Hello from Bangkok!

Glad to hear Henry spent the night on your balcony.
It seems he's beginning to feel more comfortable and of course will be the first in line for breakfast.

He was probably cooing, "Where's the seed?"

It's great to hear all seems to be going well. Appreciate the update, Sam.

Alas! He did not stay the next night. :(

Things are slow on the Henry front. He has not slept here at night since the last time but does spend a good part of each day, maybe most of the day, on our balcony. If another pigeon comes too close, like lands on the window frames nearby, he does his little Anger Dance. And if a pigeon still has the temerity to land on the balcony, Henry will chase it away.

But he sits out there in the early morning cooing away, like he's calling for a mate. There are markedly fewer pigeons in the neighborhood now. Maybe the pool for choosing a mate is too small right now.

The Stranger, or Marty, has stopped by a couple of times when Henry was not here, but no more sign of Little Pidgee.

Hi Sam,
It's good to hear from you.
It sounds like Henry is holding his (day watch) post pretty good.

Sounds like calling for a mate is exactly what he's doing. Poor guy...I hope he finds one soon.

it must seem so quiet without the family

It sure does. We miss having squabs around, and we especially miss Big Pidgee, the poor guy.

Meanwhile, Henry did something completely new yesterday (Wednesday): He climbed into his water dish for a bath! The plastic container we use now is a little larger and deeper than the previous one. As far as we know, he's never climbed in before. There have never been any signs of bathing before. No excess water spilled out.

But he sure seemed to enjoy it yesterday. Would turn over on each side and stretch his opposite wing way up into the air and hold it there while he soaked one side. Looked like synchronized swimming. Then went and laid out to dry off, like we've seen some of the squabs do in the past.

It's so much fun to watch Pigeons bathe, especially the very first time .

Gotta love watching pijjies bathe.

The past couple of mornings, a female has come around, and Henry gets all excited. A little TOO excited, because he seems to frighten her away unintentionally with his advances. He's very unsubtle, a bit like: "Come here, woman!" And she ends up fleeing the scene. But she keeps coming back, so she must be interested. Gray and with markings like Sammy of the third batch, although it's not Sammy. This one seems rather young. Has a very sweet face.

Henry's 'cooing' appears to have been heard by a cute little hen.
Please do keep us posted . . .

She is definitely interested. Pigeons are not the gentlest creatures during the courting period (more like using a baseball bat to MAKE UP HER MIND), but it works for them. I personally like more the time when couple is settled. LOL
You'll have sqeakers again soon.

The Girl appeared again yesterday morning (Tuesday morning), but she seems to be interested only in the food. She and Henry were far apart on the rails, she apparently decided it was safe to make a move for the food, hopped down to go to the flower box, and Wham! Henry tried to jump her, and she flew away.

Later, she, the Stranger and Little Pidgee (first sighting in weeks) all three arrived while Henry was away. I wonder if she's related to them, or at least to Little Pidgee. Maybe Big Pidgee was her father, and she came from another nest? She seems too old to be a product of the Stranger and Little Pidgee.

The Henry situation is pretty much static. The Girl has stopped coming by. Henry still hangs out much of the day. The Stranger/Marty will often sneak in to eat when Henry's not here, and occasionally Little Pidgee will make a return appearance. Henry appears to enjoy a varied diet, as while he knows there's food here, we often see him hunting for bugs on the mansion lawn next door, along with other pigeons. We're at the height of the rainy season now, and the water is pushing them up out of the ground. Must be a real feast.

I'll have to take some new photos. He's so beautiful, but he's not changed from the last photos. It's not like the squabs, where they change every day.

Woo hoo! I am pleased to report that Henry FINALLY had a "romantic interlude." Go, Henry!

Yesterday afternoon (Thursday afternoon). I missed it myself, but the wife watched the whole thing. It was a small girl -- not the Girl, but rather a small Little-Pidgee look-alike. The wife thinks it COULD have been George, the last squab (the last one to survive. Poor Bob. ) If so, she -- we had arbitrarily decided George was a he, thus the name -- would be 5 months old now.

The wife had the impression this was still a very young bird. She said Henry was much bigger, that when they started kissing, he towered over her, and when they did the deed it looked like he would crush her. Afterward, they both seemed very pleased, and the female, walking off in a daze, strolled through the water dish without seeming to notice it.

So, Henry likes the young girls, eh? Well, this IS Thailand, after all.

This morning, I've not seen Henry, but I did inadvertently scare away a little pidgee that fit the description. And the Girl has also come back a couple of times since yesterday looking for food, so there may be a love triangle developing.

In case Henry and his lady want to build a nest in the flower box, I'll stop putting food in there. I've set out another separate container of food again.

great news
it's impossible to ignore them isn't it?

i'm spending so much time wondering what my family are going to do next
the babies can fly, but i've not seen them leave the balcony yet

do get round to taking those pics and keep us posted

Things have settled down somewhat. The hen that Henry had his interlude with has not been seen for some days. The Girl does keep coming around, and Henry always gets real excited and chases after her, but she's clearly interested only in the food. She's very small, smaller even than that other hen, and we think she must be very young.

Oh, poor Henry! Such a handsome lad and he had to fall for a gold corn digger!
It's the same with my pet Piper, she gets very excited when this roguish feral, Grumpy, comes round, but all he wants is food!

So sorry about little Bob and his father. Big Pidgee was such a good dad, and had lovely, unusual markings -- I've never seen a blue-band quite like that.

Great chronicle and great photos -- keep them coming!

Teresa wrote:

Oh, poor Henry! Such a handsome lad and he had to fall for a gold corn digger!
It's the same with my pet Piper, she gets very excited when this roguish feral, Grumpy, comes round, but all he wants is food!

So sorry about little Bob and his father. Big Pidgee was such a good dad, and had lovely, unusual markings -- I've never seen a blue-band quite like that.

Great chronicle and great photos -- keep them coming!

OH NO...Not a Corn Digger...that's the worst kind. :That\\\'s so f

Well, whether that was George or not whom Henry had his romantic interlude with, she's disappeared. Showed up maybe one more time. But the Girl has been coming around much more, every day now. Still extremely skittish, though. And Henry seems to adore her. He gets all excited when she comes around, coos and dances, so we always know when she's landed nearby on the window frames.

They both took a bath yesterday (Thursday), although not at the same time (no room). He lets her in to eat and clearly is fascinated with her. However, she's rejected all of his advances so far and is plainly here just for the food.

Henry has clearly moved in and considers the balcony his daytime hangout. Wish we knew where he slept at night. The Girl, too.

Hi Sam,
It's great to hear from you. We appreciate the update.
I was thinking about Henry this morning and wondering how things were going.
I'm glad he's doing well.

Maybe one of these days the little hen will acknowledge his advances and decide to spend some 'quality' time with him.

Please do keep us posted.

Don't give up hope on the romance. It took my Sammy a good 5 months to win over Romey.

New Photos!

Henry has well and truly settled in. He has his own sleeping spot elsewhere, but he always shows up shortly after daybreak for some breakfast. Sill hangs around a good part of the day. Eats and chases girls, often comically so. It's very entertaining! In addition to the youngish Girl mentioned before, her mother stops by now. We figure it's her parent, because one time the Girl tried to get a feeding from her, and we know she's female because Henry tries to diddle her. We've dubbed her the Pretty One, because she resembles a Jackson Pollock painting, with all of her colors, even greens and purples. We've delayed giving them names until it's for certain they'll stay.

Despite his brief liaison with George(ia), she rarely comes around, and he spends so much of his time cooing and dancing in front of the females -- especially the Girl, who seems to be his first choice, but also her mother, the Pretty One -- but they just want to eat and will run from him. Sometimes he leaves them be to eat, sometimes he makes it clear he wants some action.

Henry will let any female pigeon stop by but chases the males away. Marty, who turns one year old later this month, is about the only male pigeon that tries to show up, always with Little Pidgee. They'll try to sneak in when Henry is away. Henry considers Marty his his mortal enemy and will attack him immediately upon sight. They've even fought over on the window frames. (I have the impression Henry considers the entire building his, or at least this side.) But he never attacks Little Pidgee; just Marty, while Little Pidgee stands by. Henry always wins.

What's neat, too, is when Henry does a patrol of the building. Really. We live in a rather narrow tower, 36 floors but only five units maximum per floor. Sometimes we'll see Henry take off to the left and disappear around the building, and a few minutes later he reappears and lands from the right, having circled the building just for the heck of it apparently. Other times, he flies around out in front of the balcony, gliding gracefully; he really has a good time,

So here are some more photos, taken over the past two months:

Henry at rest. Nice wing design there.

Snoozing in the flower box. He stopped hanging out in the box after we started putting food in there. He still jumped in to eat it but simply stopped hanging out in there. Now we use a food box on the floor, but he's out of the habit. We still have hope he'll find a mate some day and build a nest in there.

On the rail.

Snoozing in the living room. Note the small food box in the flower box. We tried that for a while, thinking if the food stayed contained that Henry would maybe lounge in the box again, but Henry and the other pigeons always ended up knocking it over, so we finally started putting it on the balcony floor.

Henry, the Pretty One and the Girl. Note that mother and daughter are eating. I believe Henry may be dancing here, not sure.

The Pretty One. (Henry's off to the side.) This is shot through the screen door, so it's hard to tell her colors, but there are a lot of greens and purples.

Mother and daughter. And again.

Henry eating. And eating. They tend to spill a bunch out, too.

And some good ones of Henry and the Chinese-Thai temple we have a good view of. Henry takes flight. He was on the top rail and started getting nervous about what I was doing with the camera; took off just as I snapped this photo. Then he returned to admire the temple here and here. And a couple of days later, he agreed to pose for me.

And of course, you can see all of Henry's photos on one page here.

And so that's the pidgee update. Again, Henry has not found a regular mate. He's obviously not spending time sitting on eggs elsewhere during the day, since he spends so much time here. He keeps chasing the girls, who don't want to be intimate with him. And the other pretty white one, the Lady, has never come back, but we have noticed a couple of white pigeons on the mansion grounds next door, and Henry even sometimes joins them to hunt for worms and such; we still think she's his sister.

It's always a pleasure to hear from you, Sam. We so enjoy your updates.
Your photos are wonderful.
The temple is beautiful and makes a elegant background.