Hello from Bangkok!

A disturbing development: Pim has disappeared. So has Faye, but Pim seems to have gone missing several days before we went upcountry last week. We were away only three days, but it's possible she could have figured we were gone for good and took off to look for greener pastures. But Henry is still here -- he appeared on the balcony within 30 minutes of our arrival back home last Saturday -- but no Pim.

A couple of times before we left, I thought I saw Pim over on the window frames, but I now think that was a new one that looks like a cross between Pim and Faye. Very pretty but shy. So Pim has been missing for quite a while now. That little baby Henry lookalike has never reappeared either.

Big Red and Little Red do keep coming back occasionally, Big Red often in the company of the white one we've finally decided is a girl and so have named Mint again after all. A third reddish one has appeared too, about medium in size. Several other new ones, including a couple of "gangs" -- one of three or four grays, the other of Sammies -- that annoy Henry and whom we have to keep squirting with water so Henry can eat in peace.

I'm so sorry to hear that Pim is missing, Sam.
Did she seem to be acting at all odd or out of sorts?
Will think positive thoughts, and keep fingers crossed, that she shows up soon.

Please keep us posted.

No, nothing unusual in her behavior at all, nor in Faye's. Just disappeared. Same thing happened with Susie before. But this was Henry's new mate, so I doubt she would have left on her own. As I mentioned, I thought I had seen Pim on the window frames twice before we left, and it seemed odd she would not come to the balcony, but I feel sure now that was this new one and not Pim.

I wonder if those that are missing have eaten somewhere else and picked up some 'tainted' or bad seeds/food.

I'm sure sorry to hear about all the disappearances.

hope your missing friends turn up soon
you really do have a lovely group of visitors
Apollo won't let any other pij, apart from his Missus, even look at our balcony
though i did spot a familiar white bird watching me the other day when the boss wasn't home

rattyfied wrote:

hope your missing friends turn up soon
you really do have a lovely group of visitors

Apollo won't let any other pij, apart from his Missus, even look at our balcony
though i did spot a familiar white bird watching me the other day when the boss wasn't home

That's cute, rattyfied.

A few new photos, all taken last month:

Phil and Dot, female and male, respectively, share a snooze in one of the tree pots.

Big Red. We've seen three red ones of varying sizes. Big Red is the biggest. None comes around very much now.

Big Red the eating machine. Just look at him go! Note his socky feet; even his toes are feathered!

Phil confronts Big Red.

Mint, almost all white, in our dining-room window.

That's all. No new ones of Henry, but he still visits several times a day. Still orders his meals by hopping onto the little metal runners for the sliding glass doors. This one's an old photo, but it shows him doing that. Poor little guy. Pim is definitely gone, probably dead, and he's feeling frisky now. This morning, he sat out on the balcony and did a mating call for the first time since before Maggie. Hope he can find someone. Occasionally, very occasionally, we have to turn Henry away if there are too many pigeons around; we'll close the curtains, and I swear you can see the indignant surprise in his face.

I thought we had an emergency yesterday. A young gray pigeon was flopping around on the balcony floor as if injured. I thought it might be a broken wing or leg. But thankfully no. I had sloshed a couple of buckets of water out there a little earlier, and it turned out the pidgee was trying to take a bath in the water that had yet to drain out! Completely ignored the water dish.

And there are three Goofies now. Two more showed up about the same time, almost carbon copies of the original but a little smaller and slightly different shades of color. But the same clown feet and clown eyes. The original Goofy doesn't seem to care for them. I wonder if they all have the same parents.

Otherwise, still pretty much the same crowd. Ladyboy and the small Pretty One are appearing together again, so it may be mating time soon. Several new ones, including a whitish one or two that must be related to Henry somehow. Henry's still the king, and it's almost like having a pet. Wish he would let us touch him.

Many thanks for the update and photos, Sam.

I'm so sorry to hear that Pim has never returned.
I, too, hope Henry finds another mate and they both live a wonderful, happy and long life.

I thought we had an emergency yesterday. A young gray pigeon was flopping around on the balcony floor as if injured. I thought it might be a broken wing or leg. But thankfully no. I had sloshed a couple of buckets of water out there a little earlier, and it turned out the pidgee was trying to take a bath in the water that had yet to drain out! Completely ignored the water dish.

That is too funny!!

The big news now is that Henry seems to have stolen Phil away from Dot. Despite the evident coziness between Phil and Dot in the first photo in that last post of mine, a week or so ago I noticed that they seemed to stay far apart whenever they showed up together, and Henry would sometimes let Phil eat with him instead of chasing her away. Then yesterday (Thursday), the wife saw Henry not only let Phil eat with him, but aggressively chase Dot off the balcony. Full attack mode. So Henry and Phil may be an item now, with poor Dot left out in the cold.

EDIT: No sooner had I written the above than Henry and Phil showed up together for breakfast. (Friday morning now.) They are now mates.

A baby showed up these past few days, but we only got a good look at it today. We'd estimate five or six weeks old. Looks a lot like the one called Som who was here briefly, except no orange coloring. Mostly white with a black tail and kind of a speckly head. Took a couple of photos today. Tiny and still squeeks a bit. We're wondering if it might belong to Henry and Pim. Could be one of their last ones. Henry was here too, but it didn't try to get him to feed it.

Henry and Phil were "doing it" in the designated sex area, so I guess it's official now.

Never a dull moment on your balcony!
I'm glad that Henry has a new mate, but can't help feeling sorry for Dot. Hope he finds a new mate soon too.
Your description of the grey pigeon bathing was really funny! I'm glad it wasn't a real emergency!

From your description, the new baby certainly sounds like it could be Henry's.
Did he attempt to eat while he was there?

Looking forward to seeing the photos.

The baby has decided it likes it here. Although it looks like it could be Henry's, we don't think so now. It does not try to get Henry to feed it. It does try to eat the seeds on the floor, then Henry chases it, and that's when it it squeals, running away in fright. But doesn't seem to think of Henry as Daddy. Stayed until almost dark tonight, and we thought it might sleep in the flower box, but no, finally flew away. Hope to post its photo soon.

I wonder who the parents are.

I don't think things worked out between Henry and Phil. Have only seen them separately recently, and it's too soon for her to have laid eggs. And this morning, Henry was doing a mating call again. Hmmm. Haven't seen Phil at all for a couple of days, but Dot is comes around, so she's not back with him again.

Baby, which is what we now call the new little one, really does like it here and has learned it's easy to get some food if she hangs around to the very end of the day, just before dark when all other pidgees have flown off to their nests for the night. Then we feed her, and she can eat unmolested. Afterward, she flies off at the last moment to wherever she lives. Tiny little thing. Must be only about six weeks old now. Will post her photo soon.

Baby sounds very sweet and very clever!
I look forward to the photos!

Can hardly wait to see some photos of Baby. She sounds adorable.

And Henry sounds like he's just being 'Henry'.

Some more photos, taken from May 15-29.

Henry and Phil share a meal during their short-lived romance. And here too. Dunno why it didn't last, but nowadays Henry sits out on the balcony every morning doing a mating call. Phil still does still stop by occasionally, so it's not like a cat ate her or anything.

Baby. We figure she's about five or six weeks old in this photo, just over two weeks ago. Still squeaking anytime she feels threatened. And here she is three days later with the temple as background. She still comes around every day, but only in the very late afternoon. She's learned it's best to come beg for food late, when all the other pidgees are heading off to their nests for the night. We've not figured out who her parents are. She's never pestered anyone for a feeding -- exept us.

Goofy eating. I think this is the original Goofy, but it's hard to tell sometimes, as there are still three now.

This past Sunday, a new young one stopped by. A beautiful white. Thought it was Mint at first, but no. An even purer white than Mint, and still young enough to be in that stage where they stare around in wonder. And here she is staring at the balcony, trying to figure out what this place is. She's not been back since.

And Goofy at rest. We can't decide gender but are leaning toward female. Seems to have no interest in a mate; or maybe no one else is interested in her as a mate.

Loved the photos, Sam!

Baby is just gorgeous, and I would have made the same estimate about the age. The 'New Kid' is so cute, with that curious look and one foot in the air, not sure whether to trust the company...

About Goofy... In that photo, there seems to be a somewhat flattened area on the top of the head, so that suggests female... but we'll see!

Great photos, Sam.
I so enjoy seeing your beautiful balcony pijjies.
Many thanks for sharing them with us.
Baby and the new kid are just as stunning as the rest of them.

A bit of a development. Goofy -- we think the original one -- slept here last night (Friday night)!

I'm generally away in the evenings, but the wife said that on Thursday evening Goofy seemed to stay so late that it seemed she might stay. It gets dark here about 6:30 now, and Goofy finally left just after that. But last night, she didn't even appear until about 6:30 or a little after. She's not sick; the wife fed her three or four times, and she ate heartily. That's les than it sounds probably, because the wife put out only a little bit each time, figuring Goofy was about to fly off. But no, she settled in for the night over by the building wall on the "Big Pidgee rail" -- the bottom-most big round one.

About 5am, the heavens burst open with a huge tropical downpour lasting 45 minutes. But where she was is a little protected a little unless it blows in. This rain was coming straight down, so when I looked she was in the same spot. Close to 6:00 I put some food out and filled up the water dish, and she had some breakfast.

Otherwise, the only thing to report is poor Henry stands out there every morning mournfully doing his mating call.

Oh, poor Henry! I hope he gets a new mate soon.

It was lovely reading how Goofy spent the night there. Clever things, they always seem to know when the weather is going to turn nasty and look for a shelter -- or bed and supper and breakfast!

Teresa wrote:

Oh, poor Henry! I hope he gets a new mate soon.

It was lovely reading how Goofy spent the night there.

Clever things, they always seem to know when the weather is going to turn nasty and look for a shelter -- or bed and supper and breakfast!

Hi Sam,
While I was reading about Goofy, I was thinking what Teresa said.
These birds do seem to know when something is going to happen and will seek cover.
Goofy knows your balcony is a safe haven. In addition, he knows you serve great meals.

It truly breaks my heart thinking about Henry.
Bless his sweet heart.

New photos, all of them from this week:

On Monday, Ladyboy -- Henry's daughter remember, as early on she was still squealing for a feeding from Daddy; that was last September, I think -- stopped by for a snooze. She's just woken up, still on one leg and feathers all kerfuffled out. Definitely wide awake now, but still one-legged and kerfuffled. Henry hates Ladyboy nowadays, goes straight into his Angry Dance whenever he sees her.

Four days later (yesterday), we had a heavy tropical downpour in the late afternoon, and Ladyboy apparently got caught out in it. She showed up here as soon as it let up. The wife was home and took these photos of Ladyboy in the same spot (she actually thought at first that it was a new pidgee, but no, it's Ladyboy):
Wet Ladyboy
Very wet Ladyboy
Looking like a drowned rat

Sunny this morning, and Boots stretches out for a sunbath. She's asleep in that one. And Boots (left) and her hubby, whom we've not named for some reason. A BIG male though, so maybe we could call him Bruiser. Boots is awake in that last photo but continuing to remain stock still catching some rays, as is Bruiser, his wings and tail feathers spread out.

We're worried about the Goofy who stayed here that one night. It was not the original Goofy after all, but rather definitely a male, judging from his Angry Dance at another pigeon the next morning. But now he's gone, leaving only two Goofies, including the original. The one who's disappeared seemed okay, but the last couple of times anyone stayed here was because they were sick, and then they disappeared. Hmmm. :(

Henry still has not found a new mate.

Another soap opera, Sam...
Just look at that progression...

Wet Ladyboy
Very wet Ladyboy
Looking like a drowned rat

Poor wet thing!
And I'm sorry to hear Henry hasn't found a new mate yet. Maybe he'll start to get interested in Ladyboy? Just a thought...

Hope all the Goofies turn out to be alright.