Hello from Bangkok!

I'm so sorry to hear that Lucy/Ichabod hasn't been seen since and may have passed away. They do seem to approach friendly humans when they feel the end coming, looking for safety.

Thank you for telling us about your other visitors. I always enjoy hearing about Henry, and it's good to know you have more winged friends visiting.

And another young one followed Henry here, yesterday (Thursday). Heavily resembles Phil. Could be Spotty Face's sibling.

And thank you for your kind comments.

Hi Sam,
I've missed a few posts lately, so I'm trying to catch up and so enjoyed reading your updates.

I'm very sorry to hear that Lucy/Ichabod hasn't returned.

I'm so glad that Henry seems to be doing well.
We always enjoys seeing photos of your beautiful balcony flock.

A semi-major development. We wondered if any pidgee would ever hop up onto the door railing in the middle while the doors are open, the same as Henry does jumping up onto it on the side to look in the window and ask for food, and then come inside. (Someone did hop up on the railing in the middle before but didn't come inside.) It happened today, and it was ... Big Red! (This photo from April 8.) Mint's mate. He's also taken to jumping up in the window to ask for food a la Henry.

I was sitting here working on the computer, balcony door open as I was helping to guard Henry against Undesirables during a feeding, when I heard a scritching sound. When I looked over, there was Big Red up on the railing. The sound was his claws on the metal. I reached for my camera nearby, and when I looked again, he was inside! Got a good photo; hope it's not blurry like some of them turn out to be after I load them onto the computer. I really must get these photos up soon. Shooed him out the door afterward. Most of the pidgees seem too wary ever to consider coming inside, including Henry, but Big Red seems genuinely curious about us.

He and Mint may be the parents of a light-gray-and-red younf one that just started showing up a few days ago. Our speculation. Very pretty. We're calling her (looks feminine) Baby Red for now.

Okay, I have other photos to upload, but I had to rush through the one of Big Red inside our unit. Here he is:

Big Red makes himself at home

It came out well. The white one out the door is Ladyboy, but Henry is out there somewhere too. I shooed Big Red back out after I took this.

More to follow soon.

That's a great photo of Big Red making himself at home! He's gorgeous, and just look at his stance, strutting in like he owns the place, and generously allows YOU to live there too! I'd love to see what Baby Red looks like too!

That picture of Big Red inside is adorable, Sam.
He looks very confident and proud. Gotta love him!!

We may have a situation. Phil's not been seen for maybe a week now, and Henry is acting odd, sort of like he's in mourning. He never comes here to hang out, just asks for food and leaves after eating. But these past few days, he's been hanging around and looking outwards searchingly. He does not seem to be sick. Still alert, will still eat and even chase the odd pidgee or two away. We saw something similar after Maggie went missing. If it's true about Phil, this will make his third mate that's died. He's out there now, looking like he's pining away.

Oh dear, that's terrible! Poor Phil, and poor Henry!
It's heartbreaking the way that pigeons who live in busy (and dangerous) urban areas can have such a short life span.

I hope Phil will still turn up. But if not, may the angels look after her!

I am so sorry to hear the latest about Phil, Sam.
I will think positive thoughts that she shows up unharmed and healthy.

How incredibly sad for poor Henry. Bless his heart.

Henry's showing signs of snapping out of mourning for Phil. Yesterday (Sunday) he was even jumping up in the window again asking for food. Last week, he would appear on the rails but usually not come ask for food, watching outward instead (maybe for Phil?). We'd put some food out, but he wouldn't touch it ... until, that is, another pidgee came along to eat it. Then he'd get angry, chase the pidgee away and then eat the food. This was especially true if it was Ladyboy. Henry hates Ladyboy despite her being his daughter. Maybe parents just really want their offspring to go away? But he's started asking for food again, although we didn't see him today at all; we're getting socked with rain from a tropical storm hitting Vietnam, so we hope he's okay. It rained pretty much all day, and it may continue through Thursday.

The pidgee without a tail showed back up yesterday! At least, I hope it's the same one, as I'd hate to think there are several. First sighting in some weeks. We think it's a male, as he tried to pick a fight with someone. He looks really weird with no tail, but he can fly okay. I was unable to get a photo, which is too bad, because I cannot really tell you just how odd that looks.

Baby has stopped coming by at dusk for food. She probably gave up after we were gone at that time for a few days. Haven't seen her for more than a week. Persistent Sammy seems to have moved on too. But new ones keep stopping by. One new one we call Broken-Wing Sammy, as it's right wing always droops down instead of staying swept back and pointed slightly up. But it doesn't seem to be in pain, and it flies okay. We figure something may have happened to it as a squab or "teenager" that made the wing that way. And a pretty, mostly brown young one showed up once with Big Red, possibly his and Mint's other kid, assuming Baby Red is theirs too.

Appreciate the update, Sam.
Quite a busy balcony you've got there.
I hope Henry is OK and returns after (or before, if possible) the rain stops.

Hi Sam,

I know what you mean about the pigeon with no tail. I had a young male like that turn up last year, and he figured out the way to save himself a lot of effort was to sleep in my balcony, even though he was away flying all dy. I called him Manx, after that breed of cats born with no tail. As he grew and moulted his feathers, the tail grew back perfectly and he's a very big and handsome pidgy now!

When pigeons start a new breeding cycle, they usually want to be left alone by their last brood, which by then should be fully independent, unless they intend to mate with one of them or are patient enough to put up with one or two youngsters running around after them to be fed.

Hope your pigeons stay safe through the rainy weather.

Not much new. Henry seems pretty much over Phil but has not found a new mate yet. Baby and Persistent Sammy have definitely left; hope they did indeed just move on. Have not seen the tailless one again. Boots and Bruiser have continuous sex in the designated area; odd that she can't seem to lay eggs, but they really seem to love each other.

Big Red, the one who boldly strode into our place that day, will sometimes jump up in the window like Henry in a clear attempt to ask for food. There's one Sammy who will get up onto that little metal ledge, but it looks like he's just looking to sit; Big Red (and Henry) press their chests up and peer in, clearly wanting something. Meanwhile, Ladyboy and Mint spend most of their day here, Ladyboy staring intently, trying to will us to give food; they must not be on eggs right now. Baby Red is here a good part of the day too.

Henry and the other regulars are in for a little surprise though, as we're going to the beach for the long holiday weekend that's coming up this week (the queen's birthday). It will be good training for them for when we're in the US for three or four weeks next year.

Criminy! Big Red lost hs tail! Happened sometime between late Monday and midday Tuesday. (It's Wednesday morning here now.) Poor little guy. He was okay on Monday, then when he showed up yesterday, the tail was completely missing. The building was having the lawn mown yesterday, but I can't believe a pigeon could allow himself to get caught in a mower. His tail was very pretty, as you can see from his earlier photos. (This is the one who came into our place a few weeks ago.) He's all white back there, and I mean snow white, and all you can see now is his fluffy little white butt. Not a trace of blood back there. He seems okay. Acted a little nervous yesterday but back to normal today (he's been by this morning). Few things look as weird as a pidgee with no tail. I took photos to document it but won't be able to post any until we return from upcountry this weekend. I will definitely post them. But what gives with all these pidgees losing their tails?

Meanwhile, a new baby showed up this morning. Followed Ladyboy and Mint (the latter is Big Red's mate), so one of them may be the mother. Small whitish pidgee, with lots of black marks speckled around and some brown streaks. Definitely a male, as it's already started chasing Ladyboy and Mint plus an anonymous gray. Gets chased by Henry and Big Red though.

Ladyboy and the Small Pretty One are acting frisky, so it may be time for eggs from them soon.

Oh dear, another one with no tail! The normal cause for a pigeon losing his tail, is getting his tail caught by a predator -- usually a bird of prey or a seagull, but if those pigeons are used to feeding in parks or public areas, they may have been grabbed by the tail by a dog or a human, or sometimes even a cat.

Do you have hawks round there?

I'm so sorry to hear about Big Red, Sam.
Something is definitely amiss.
Pigeons may lose a tail feather or two, but not the entire tail.

I think you can rule out the lawn mower as a suspect.
A predator of some kind would be my guess as well. Usually though an 'animal' type predator leaves a few scratches behind.
Just curious, since these birds are familiar with you and your wife, do you think they would befriend a 'stranger'?

It's Wednesday night here, and we're heading out first thing tomorrow morning. Had to get the tailless Big Red photos up though.

Now again, here is Big Red with his tail on April 10. And this is the shot of him inside our place a couple of weeks ago. Just to give you an idea of how much tail was lost.

So yesterday (Tuesday), he shows up like this. And another one.

Now here's a straight-on view of the missing area. And another. Does this look bizarre or what?

And one more, of him facing out.

Again, he does not seem sick or in pain. He was a little nervous when he first appeared like this, but he acts normal again now. Flies pretty much okay. But the poor little guy. What happened?

He's familiar with us but, like all the others on the balcony, absolutely refuses to be touched, so I doubt he purposely got up close to another human. There are no hawks or seagulls in the area. The pigeons were until recently the largest birds. But some crows have appeared in the last couple of months. And now that I think about it, the wife saw a crow eating a rat near her office elsewhere in the city. Would they go after the pigeons, do you think?

hi Sam

poor Big Red, even if he wasn't injured in losing his tail, his pride must be hurt... it's hard to pull those fancy dance moves without one
hope it grows back soon so he can show off
when my Apollo moulted his new tail was very fine

you asked about the crows
here in the UK our local crows (there are many) will chase pigeons, i've noticed it more in late winter/early spring
one snowy day i saw a crow sidle up to the pijies on the roof opposite and harass one
the other pijies were very upset and did try to put the crow off but crow was the more aggressive and it had it's catch
on the white roof the resulting scene was horrific
i know a crow's gotta eat but there is plenty of roadkill and trash nearby (our block is between the city-centre and woodland)

rattyfied wrote:

hi Sam

poor Big Red, even if he wasn't injured in losing his tail, his pride must be hurt... it's hard to pull those fancy dance moves without one
hope it grows back soon so he can show off

when my Apollo moulted his new tail was very fine

you asked about the crows
here in the UK our local crows (there are many) will chase pigeons, i've noticed it more in late winter/early spring
one snowy day i saw a crow sidle up to the pijies on the roof opposite and harass one
the other pijies were very upset and did try to put the crow off but crow was the more aggressive and it had it's catch
on the white roof the resulting scene was horrific
i know a crow's gotta eat but there is plenty of roadkill and trash nearby (our block is between the city-centre and woodland)

Did Apollo actually lose his entire tail during a molt, Rattyfied?

i don't think he did, but he looked pretty shabby
the only pij i recall seeing with no tail was his son's girlfriend, who didn't appear to be injured otherwise

That really IS strange! I've seen pigeons with most of their tail missing, and one with no tail (usually the work of seagulls, dogs or humans, occasionally cats), but they didn't look like that. The tail feathers on big red look CUT!!! They don't appear to be entirely missing, but reduced to a stump, all the same length, like they were cut with scissors! Would that be at all possible?

When you come back, see if you can have a closer look. Or maybe watch out for him dropping a feather on your balcony, as the pigeons round there may have started to moult their feathers, and see if it looks cut.

Teresa wrote:

That really IS strange! I've seen pigeons with most of their tail missing, and one with no tail (usually the work of seagulls, dogs or humans, occasionally cats), but they didn't look like that.

The tail feathers on big red look CUT!!!

They don't appear to be entirely missing, but reduced to a stump, all the same length, like they were cut with scissors! Would that be at all possible?

When you come back, see if you can have a closer look. Or maybe watch out for him dropping a feather on your balcony, as the pigeons round there may have started to moult their feathers, and see if it looks cut.

I could have sworn I replied to Sam's post with the pictures, but it isn't here.
Could be I thought I sent it but didn't.

At any rate . . .
I was thinking the same thing when I saw the pictures, Teresa.
It does look like Big Red's tail has been cut off.

Sunday afternoon here, and we just returned a couple of hours ago. In that time, the main regulars have stopped by for food: First it was the Small Pretty One and his mate Ladyboy, then Broken Wing, Bruiser (but not his mate Boots), then finally Henry, Big Red and his mate Mint.

Yes, the more we think about it, the more we're leaning toward the theory that someone cut Big Red's tail. And not just his, as this is what those other two pidgees' tails looked like. (I no longer think it was the same one I saw twice, since I saw them several weeks apart.) Those two were gray, Big Red's tail feathers were snow white. So this makes three pidgees in less than two months. Why would someone do that? Feather duster? Or if they were going to, ahem, eat the pidgees, would removing the tail feathers first be a normal practice? (I have seen pigeon on the menu in some Chinese restaurants over here.) You'd think they'd kill them first though. No, if they are being cut, whoever is doing it seems to be letting them go. If that's what is happening. Bizarre.

It looks like Big Red's feathers may be coming back in. I seem to see a little growth there from since before we left. Hope so. Mint is still attracted to him, as they started being sweet and then did the deed in the designated sex area. Big Red then went off and flew a victory lap, so his flying ability is not impaired in the least.

Hi Sam,
If these incidents are the work of someone cutting off the tails, I don't think they are happening because 'whoever' is in need of a meal, or they would not have set them free.

Again, if this is happening, I'm wondering how are the birds getting lured in close enough to be caught?

This is all very disturbing to say the least.