolulu. This should be a link to a story with photos of them visiting us thru our 21st floor lanai there.
https://pij-n-angels.forumotion.net/chitter-chatter-f19/bird-feeders-t1208-75.htm#15781

Best wishes,

Joyfulsongtree wrote:

Siam Sam wrote:

Thanks for everyone's kind comments. Jofulsongtree, I see one of your locations is Honolulu. The wife and I are both UH alumni.

Well, then, Sam - and to your wife!
Yep, twenty five winters in Honolulu, but I doubt I'll be getting there during this one due to my current medical treatment...

I really enjoy your updates and thanks for posting the new photos of Henry and Maggie - they're looking good!

Your littler birdie looks to be a Eurasian Tree Sparrow. You may also find yourself with visiting Java sparrows one of these days as they also frequent Bankok. You may remember seeing them in Honolulu. This should be a link to a story with photos of them visiting us thru our 21st floor lanai there.
https://pij-n-angels.forumotion.net/chitter-chatter-f19/bird-feeders-t1208-75.htm#15781

Best wishes,

Mahalo, and Aloha back! I looked up the Eurasian tree sparrow in Wikipedia, and that certainly looks like it. The Java sparrow we do remember from Hawaii but have never seen one in Thailand. Didn't know it's name until you mentioned it.

But cute little guys. Is that by chance Magic Island in the distance in your photo? If so, that would make that below the ... what? Ala Wai Harbor? Looks like you and we overlapped a bit in Hawaii, as we attended UH from August 1991 to December 1993. That's where we met! I lived in the Makiki area my first semester, a second-floor walk-up, then at the East West Center on campus. My future wife lived at the East West Center the whole time. We were there for Hurricane Iniki! I remember my fellow students cleaning out the beer stocks in the Safeway Supermarket up in the Manoa Valley when we heard it was coming.

Good luck with your treatment!

Siam Sam wrote:

Joyfulsongtree wrote:

Siam Sam wrote:

Thanks for everyone's kind comments. Jofulsongtree, I see one of your locations is Honolulu. The wife and I are both UH alumni.

Well, then, Sam - and to your wife!
Yep, twenty five winters in Honolulu, but I doubt I'll be getting there during this one due to my current medical treatment...

I really enjoy your updates and thanks for posting the new photos of Henry and Maggie - they're looking good!

Your littler birdie looks to be a Eurasian Tree Sparrow. You may also find yourself with visiting Java sparrows one of these days as they also frequent Bankok. You may remember seeing them in Honolulu. This should be a link to a story with photos of them visiting us thru our 21st floor lanai there.
https://pij-n-angels.forumotion.net/chitter-chatter-f19/bird-feeders-t1208-75.htm#15781

Best wishes,

Mahalo, and Aloha back! I looked up the Eurasian tree sparrow in Wikipedia, and that certainly looks like it. The Java sparrow we do remember from Hawaii but have never seen one in Thailand. Didn't know it's name until you mentioned it.

But cute little guys. Is that by chance Magic Island in the distance in your photo? If so, that would make that below the ... what? Ala Wai Harbor? Looks like you and we overlapped a bit in Hawaii, as we attended UH from August 1991 to December 1993. That's where we met! I lived in the Makiki area my first semester, a second-floor walk-up, then at the East West Center on campus. My future wife lived at the East West Center the whole time.

We were there for Hurricane Iniki!
* I remember my fellow students cleaning out the beer stocks in the Safeway Supermarket up in the Manoa Valley when we heard it was coming.

Good luck with your treatment!

I've really enjoyed reading these two posts. I visited Oahu and Kauai 23 years ago and abolutely loved it.

* I can just see your buddies rushing to Safeway.

Haha, yes the hoopla of a impromptu Hawaiian beer-run en mass does conjure up a funny

Cindy and Sam, I hope you and your spouses someday make it back there. It is still very lovely, even with it getting so built up.

Mahalo, Sam for the good wishes.
And what a great place to meet a wife

Yes, that is Magic Island and the Yacht Harbor in the background. Our lanai is right over the park promenade on the Ala Wai canal and there are three other buildings along the canal between us and Ala Moana Blvd, which can also been seen in that photo.
Oh yes, we were there during Hurricane Iniki with taped up windows and doors and a storm surge beneath us overflowing the walls of the canal! We went to our roof just after it passed and I remember seeing the trash cans on Magic Island and in Ala Moana park still bobbing around like bouys in four or five feet of water on their pole chains. Poor Kauai got the brunt of that storm, it veered from us at the last moment...
Love Manoa Valley and going for a picnic lunch at Lyon Arboretum there in the mountains. So close to the city yet a such world of serenity. The White-rumped shama there follow us around singing lots of varied and wonderful songs, too - as long as we whistle back

Unfortunately, populations of Java sparrows have been drastically reduced all over in recent years due to their being captured for the cage bird market and culled as an agricultural pest. But if interested, there may at least still be a 'protected' colony of them behind the nurses barracks on the Pumipol hospital grounds there in Bangkok.

Best wishes,

Thanks! We were back for a visit in 2005. Hawaii will always be our special place.

Word may be getting out among the sparrows. There were three (3) of them out there today.

Meanwhile, there are plans to renovate a large park in central Bangkok, called Sanam Luang, which necessitates the removal of an estimated 10,000 feral pigeons. This has proved highly controversial. Stories here and here.

Last night (Tuesday night) on TV, the wife saw an "expert" trying to reassure people who had raised the question of parents and squabs. This "expert" said each of the birds would have their bills inspected, and if it the rim of the bill were dirty, that would be a sign it was a mother involved in feeding her babies. What the ... ??? Some "expert." Sheesh! Never mind that fathers feed, too, and probably more than the mothers. And even if all of that were true, he didn't say what then. And I'm very sure these very low-paid municipal employees are going to inspect the bills of each and every one of these 10,000 pigeons.

Joyfulsongtree wrote:

Haha, yes the hoopla of a impromptu Hawaiian beer-run en mass does conjure up a funny

Cindy and Sam, I hope you and your spouses someday make it back there.
It is still very lovely, even with it getting so built up.

Best wishes,

I hope to return one of these days. :Yes:

Siam Sam wrote:

Meanwhile, there are plans to renovate a large park in central Bangkok, called Sanam Luang, which necessitates the removal of an estimated 10,000 feral pigeons. This has proved highly controversial. Stories here and here.

Last night (Tuesday night) on TV, the wife saw an "expert" trying to reassure people who had raised the question of parents and squabs.

This "expert" said each of the birds would have their bills inspected, and if it the rim of the bill were dirty, that would be a sign it was a mother involved in feeding her babies. What the ... ???

Some "expert." Sheesh! Never mind that fathers feed, too, and probably more than the mothers. And even if all of that were true, he didn't say what then. And I'm very sure these very low-paid municipal employees are going to inspect the bills of each and every one of these 10,000 pigeons.

You really have to wonder about some of these 'experts'.
Any chance of you writing an article setting the record straight?