My Doves

Rescued Pigeon in Oil

2012-01-26T12:52:00.000-08:00

26th January 2012 - This is Lesa dove, posing for her portrait on Jose's table, and below with Jose, her flightless friend. Lesa, is one of the first doves in the garden in the mornings, and she flies straight to be with Jose- and eat her food!
Sat 21st Jan. 12 - I came home about 3.30pm in the afternoon, and a few doves were still around. There was one white dove, desperately trying to pick up grain and obviously with paramyxo. I caught her, and put her in the hospital run for nursing care. I hope she'll be like Flash and totally recover. I've named her Lola and will ring her, before I release her, if she recovers.
I forgot to say in the previous blog about Flash, that the very next day after he died there was another sparrowhawk attack. I was coming out of my kitchen door into the garden and there on the lawn was the hawk covering a white dove! I dropped what I was holding and ran out, while the hawk flew off either with the dove in it's talons or chasing the dove, I can't remember it was too quick. I ran out of the garden gate into the yard, where the hawk had the dove down again on the gravel. I ran up, and both flew off, the dove escaping this time, but leaving ruby drops on gravel. I did wonder if it survived but didn't see any doves with injuries until about a week later when a white dove turned up in the garden with feathers missing from it's back - maybe it was that dove, maybe not, but I haven't seen the hawk around here again, thank goodness. I was glad I'd saved that dove, but still so sad I couldn't save Flash. I forgot to say I did cry for him, and kissed his poor little dead head. He still smelled sweet, like all the doves do - it's because they are grain eaters.
Mon 23rd January 2012 - Some of you will remember Hugo, the jackdaw my husband brought home from the farm last year. Well, today, he brought home another bird who had suffered the same fate, in the same place. I couldn’t recognise what kind of bird it was at first it was so covered in oil. My husband has now asked the guy who has the car repair workshop there to not leave pans of oil uncovered in the evenings and weekends, and he has agreed to be more careful. This bird could possibly have been there, in the oil, since Friday night.It's a pigeon - probably a fairly young one. It was smothered in oil, and also has bare sore patches on its back. I have given it several washes over the course of the afternoon, but feel I can't keep washing it! I will have to do it over the next few days - if it survives. It was brought to me at 12.30 lunchtime and its now past 4pm, so I'm hoping it will.

Pigeon after his first few washes, very weak and feeble

I am calling him Olly – can’t call him Oily, and I hope he won’t be oily for ever! He has been warmed up, and when I felt he was thoroughly warm I held him and dipped his beak in water, and he had a little drink.It’s important not to give rescue birds water or food until they are warmed up – apparently if they eat when cold it can kill them. I allowed Olly to walk around on the kitchen floor and he started pecking at a tiny piece of hard pasta he discovered so I offered food – normal dove food plus peanuts, whole and chopped – and he ate a little.

Poor oily bedraggled Olly

Olly day 2 – I got up early and thank heavens he was still alive, I’d had a bad night worrying about him. I held him and gave him a drink, then three ‘baths’ – one after the other – the used water is still very brown and oily. After his baths, I dried him off a little with a hairdryer on a low setting then put him back in the carrying box near the aga to dry off, with food and water.

I was in a dilemma as I was due to go to my daughter’s to look after the baby while she took my grandson swimming. I decided to take Olly with me as he had not taken a drink without me holding him and dipping his beak in water. I found a big shallow flat bottomed cardboard box and lined it with newspaper. He came with me in the car in the carrying box, with a covered hot water bottle (I use the hard round microwave discs that I had from my little dog – they are excellent) and after my daughter had left, I smuggled Olly into the house! If you know my daughter, as some of my blog readers do, then please don’t tell her I was looking after a scruffy oily pigeon at the same time as I was looking after her lovely pink clean baby! While the baby slept, Olly had 5 more washes, then he went in the big box. Part of it was draped with a towel, and he crept under it and slept for a while – then the baby woke up! I had my hands full with one or the other! Olly was taken out to the car again before my daughter and grandson came back, and she was none the wiser!

Olly at my daughter's house - still oily

Back at home, I gave Olly 2 more washes – that’s 10 in all today (and approx 16 so far!) and more than enough for him, and me! It is stressful for him but he bears it well, scrambling about in the water trying to escape. He has a fighting spirit which is good! The last couple of washes the water seemed cleaner, but Olly still smells of oil and looks oily! I don’t really know what to do. Websites about the cleaning of oily birds recommend Dawn, but that is a product from the USA and I doubt if I’ll be able to get any. There is a big American community around here, and a couple of shops stock products from the USA so I will try them tomorrow. At the moment I am using Fairy Liquid. He tries to preen, and that is worrying as he will be ingesting oil.

Back home, near the aga

Still oily after 16 baths!

The worst sore place on Olly’s back doesn’t seem to be infected or getting any worse which is one good thing. Another good thing is that he has been eating this afternoon. He likes peanuts and can eat them if they are not too big. I tried peanuts in skins (brown) and peanuts without (white) and he seems to prefer the white ones. Peanuts are highly nutritious so I am pleased he likes them! He still won’t drink unless I hold him, and dip his beak in water – so I offer him a drink once every hour, and of course there is water in his box playpen. He’ll stay in there all evening, and go in the carrying box to keep him confined for the night.
It’s difficult to say exactly how old Olly is – between 30-40 days, I reckon. He can fly a bit – he flew from the draining board to the floor, but doesn’t fly around. This may be due to the effects of the oil. He doesn’t seem to have ingested the oil, or much oil, thankfully. His first poops were very green – possibly due to what he may have eaten before he fell in the oil or more likely due to starvation. I read a very interesting thread on a pigeon forum about pigeon poop, and Olly’s first poops were exactly like the bright green ‘artist’s paint’ described by one or two knowledgeable pigeon keepers. Olly probably was starving, as he may have spent the whole weekend in the oil pan – I can’t bear to think about it. Thank God he was rescued in time! His poops now are getting more normal looking – brown with a white dollop on top. Sorry if all this is TMI for you! But here’s a link to the thread if you’d like to know more http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f5/poops-what-do-they-really-mean-11637-4.html I also found a thread on how to clean pigeons covered in oil on the same forum – http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f6/pigeon-covered-in-oil-or-something-how-to-clean-42395.html You have to scroll down past the ads on these forum threads to read the posts. I hope they won't mind me putting the links here - I wouldn't have thought so, as anything that might help someone else save a bird's life is always worthwhile, I think.

Olly struggles to get out of the towel

Day 3, Olly is looking cleaner, fluffier and admires his reflection in the aga

Wed – Day 3 – I got up early again but Olly was fine, so I don’t think I will need to get up specially early for him again. I held him and he had a drink of water. About an hour after that, he drank on his own for the first time! I was quite elated! He ate a few peanuts too. Later in the morning I washed him again – that's 18 washes in total! – and the water was virtually clean, so I probably won’t be washing him again. His feathers still look a little oily and he smells of oil, but washing him stresses him, and if nothing is coming off, then it seems pointless. I couldn’t get hold of the Dawn detergent, unfortunately. If I had, I would’ve been tempted to try it to see if it removed any more oil.
I bought some Skin-eze cream for his sore places from the petshop – it says it is suitable for birds and is a known brand (Johnsons) so I will try it – if he will stay still long enough to be anointed.
Olly is timid and doesn’t come out of his box much, unless I take him out. I have to do this as he only seems to eat when I bring him out. Then he eats a peanut or two, and goes back in. I put the cream on his back and he tolerated me doing that.
This evening he was a little more adventurous and jumped to the top of the carrying box, and later to the seat of the chair, where he was hidden by the tablecloth. I put him back in the box at 8.15pm so he was confined for the night, which I felt would be safer. I didn’t want something happening in the night, and him walking or flying into the aga.
Day 4 – I had to be out all day and so did hubbie, so bit of a dilemma. I decided the best thing to do was to keep Jose shut in the hutch all day, and take away her wire cage, which gives her a safe ‘outdoor’ but when I am out, for Olly’s use. While I was sorting things out before I left, Olly flew into the sitting room, off the kitchen, and onto the curtain rail – so he CAN fly! I caught him and I left him in the kitchen, in the cage, on the floor, pushed up against the wall with the carrying box inside it (without the grille of course) and of course with plenty of choice of food, and two little dishes of water. I don’t know what he did all day, but there was a poop on the top of the carrying box so he must’ve jumped up there at some point. It was a boring day for him but I couldn’t leave him loose.
I’ve been reading up on ‘soft release’ of pigeons and how I get on with this will all be in the next blog. I intend to ring Olly tomorrow, and I’ve had an email saying the collapsible dog crate I bought him will be delivered (cost £28.99 total from ebay – Peteurope). He has, of course, totally dried out now, and is a very dark colour pigeon, but not yet fully feathered.
To be cont.

Sad news....

2012-01-21T03:21:00.000-08:00

Sat 21st Jan.12 - Very bad news I’m afraid, but later on in the blog. I will continue where the last blog left off.... The photo above is Jose, my dove that can't fly.

Eric, the white dove in the hospital, has died – about 14 days after we first picked him up. He was in a very poor way at the end, as you can see from the photo below, twisting his neck in the manner typical of this horrible illness, and sometimes unable to raise his head.

I was bringing him into the house at night, as it was so cold and frosty, and during the day he was shut in the hutch part of the hospital with a covered hot water bottle. Every couple of hours I went out to offer him a drink, and one time he took a long gulp, and I wondered if he might be on the mend, but a short while later he was dead. Maybe it was for the best.

Since the cote came down, and was re-erected Shanti and Shelby have not returned to it at night. I suspect they roost on the old building nearby instead as they are always two of the first in the garden in the mornings. After a few days Shelby did fly to the top of the cote, but neither of them have been in any of the nestboxes.
11th Jan. ’12 - I had emailed Kootensaw Dovecotes as their website says that the cotes ‘last a lifetime’ and that the wood is treated. My post wood was rotten. I was very upset and annoyed about the whole thing, and my email probably reflected that. A very pleasant lady rang me up nearly a week after the cote came down, and apologised for the delay, saying they had been away. She said that she and her husband were upset by my email, and agreed that the wood looked rotten (I had sent photos). She said that the only thing they could think of was that the place where they get the posts from apparently, in 2006, had to change the way they treated the wood due to EU ruling (before it was later changed again) and she felt some of the wood may have suffered because of the change. She sounded sincere and concerned. As Shanti and Shelby (the doves in the cote at the time) hadn’t returned to the cote she offered to send me a pair of doves. I thanked her sincerely but declined as it would mean I would have to put up the homing net again and that would upset Flash. I also told her that I have a large feral flock here, and some use the cote sometimes. I was pleased she had phoned, taken the thing seriously, and am happy to leave it at that.

That morning when I went out to release Jose and check Eric, there were TWO doves in the cote (in Flash’s old nestbox and not the section Shanti and Shelby had been using) – whether they got here early this morning or spent the night here, I don’t know. I didn’t notice them last night. The first one out was Vim – one of Flash and Omo’s babies born in the summer, and then I had a long wait before the other emerged – and it was Flash! So maybe a bit of an incesty thing might have started there!
13th Jan Flash has spent night here for the last couple of nights, and this morning he is collecting sticks with a female – NOT Vim – and probably Omo. She has very pink feet like Omo anyway and if she stays she will be called Omo- even if she is actually Omo2! Another pair of doves are also collecting sticks for the opposite side of the cote. Now the cote is up slightly differently, it has two ‘eyes’ and a ‘mouth’ and both pairs are in the eyes. Whether Flash will tolerate the other pair remains to be seen. They are not Shanti and Shelby, the unlucky pair in the cote when it came down.
Jose too has a new lover – a pigeon! Flash also courts her, and so does Shelby. The pigeon doesn’t yet know that there is no hope of her flying away with him! She also has a female friend, Lesa – a white dove I ringed with a yellow ring, named after one of my blog readers! Lesa spends quite a lot of time just sitting with Jose or stealing her food so it was easy to catch and ring her. I'll try to capture a photo of her for the next blog.

Flash looking for sticks

Flash with leafy stick

The 13th of January was a good day for Flash, despite being Friday the 13th. It was a frosty bright day and he collected sticks and took some to the cote. I also saw him mate with both Omo and Jose, and he generally enjoyed himself. Happy with the newly erected cote, his females and himself. The next day he was dead.

My lovely daddy dove who recovered so well from paramyxovirus was caught and killed by the sparrowhawk on Sat 14th Jan. ’12. Saturdays are quiet around here, we live in a rural spot by the river, and although there are neighbours and an old building converted to offices nearby, no-one much is around at the weekends - a perfect opportunity for the sparrowhawk. I had gone out, and as soon as I came through my little garden gate and saw the white feathers surrounding the gory body, I knew it was Flash, even before I saw his blue ring. I was quite numb as I gathered him up. Don’t worry, there are no gory photos – he deserves more dignity than that.

Flash's feathers

I arranged his damaged body on a little wicker tray that I use as a bier for special doves, and covered him up to the neck.

Then I brought him the only flowers that the garden offered, yellow winter flowering jasmine (I think it is) a frosted white rose, and one little yellow crocus

I couldn’t bear to dispose of his body then, and kept him for 24 hours before he had the river funeral that all the dead doves have. I spotted a little frosted pink rose bud in the garden, and added it to his flowers. It followed his body down the river. Rest in peace, my bright and beautiful bird. I will remember you always.

I have kept a few of his feathers, including the tail feather with the black flash – which was why I named him so. I will miss him terribly but he died as he lived, a vibrant part of nature. I’m not sorry I had nursed him through his illness – after his release, he had 20 days of glorious freedom.

Below is one of the last photos I took of him - I'll remember him that way

Since Flash and Eric have died, the garden is a little quieter. No doves have been near the cote, except the day after Flash died, Omo went into the nestbox. I hope she finds another mate soon, but I don’t really recognise her as she is pure white. Today, a week since Flash died, a white dove sat on the ledge of his nest box for a while. Maybe Omo again, I don’t know. The too long stick he brought is still sticking out of it, and I haven’t had the heart to remove it. I hope next blog is more cheerful. The dovecote is 'to let' once more.....

To be cont...

Dovecote Disaster!

2012-01-05T07:10:00.000-08:00

5th January 2012 - The UK has been experiencing high winds and gales, and this morning when I went into the garden the dove cote had come down! It had fallen, missing Jose’s table, and crashing into the pampas grass. I rushed over, and could see that the section where the doves were last night was underneath, so I rushed back in, yelling for my husband to come and help. He heaved it up and I could see white wings inside, and for a second my heart stopped but then a head popped up and I reached in, pulled out the dove, putting it on Jose’s table. It immediately flew away and thankfully had survived the disaster. I was so distraught that I certainly didn’t think of taking photos then, and didn’t notice whether the dove was Shanti (the female) or Shelby (male- named properly now, but called Red Ring in my last blog). The other one was nowhere to be seen. I burst into tears to my husband’s amazement – he doesn’t understand my emotions for the doves. The cote was a wedding present from my parents – both now deceased – and is very special to me, but more so for the doves that live and breed in it. I can only be thankful there was no eggs or squabs in the cote. Neither Jose nor Eric (new dove in the hospital and more about him later) had been hurt, so I was very grateful about that too. (You might remember there was a pigeon in the hospital right at the end of the last blog – unfortunately that one died).

This was before 8am in the morning, and the doves that visit the garden come in about 8am at this time of the year for feeding. I quickly noticed that both Shanti and Shelby were there, and seemed ok after their shock. Extra peanuts for them of course! Flash hadn’t yet arrived, and as I feel he is still a convalescent I was concerned for him too, after such a windy night – I don’t know where he goes to roost, it could be miles away.
My husband examined the damage and said that the post the cote was on was untreated wood, and had gone rotten. He reckoned that if the wood had been treated properly, before painting, it would not have rotted and therefore would not have broken in the wind. The post was supplied with the cote and I shall be contacting the company that supplied the cote as I am not at all happy, as you can imagine. I will let you know what they say.
Hubby then went off to buy a new post, and rang some lads who work on the farm to come and dig out the remains of the old post, and put the new one in. I am fortunate to have a helpful and capable husband + friends, and by 10am the cote was up again. While it was down I scrubbed down the paintwork and cleaned the inside, spraying for parasites and laying more newspaper in each section (this makes cleaning so much easier at a later stage). I don’t mind the new post – plain wood but TREATED of course – as it blends into the hedge better than the old white one. Unfortunately, it was set not quite at the right angle and the positions of the cote sections have changed slightly – by one ‘turn’ as it were. I don’t know if Shanti and Shelby will come back to it tonight, or whether they have been put off it for life. It’s such a shame, they were such a cosy little pair, cuddling up at night together in the same bit.
I took some photos and here’s the garden with the new post up (above) and showing the rotten wood below.

While I was cleaning the cote, Flash turned up on the hedge near me. He is a curious and intelligent bird.

Flash surveys the damage,above and below

He watched for a while then purposefully walked off round the hedge and picked up a stick. I think this was his way of telling me to rebuild his nest, or perhaps his way of helping!

Twenty minutes after the cote was back up, Flash was on the hedge again, looking up at it – he then flew up to one of the back sections, stayed in there for a minute, then came out and investigated one of the side sections, before coming out of that one too.

Flash wonders if this is ok

He settles in the back section for a short while

Flash flies up to his old favourite nest box......

and peers in

He stayed in the doorway looking in for a while and then came out and went off to court Jose on her table. Another white dove, neither Shanti or Shelby, came to sit on the top of the cote, and he flew to see it off, so he obviously still considers the cote his and worth defending.
Shanti and Shelby haven’t been near the cote today, as far as I am aware – though Shelby has been on Jose’s table. I can only wait and see whether they come back to it tonight or not. The poor things, I have no idea what time the cote crashed down, whether one flew out as it did so, or managed to wriggle out through the opening and through the pampas grass when it was down, and how long the other was trapped in there – it may have been hours. I wouldn’t blame them if they never want to use it again.
A quick note about Eric – My husband picked a white dove out of the flower bed on Tues. 3rd Jan and put it in the hospital with food and water while I was out. In the afternoon, I brought him in, sprayed him for parasites and ringed him with a green ring. Husband was allowed to choose his name – I wouldn’t have chosen Eric! He might be Erica of course, I don’t know yet. He didn’t seem to be able to fly, and as the wind was so bad I put him back in the hospital, with carefully chosen small grains, peanut sprinkles and vitamins . The vitamins I use are called Natural Vitamineral , a pinkish powder that I put in small pots. It contains minerals and vits A, D and E, amongst others. I bought it online but it comes from Natural Granen from Antwerp and they supply my preferred grain mix. That night Eric sat at the top of the ramp but didn’t go into the hutch. When Flash was in there, he sat in the door way of the hutch, peeking out, like the doves in the cote do, and eating and drinking from the pots inside the hutch. From the clean state of the newspaper in the hutch, I can tell he (Eric) hasn’t even walked in there. He is obviously not used to being confined. I will of course give him another chance to fly away, but not til the high winds have died down. I hope by then he will have recovered from whatever happened to make him end up in the flower bed. I did see the hawk that day, and it is possible she had caught and covered him and was disturbed by my husband – having said that there were no talon wounds on him. Sometimes a day or two’s rest with good food is enough to help a dove or pigeon to recover.

Eric in the hospital run

To be continued

Flash is Released on Boxing Day

2011-12-28T12:25:00.000-08:00

At the end of my last blog, I mentioned a dove I had named Bianca (in photo above) She seemed a bit unwell and on the 12th Dec as it started to get dark in the late afternoon I caught her as she crouched in 'poorly mode' on the gravel path and put her in the hospital box in our conservatory for the night. I was glad I'd managed to catch her at it was a wild, stormy, rainy night and she would've had a horrible time on the roof being buffeted in the wind. Unfortunately and unexpectedly as I didn't think she was that bad, she was dead when I went to collect her in the morning. I was saddened but I suppose it was just the end of her life, though I did worry that the conservatory was too cold . A pigeon I had caught a while before because it had breathing difficulties, and I didn't expect to last the night, survived, and is still going. That bird was gasping so much that I could hear the noise it made through two closed doors, which was pretty upsetting. But in the morning it wasn't so bad and I set it free and now it seems fine! I didn't ring it because I was sure it would die, but I recognise it as it has a funny fluffy bit of feathers on it's neck.
On Sat 17th another poorly white dove was netted and put in the hospital box in the conservatory - but it seemed so icy cold in there that I changed my mind and put the box in the spare bedroom - unheated by warmer! It survived the night and I ringed her with a blue ring naming her Bianca2. I could feel her bone through her chest, so she's a bit thin but I put the box on the garden table and opened it and out she came, joining the other doves for breakfast on the lawn, and later with a bit of an effort flying to the low roof.

Above is Bianca2 staying the night on the porch roof. I'm pleased to report that she's still around the garden every day, so maybe she will be ok. That's if she survives the sparrowhawk - yes Miss Hawky is around the garden, and the farm again. I took the photo below after she flew into the trees just beyond the yard in front of the house. She also made a dive at the doves feeding, while I was standing there!

Vim, hatched in my dovecote, sat for ages one day on Daddy Flash's hospital run. I wondered if he recognised Fkash, or remembered how he and Daz (his sibling) used to be in their 'play pen' in that section of the garden.

Vim, above and below, sat for hours one day on Flash's run.

On several consecutive mornings, a little white dove arrived on the roof when I had just got up and it was still dark. It sat on the roof for a moment of two, then popped into the dove cote. I soon worked out it was Shanti -one of the fairly tame 'peanut eaters' of the summer that I had managed to ring (purple ring) and who I mentioned in my last blog because he is cute, hobbling when he walks. So Shanti was trying to stake his claim in the cote - very definitely an early bird! But there was another dove that I hadn't mentioned in the last blog but that I knew was also very interested in the cote. This bird often sat in the most favoured section of the cote (the one used by Flash and Omo as a nestbox) and one day I decided to try to catch it in there, and ring it, so if it claimed the cote in the spring it would be easier to identify. I managed to do this at the end of Nov., sprayed the bird for parasites, and ringed it with a red ring.

So we have Shanti and Mr or Miss Red Ring (as yet un-named) both with a strong interest in the cote. I suspect come spring, or even before, we will have a battle for the cote again! And when Flash recovers, will he want his old place back again?

Flash continued to improve and every day I felt dreadful about keeping him confined. Birds should be free to fly, and I could tell he wanted to get out He'd often try to take off from the ground but the run is too low for him to do more than bob up and down. We had some cold weather, a morning of sleety snow and some nights of high winds. Much less here in Surrey than in other parts of the country but not good weather for a still not fully fit bird to be set free.

On Fri 16th Dec when I was letting Jose out of the hutch in the early morning. I heard cooing in the cote and saw a dove - or maybe two- in the window of the cote facing the hutch. Had it, or they, been there all night? And later that day I saw Madame Shanti - yes, she's a she, not a he! - mate with Monsieur Red Ring - most definitely a he! So there won't be a fight for the cote, they are a couple and can live there together! Unless Flash or someone else objects. And if they stay a couple, I will have to name Red Ring properly. I have now asked the friend I named Shanti for to provide a good complimentary name for RR! That night Shanti stayed the night, and soon RR was spending each and every night with her - they are so cute, tucked up together. Funnily enough, they spend the night in the window facing Jose's hutch and the choose the front window for day canoodling - as below.

It's only a few days to Christmas day and I am feeling that Flash is probably well enough to be released, but I have so many commitments and will be away from the garden so much til after Christmas that he will definitely have to wait until at least Boxing Day. Then I'll only release him if the weather will be reasonable for the first few days after that. The plan will be to release him in the morning of a good day, when the other doves and pigeons are in the garden.
Friday 23rd Dec - the elderly lady who cleans the offices in the building next door came round to ask me to collect a dove that she said had been in the same position for two days (why, oh why didn't she come before) - the offices are in an old mill, the dove in an awkward position but I managed to wriggle in, net and box it to bring home. I named it Iris after the lady but she died later that afternoon, poor thing. If you see a dove/pigeon in trouble and think you would like to help, then act sooner rather than later - they have little in the way of reserves and don't last long without food and water. These two sites give excellent advice for someone who is maybe not used to dealing with pigeons, but wants to help - http://www.pigeoncote.com/vet/recovery/recovery.htm or http://www.pigeon-aid.org.uk/pa/html/index.php

But this seems to be the time of the year for the doves to die.... maybe they have used themselves up during the previous months, breeding and feeding young. When I got home in the evening, in the dark and rain, I could see a white dove on the ground behind Flash's run, so again I put it in the box for the night. It definitely wouldn't survive a night on the ground with all the foxes we have around - and there are mink too on the riverbank.

24th Dec - The latest poorly one, named Iris2, lived through the night and I opened the box on the garden table to allow her some freedom. She ignored the nice bowl of water at the correct luke-warm temperature and the tempting pot of specially graded grains with peanut sprinkle on top, and jumped to the ground. She made her way over to the dove bath (washing up bowl) and with an effort hopped up to sip. Then she just sat in the damp drooping flower bed and so, when I had to go out, I collected her up and put her in the safety of the box again with food and water. But Iris2, like the first Iris, was dead by late afternoon. Two dead doves in one day and Christmas Eve at that, how sad. A river burial in the morning, and another in the dark of the later afternoon. Back to nature, beautiful birds. Fly again in Heaven.

Christmas Day was a mild day and Flash was very eager to be free - flying onto the wire sides on the run and clinging on there - one more day Flash, one more day!

Boxing Day - the day of Flash's proposed release arrived, and another mild day with several forecast ahead. Below is Flash still in his run, with some doves clustered around Jose on her table.

And Flash, below, last picture before his release

I opened the top section of Flash's run and propped it back. He ran up and down the ramp a few times, then flew out with assurance. to the low roof near the dove cote. I had expected him to stay around for a few minutes and then take off to fly, enjoying his freedom. Instead he flew straight to the favoured front position of the cote, where he had raised his families in the summer. Obviously he is perfectly recovered as he had no trouble flying into the small window of lthe cote. Previously he wouldn't have been able to negotiate it as the paramyxovirus causes lack of co-ordination, amongst other symptoms.

It didn't take long before Mr. Red Ring realised that Flash was in the cote space he now considered to be his and he also flew determinedly in! The last thing I wanted was Flash to be involved in a fight, as I had no idea how strong he was. I got the steps which raised me to the doves level and could see a whirling fury of white wings, sharp beaks and claws.

I put my hand in and drew out whichever dove came to hand. It was RR and he flew to the low roof. Flash stayed in the cote and I took him a small dish of seeds and peanuts pieces to keep his strength up! I didn't actually mind who won the fight/and or the cote but I didnt want Flash to be killed on his first day out after all my careful nursing. Mind you he was obviously fighting fit!

After a while, RR entered Flash's space again, and after a minute or two, I intervened once more and removed RR - again just by chance or luck. Of course the little dish of seeds got spilt! Shanti, arrived and sat placidly on the side ledge of the cote while the two cock birds fought. I left them to it this time, and eventually RR emerged. By 10am they had all settled down with Flash at the front and the others at the back of the cote. At 10.30 am Flash cautiously peeked out, then flew down to the blue bath which is the nearest to the cote, and had a good long drink. He perched easily on the side andto me looks perfectly fit. He had been in captivity (for his own good) for 59 days and I hope has totally recovered The fighting shows he is certainly not weak and feeble.

While I was observing all this - and having my Boxing Day brunch of smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and Bucks Fizz with my husband! - I noticed another white dove mating with Jose. RR is also interested in her, and I wondered if and when Flash will resume his jealous guardianship of her.

At 11.30am Flash came out on the roof for a very brief while, then had another drink and back to the cote. I haven't seen him eat at all today, but have put more grains in the cote for him. He stayed there all day. By 3.30pm RR and Shanti were in their side section of the cote, Flash was in the front and I'd shut Jose in her hutch. 15 mins later Flash came out onto the hedge, then turned round and flew in again. Five mins later he came out again, had a drink from the bowl I'd thoughtfully placed on the table for him and flew back to the cote. By 4pm it was pretty gloomy in the garden and I was hoping Flash would stay in the cote. By half past it was dark and I knew he would stay. It would be very unusual for a dove to leave a safe roost once it was night. Flash has NEVER stayed the night in the cote before - not even when he was courting Omo or when they had squabs in the cote. I was delighted to have him stay, and surprised as I hadn't expected it. I thought he would leave the cote before dusk and fly to his previous roost. I was also pleased that Shanti and RR felt comfortable enough to stay in their current night-time part of the cote. Maybe they could all live happily together?

27th Dec - The other doves and pigeons came into the garden as usual, Shanti and RR came out of the cote, and Jose's door was opened, but Flash stayed in the cote. He hadn't eaten anything on the ground yesterday, only what I had put in the cote for him, so I took him some more and hoped he wasn't going to turn into a recluse! I was out all morning but from the look of him when I got back I doubted he had been out. In the afternoon he somehow perked up, emerged, flew to the roof, joined in with the flock and came down to eat with them. He flew away with the others before dark, and I just hope I will see him again tomorrow. But I did what I hoped and wanted to do - helped feisty Flash, my delightful Daddy dove, recover from paramyxo!

I had to run my little grandson home, and when I returned to the garden after dark, there was a pigeon under Jose's hutch. I just can't leave a bird on the ground all night but it was easy to net it and put it in Flash's vacated hospital (which I haven't yet cleaned out) There might be germs in the run but I had to choose - possible germs v probably fox - and germs won!

To be cont.

Paramyxovirus - Flash's Progress

2011-12-05T12:59:00.000-08:00

5th Dec.11 - My last blog finished in early November with Flash ill with the paramyxovirus. By the 8th Nov he seemed a bit more co-ordinated and I was happy with his progress. If you did read the last blog you will know that I was having difficulty getting in and out of his run due to it's design. My husband kindly put an opening section into the top of the cage, making my life much easier! Here he is above finishing the job, with Jose watching from inside her hutch (she was locked in while he worked) and Flash in a small box on top of her hutch - you can just about see him.

By 15th November I had had Flash in confinement for 17 days and its about 21 days since I first saw him in the garden with paramyxo symptoms.

I am seeing my spotted Dalmation Dove (DD) regularly - here she is in a photo taken March '10

But I haven't seen her mate Chocolate Brownie for quite a long while now. What a shame if something has happened to him - they were such a beautiful bonded pair and have been coming to my garden for a least a couple of years. Below, together, taken this June - 2011

I never give up hope, unless I see a dead body! The birds are such nomads, and it's always wonderful to welcome a wanderer back. Recently a beautifully marked pigeon turned up - see the purple and green at the back of his neck! He looked familiar - and yes it was my Joseph - I looked through the photos and found this one from Sept '10, so over a year since he was last in my garden!

Omo, Flash's mate from this summer, is still around - I recognised her on Jose's table on 18th Nove - there is still a trace of the blue felt tip pen that I marked her wing and tail with in the summer.
27th November was a warm sunny day. I bathed Jose, and then noticed Flash standing in the shallow dish I had put in his run - he wanted a bath too! I realised the dish was too shallow and put a better one in for him, with tepid water (I always warm Jose's bath water too!) but I felt his water couldnt be too cold as he is poorly. He sat in the dish for a long time, then bathed himself and really seemed to benefit from it.

Flash sits in his bath

Looking like a penguin!

Splish! Splash! Splosh!

I had originally only put a shallow dish for bathing in the run as I read it is possible for pigeons with paramyxo to drown themselves, due to the way their heads flop, but I do not feel that Flash is in this dire category - but see below how he held his head at an un-natural angle at one point during the bath.
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Mostly he acts pretty normally, and I have been tempted to set him free but try to remember I am acting in his best interest. He might regress if he has the stress of flying to and from wherever he generally roosts, and trying to find food if he can't get back to the garden. Be patient Flash, you will be better soon! I pray each day he will make a full recovery - he was such a spirited bird. I also requested distant healing for him from Harry Edwards Healing Sanctuary at Burrows Lea - anyone can ask for healing for a pet or person, and no charge is made, although donations are always welcome - I've been to Burrows Lea and it's a wonderful peaceful place - the following link takes you to the form for an online request for healing https://www.sanctuary-burrowslea.org.uk/distant_healing.php and you can get to the whole site from there - do have a look!

Sometimes the doves and pigeons go inside Jose's hutch looking for food. I caught two birds in there recently and ringed them. One was a grey pigeon, caught the day my baby granddaughter was born, and named after her - Lexi, with a pink ring and the other was a white dove, ringed with a blue ring. A lady had contacted me asking for dove feathers for a very special personal reason and I was happy to oblige - I named this dove after her, Bianca. Both these birds I am seeing regularly. I also see Shanti (purple ring) and named a while ago for my friend - he's very cute, hobbles when he walks and often pops in and out of the dove cote. Poor little Daz hasnt been seen since 1st Nove, but his twin Vim, and big brother Fairy are seen every day, thank goodness.

I won't blog again before the New Year so from the doves and me - a peaceful blessed Christmas to you and your family.

Daz and Vim fledge - but it's not all good news...

2011-11-05T14:48:00.000-07:00

My last blog finished with Daz & Vim (above) about to fledge and Omo & Flash with another set of eggs about to hatch. So, so much has happened since then, and it's less than a month! Well to continue where I left off, it was into the second week of October '11 and I was still taking the babies out of the cote for a little 'play' every afternoon, In the picture below, they remind me so much of those other much loved baby doves, Victory and Purity - my two little dickey birds!

In the 'play pen', Daz is practising flapping his wings. They can fly short distances now.

I held them on my hands and let them fly. Below, Vim misses the entrance hole and lands on the cote - but not a bad try!

While the babies were learning to fly, I looked after a poorly dove for a few days. I didn't name it as I could see it wasn't going to make it. Here it is in typical ill bird manner, and the next morning my neighbour came in from the yard, with a little white bundle, saying 'I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news.....'

On Tuesday 11th Oct '11 the babies fledged aged about 32 days. That morning Flash arrived about 8am (Omo had, of course, spent the night on the eggs), and Vim came out of the cote and onto the hedge, then popped straight back into the cote again!- I think Vim is the oldest, he acts as if he is! For one hour Flash went back and forth encouraging the babies out. His efforts were rewarded when Vim at last came out again, and Daz followed. At first they just did little trips from the hedge to the cote, and then to Jose's table, where they squeaked, begging for food. I didn't see Flash feed them, but eventually I think he did feed Daz, actually inside Jose's hutch. I could see the tail movements that indicate feeding. At last, that morning both babies settled in two different compartments of the cote.
First time out themselves (without me helping!) - the hedge needs trimming! It's like walking in a jungle!

The next morning, Wed 12th Oct, the babies were out on the hedge at 7.50am before Flash had arrived in the garden, and from there they went to Jose again. Daz went inside her hutch, and she was aggressive towards him, but jumped down from the table and left the squabs up there before I had to intervene. Flash arrived at 8.1oam and found no babies in the nestbox! He sat there, blocking the entrance for a long while. I took the babies from inside the hutch - where they had put themselves - and placed them on the hedge, and they started following Flash about, and squeaking but I didn't see him feed them. Eventually I caught Jose and put her back on her table - it is hers, after all! and she started to tolerate the babies, like she had done Fairy.

Above - Daz, preening, and Jose

Below - Vim, Flash with his back to us, and Jose

You will probably remember the revolting louse flies from the last blog? I treated the babies with Johnson's Anti Mite before they started flying properly, and they were now clear of all visible parasites. Here's an enlarged photo of the lice - I don't know the proper name. To the naked eye they just look like tiny little pencil lines. I decided any doves/pigeons I catch now, for whatever reason, will be treated with this product, just to be on the safe side. Even if they die (the bird, not the lice!) then at least if the parasites have been treated they can't infect another bird.

Now the babies had properly fledged, other doves started being interested in the cote. But any time an intruder stopped for a look, Flash 'flashed' over and routed them out! He also sat for long periods inside the nest box guarding it, when he wasn't on duty on the eggs. Flash is in his cote, and all's right with the world, and woe betide anyone else who tries to muscle in!

Later that day, the babies put themselves to bed, together, in the nest box about 4.30pm - so cute!

Thurs 13th Oct, I was out all day (don't worry, my husband feeds the doves when I'm not there!) and by the time I came home at 5pm all the doves had left the garden, including Flash. The babies were in the hutch, so I put them back in the cote, and looked round for Jose, who came casually walking out of my back kitchen! - and of course she went back in her hutch and was shut in for the night.

The next morning, there were lots of doves flying round the cote, and Flash again sat in the nestbox for ages, doing his best to defend his castle. You can see four doves here, all wanting to take possession - and Flash in here in the front nestbox, and Omo of course is round the back, where you can't see her, on the nest.

I didn't see Flash in the late afternoon that day which was a bit unusual and by 4.45pm the light was going anyway.
The next day, Sat. 15th, and Flash didn't appear in the garden in the morning, and I was very worried. Where was my feisty Flash? but Thank God Daz and Vim had fledged, and could feed themselves!

In the afternoon, some of the other doves, and pigeons had a communal bath and it's always a pleasure to see them, and a good photo opportunity. In the summer there was a vast flock of over 80 birds sometimes, and I despair of feeding them all - it is so expensive. I have to ration it a bit, and try to make sure all grain is eaten before I put any more down. Currently, from my supplier, the grain is £17.99 a 25g sack (delivered to my door by a lovely young man who is interested in the doves) and they get through that in a week.

They also get any stale bread, and I sometimes buy loaves for them if it is reduced, and crumbs from under the toaster and the biscuit tin. Funnily enough, they treat bread as a treat and fight over it!

At 2.30pm, I saw Omo come out of the nest, eat and then go back to the eggs. With no Flash around to do his time on the eggs, I wondered what would happen. My book said that, if the male is lost, females still continue to incubate the eggs for the full time, and these eggs are due to hatch in three days. If it's the other way around - the female lost - then males, apparently leave the nest within a few days. I can't believe Flash has gone - something must've happened to him - he was a good father, and I don't think he would just desert Omo. At 5pm Omo came out again, and had a long drink, and ate some food. No other doves were around, except one I'd ringed - one of the one's who used to eat peanuts from my hand in the summer - Shanti. Omo sat with him on the roof for a minute or two, then, to my relief, flew back to the cote. She seemed to forget, and went to the old nest - the babies were in bed, and squeaked loudly - before she 'rememered' and went back to the eggs.

Sunday 16th Oct - The first light frost of the season, and for a second I imagined someone had laid a white cloth on the garden table! - and still no Flash. I haven't seen him since Friday morning. We had a horrible morning - other doves seemed intent on taking over the cote and Omo was very upset. She kept popping her head out of her nest box, and getting off the eggs and going back to them. A Flash lookalike, with black feathers in his tail, kept fluttering round and I flapped a scarf at him, but nothing I could do would stop him, and the others. If it wasn't him, it was another. By 10.45am it seemed that Omo had abandoned the nest. I lightly touched the eggs and they were cold. Something I read on the internet said that eggs can get cold and the chicks still be reared - I doubted it!! But a couple of hours later, Omo was back on the eggs again - is there still hope? I found it all very distressing, and decided I must just get on with my own stuff, and leave the doves to it. The squabs, Daz and Vim, go off roaming but I suspect not too far. They are often on Jose's table or in and out of the hutch or cote. At 3.3opm I heard such dreadful squeaking that I had to go and investigate. I nearly always watch before I interfere and I saw what looked like an adult in the nest box of the dovecote, dragging one of the babies by it's neck, so I got up onto the steps and the dove came out and flew off - and it was Omo! I could tell by her blue felt tip marks on her side and tail (I'd marked her some while ago). Immediately, the baby, it was Vim, also came out and flew off, none the worst, but I sensed another bird in the nest box - (this is the old nesting place where Daz and Vim were reared, not the ones with current eggs in) - and when I looked in, I couldn't believe it! There was a blue ringed dove - Flash!! It was 48 hours since he'd last been seen in the garden! I can't imagine what can have happened to him or where he had been! Peanuts all round to celebrate my hero's return! Omo went back to the nest - I don't know if it will be too late.

Daz and Vim in Jose's hutch, dazzlingly white!

I am still seeing Fairy, Flash and Omo's first singleton squab, who is now about three and a half months old. I've always suspected he is a he, and this was confirmed when I saw him courting on the roof, displaying typical male behaviour. Below, he's not looking his best, the photo is fuzzy and he is moulting on his head! According to my book, effective sexual maturity is not reached until well after six months of age. Fairy is big and quick and comes running when peanuts are thrown - well he was brought up on them!

Flash had returned, thankfully, but he seemed different - deflated and subdued. Maybe he'd had a nasty experience. He did eat but then he went to the hutch - Jose wasn't there, she was on the ground, but the babies followed him there and started squeaking and amazingly I saw him feed them both one after the other! - this of course was 48 hours or more after he'd last fed them, so it's lucky they weren't relying on him for food. The photo below is out of sequence, sorry - but shows Flash on the left, Daz on the brick stretching his wings, and Jose drinking. This was a typical scene in the first week or so after the babies fledged.

After Flash had fed his babies, he settled down on the branch inside the hutch. He has never done that before, and stayed there for a long time, quietly. Later, he came out, but sat under the hutch on the support for the table. He's never done that before either - he's definitely changed.

As the sun went down behind the roof and the other doves started to leave the garden, Flash put himself back in the hutch again. The babies hovered around on the table and nearby. Jose was still on the ground and I could see her getting flustered - time for bed! I didn't want to upset Flash in case he planned to spend the night and I didn't know what to do. By the time he had flown away - out of the hutch and the garden, Jose was nowhere to be seen. It was gloomy and about 4.30pm, and I searched on and off for about an hour but couldn't find her. Omo was on the nest and I was still hoping there was a chance for the eggs, and Daz and Vim were in the cote. Eventually Jose came out of wherever she was and I caught her and put her in the hutch. A stressful and exhausting day for us all!

Monday 17th Oct - Flash was not there for the morning feed and Omo and the babies had already left the cote when I went out into the garden. I had to go out, and the weather wasn't good so I made Jose a cage box on top of the hutch, leaving the hutch open for Daz and Vim to get protection. The other doves are often not allowing them into the cote now during the day. When I came back at lunchtime, there were two doves in the box where the eggs were, and I doubted if one was Omo, one dove in the side, and one dove in the old nest box - who? Again, I had to go out, but when I came back at 4.30pm ish the garden still had good light and plenty of doves around. Jose was where I left her, of course, Daz and Vim together in the cote in the compartment facing the hutch,a dove in the old nest box, one in the back and two in the box (with the eggs) - 6 doves in the cote at the same time, more than I've ever had together, and they looked pretty, but I was sad about the eggs.

By ten past five, all doves except Jose, Daz and Vim had left the cote and the garden, except for two doves on the roof. When they came lower I could see it was Flash and Omo, and they did go back to the cote, but not to the eggs. At ten to six, Omo was in the old nest box (where Daz and Vim were reared) and Flash in one of the side ones. The eggs are certainly abandoned now, there can be no hope. Is Flash going to spend the night? He never has before. By 6.07pm the garden was very gloomy and I was inside, but heard a loud clap of wings and when I checked, Flash was gone. Five minutes later it was very dark indeed.

Tuesday 18th Oct'11 - Today should have been hatching day, a good day, but instead it was a gloomy one. I got up early and while Daz & Vim, and Omo were still in the cote, I put the steps up and removed the stone cold eggs.

Flash was there for the morning feed, and there was lots of activity round the cote, but he didn't send the other doves away. He seems to have lost all interest in defending the cote. I had so many unanswered questions - why did Flash go away? Had he been trapped somewhere or was it his own choice? Why did Omo abandon the eggs? Was it because Flash wasn't around or because the other doves were in and out of the cote upsetting her? or did she know the eggs were duds like the other egg with Fairy, and the two laid in between Fairy and Vim & Daz? I could answer that question at least, by opening the eggs. If you don't wish to see, then scroll down the next two photos quickly. The eggs were not duds, I cracked them both and there were what looked to me like perfect little squabs inside.

I removed the membrane and laid the babies out properly. It seemed very sad to me that they would never know any life outside of the egg. But if they had hatched and all had gone well, they would not have fledged until mid November - hardly the best season of the year.

Two of my blog readers had suggested names for these babies, so to give them some dignity in death, I named them, Dreft and Burti (a German soap powder) and wrapped them up with tiny flowers from the garden for the river burial that all my dead birds get - back to nature, you poor little things.

18th October was also the anniversary of the day I had found Jose had Claremont National Trust a year ago, and brought her home, as she was unable to fly and therefore dying of hunger and thirst. Happy Anniversary Jose! - I'm so glad you have had a year with me! Here's the link to that story http://faithsdoves2.blogspot.com/2010/12/special-dove-and-turtle-doves.html

I've bought myself some new Turtle Dove gloves, as also mentioned in that blog, as I have managed to lose both those pairs. They are lovely, and so useful, made of recycled jumpers - I gave several pairs as Christmas presents last year and everyone seemed delighted with them - have a look here - http://www.turtle-doves.com/ I don't have shares in the business, I just adore the gloves!

Wed 19th Oct and only Daz stayed the night as Vim flew away with the rest of the doves. I hoped he managed to stay with them, and come back the next day. The next night, surprisingly, Omo stayed the night, but from then on no doves stayed at all. During the day there was still lots of comings and goings in the cote. Below you see Flash with his blue ring on the ledge on the old, most favoured, nest box, with Omo just underneath him, and other adult doves in other compartments. Flash didn't seem in the least bothered by them.

One day a little blue tit flew in to the kitchen - this often happens as the door is mostly open. I caught it, but it escaped from my hands and crash landed on the kitchen floor. It seemed stunned so I put it in the box and it sat there, legs splayed out, for a while, but thankfully recovered and flew off. The last thing I need is a poorly blue tit to look after!

The next few days were fairly uneventful. I kept a note of the days I saw Daz & Vim and Fairy. I didn't see either D or V for four long days between Sat 22nd to Wed 26th and was beginning to think they were lost, but I saw Daz that afternoon and on Thursday 27th, both of them. It makes me happy to see in the garden, and sad when I don't! Fairy I saw practically every day. Of course, they might have come to the garden when I wasn't around. Although this blog might seem like I watch them constantly, of course I don't!

On Wednesday 26th, Omo seemed to be fighting for the cote. Every time another dove went in her favourite compartment - the old nestbox - she was in there, trying to get them out - fighting like a male, really. The other dove, probably a male, was persistent, and I just tried to ignore them. Where was Flash? Well that day, unfortunately, I noticed Flash seemed to have symptoms of paramyxovirus. This is a very distressing illness and at that time I thought any bird catching it was bound to die, but I read up a little and found this excellent website - http://www.pigeon-aid.org.uk/pa/html/paramyxovirus__pmv_.php You can also see film of pigeons with paramyxo on youtube - just put in pigeon paramyxo and you will get something up. I haven't got a link, I can't bear to watch them with it. Symptoms include difficulty in picking up seed - they keep pecking and missing, twisting and craning the neck into un-natural positions, and crash landings. The website I found seemed to imply that one of the reasons most feral pigeons with paramyxo would die was due to being unable to get enough food. It makes sense that if a bird can't pick up available seed quickly, the others will, and gradually it would get weaker and die, or become prey to a predator. I hoped to be able to catch Flash so I could help him, but there was no chance of that - he could still fly well, so the only thing I could do was to try to make sure there were deep bowls of food available when he was around so that when he was stabbing randomly at the grain he was bound to get some into his beak. Of course, paramyxo is extremely contagious and at the time there was another white dove coming into the garden with it, but after a few days I didnt see it, and assumed it had died. For the next few days, I wondered if each day I saw Flash would be the last time. If you didn't know, you might think a bird with paramyxo was drunk when you watch them try to land on the roof, and fall down the other side. I still hoped at some point I'd be able to catch him, and on Saturday 29th at about 5pm, in gloom of the late afternoon when I was sitting here at my lap top, I caught sight of a spinning white thing whirling down into the garden near Jose's hutch. Flash had crash landed, dizzy and disorientated, and was on the ground! I rushed out with the net and managed to catch him after several attempts which were stressful for both of us. I isolated him in the hospital box with food and water, and he spent the night in our conservatory. The next day, after treating Flash with the anti-mite stuff, I rang the vets and asked if my lovely vet, G, would see Flash, and an appointment was made. I have great respect for G, he was wonderful when my little dog was so poorly. The only appointment I could get was 5pm which is not a great time for birds as obviously at this time of year it's dark and they want to be roosing, but Flash was very good and quiet inthe car on the way, and let G handle him without struggling. G said he was in good condition, not thin and with plenty of muscle. He said that there is nothing you can give a bird with paramyxo (you can vaccinate against it of course, but too late for that now!) and the only treatment is supportive nursing care. My visit cost £23.12 - but not grudged for my special boy, Flash. You may wonder why I put so many dates, times, costs etc into my blog - it's for my own reference, but I also think that sort of thing can be interesting at a later date. From what I had read I knew that if Flash was going to recover it might well take 6-12 weeks. I couldn't keep him in a small box for all that time! As a temporary measure I fixed up the cage on the garden table, and he stayed in that all day, with me taking him into the conservatory at night.

To the unknowing eye, Flash appears like any other healthy bird, but when you see him eat or crane his neck you can see there is something wrong with him. The picture below shows him twisting his neck - sorry, it's a fuzzy photo but you get the idea. I started thinking I must get another hutch... and a run. New hutches are very expensive so I dismissed buying new, and focussed on ebay, gumtree and freecycle. What you focus on, you get! I found the perfect thing on my local gumtree and went to view it. The very nice man had made it himself and it was just what I wanted - thank you Universe! - but no way could I get it into my car, and my husband, with the pick-up, was away. But M agreed to deliver it, and all for £35, what a bargain! I was out on the day he delivered but when I got home, there it was on the lawn, and very easy for me to get into position as it has wheels at one end. A super hutch, off the ground, a ramp for Flash to walk up and down, and a big run - absolutely spot on! I moved it into position and could hardly wait for the morning to put Flash in it. I felt dreadful keeping him in such a small thing, even though he is ill.

On Tue 1st Nov - into November already I can't believe it! - I noticed a pigeon on the lawn that was 'odd' - I wondered if it was actually blind as it seemed to be staying close to the others but didn't seem able to see or pick up the food. I netted it easily, and put it in a box with some food and it started to eat. I kept it for the night, and in the morning, ringed and sprayed it against lice etc and set the open box down on the lawn. It had beautiful green iridescent feathers round it's neck like so many pigeons do, so I named it Emerald. Since then she has spent every night on the roof - even through the nights of pelting rain we've had recently - and seems ok, but slow, coming down with the others to feed. Another EG, I think. She's definitely a female as I have seen males trying to court her. Last night another pidgie stayed with her, so perhaps she has a mate, or a friend.

Friday 4th Nov - I am up bright and early to put Flash in his new hutch and run. He spent some time standing in one position viewing it, but seemed to accept it, and didn't try to fly or flap against the wire, like some birds do in captivity if they are used to freedom. I hate confining him, and feel guilty about it, but it will probably be his only chance of recovery and survival. Once he is fully better, I shall release him - unless we have snow, or are due to have snow. I may well have to keep him for the winter.

Flash explored the whole arrangement and soon went up and down the ramp into the hutch part. I put water in a big bowl, and his deep food bowl in a separate place, with a sack and some plastic to prevent it getting wet if it rained. There was also a brick to sit on, and upstairs in the hutch I lined it with newspaper so I could change it easily every day. Hygiene is always important, but even more so with a bird with paramyxo. It is not contagious to humans, but obviously I wash my hands after dealing with him, or any birds for that matter. That late afternoon I assumed Flash would go up the ramp and put himself to bed. But no! despite having been up and down the ramp and in the hutch before, he just sat on the brick and the sky darkened. I couldn't leave him there, but getting into the run was not easy, with no-one to help me. Where there's a will, there's a way and I am quite strong willed, so I heaved the run up from the end and wiggled underneath. Flash stayed motionless on the brick while I was doing this, and I picked him up easily (that was the only easy bit about the whole thing!) and put him into the hutch. Then I had to wiggle out again, getting damp and filthy on the grass. I wasn't totally happy that I couldn't shut him in so he was enclosed entirely, like Jose, as if a predator got into the run it would be able to reach him in the hutch. My plan had been that he would walk up the ramp into the hutch in the later afternoon, and I would open up the back, pick him up and put him in the box for the night in the conservatory. Now I didn't dare open the hutch in case it startled him and he ran down into the run again! So I draped some old sheets over the top and sides of the run and hoped for the best. There were fireworks that night, so I was glad that at least he was in the hutch.
Sat 5th Nov- I had to coax Flash out of the hutch part and into the run in the morning, but otherwise he seems fairly well. He has had a least one episode that I saw that looked like a fit - where he flapped his wings continously while moving backwards - and he sometimes seems to cough up seeds, but these are a part of his illness. That night he, thankfully, put himself to bed and I didn't have to wiggle in again. But again I didnt dare to open up and get him out for the night. Getting his food and water bowls out to clean etc are a problem, but my neighbour helped by lifting the run up for me and soon my hubbie will be home.

Today is Sun 6th Nov and we are up to date. The last time I saw Fairy and Vim was yesterday, but I haven't now seen Daz since the 1st. I saw Omo billing and cooing with another male today. She has forgotten her in sickness and in health vows!
To be contd

The Squabs are Named & What Happened to EG?

2011-10-08T13:18:00.001-07:00

Sunday 2nd Oct '11 - The babies are approx 24 days old (the first one hatched on 9th Sept) and they are now very visible at the window of the cote, and very vocal indeed. I don't know if I mentioned before but it is possible to hear them squeaking when they know they are going to be fed from inside the house.

24 day old squab

I love them at this stage with their fluffy yellow baby down still there - so cute! But unfortunately today when I got them out of the cote I could see they had lice on them. Well, I presume they are lice - they look like someone has drawn little short vertical pencil lines about 5mm long. I've seen them on other doves before and they can usually be got rid of - I made a mental note to get some stuff from the pet shop.

The next day I could only get one baby out of the cote, and no lice were apparent on that one that time - but they do seem to come and go and I presume hide under feathers nearer the skin. The other squab clung on to the nestbox for dear life and squeaked like mad so I just left it in there. I didn't want to upset Flash in the other nestbox sitting on the eggs. I usually take the babies out in the afternoons, and then it is Flash 'on duty' sitting on the eggs while Omo has a break.

All that day other doves were interested in the cote, fluttering round it, landing on the sills and looking in the windows, and Flash had his work cut out chasing them off, in between feeding the squabs. Luckily these interlopers didn't think to come back when Flash was on the other nest and the babies were alone, although I suppose Omo would've defended them. She is not feeding them at all now, though does visit them every day, standing on the sill of the nestbox. They squeak at her and flap their wings, but only Flash feeds them now, and this is normal behaviour.

Wed 5th Oct - Babies 26/27 days old (these dates are always approx as I am never quite sure when they hatch) and as usual I got them out of the cote in the afternoon. They can flap and flutter but not really fly properly. Here they are in the garden with Jose in the background.

I checked them over as usual and found one of those horrible fly things again on one of them. It was under the wing and luckily I managed to catch and kill it (I also saved it for research!)
Today was ringing and naming day - I had already chosen names for the two eggs that were laid before them (that came to nothing) and so we have Daz, ringed with green right, yellow left and Vim, green right and pink left.

Vim

Daz

Vim and Daz - still young enough to stay where I put them - more or less!

EG, the Elderly Gentleman pigeon from my last blog continued to live in the garden by day, and was put to bed in the box by me every night. I was quite fond of him as he caused me less trouble than Jose, being quieter and easier to catch!

I felt his crop every night and though a slow eater he was obviously getting enough as he had a full crop, and of course he always had the chance to eat his fill in my garden, and was put to bed with a pot of food to himself!

EG with a few mates!

On the babies' ringing day, EG seemed a little more perky. It was still pleasant enough weather for my husband and I to have lunch in the garden, and we noticed EG making little, not very successful, flying attempts. The next day I was out all day, leaving hubbie to feed the doves, and when I came home he said he hadnt seen EG since the morning. I searched all the usual hiding places, several times, and even went out with a torch when it got dark but there was no sign of him. He'd vanished into thin air! I can only hope that that is exactly what he did do - that he got enough strength to fly away. The garden was securely fenced (for when I had my little dog) and it is unlikely he could've got out through a gap, so unless he was taken by a cat or mink - which is possible I suppose, he must've flown off. I do hope so, but I haven't seen him since.

The next day I was inside but heard a lot of squeaking and as I knew the squabs had just been fed, I went out to investigate. Vim was on the lawn under the dovecote - unhurt - but looking very vulnerable and young.l In circumstances like this - where pigeons live in towns - it is extremely likely that that would be the end of the squab. I'm not sure if the parent bird/s would feed it once it was 'out of place' but even if they did, unless it could find an excellent hiding place for the night, it would be doomed to be caught and eaten by the first predator that came along as there is no way it could get back to the safety of the nest. Of course, I just scooped Vim up and put him back with Daz.

Sunday 8th Oct - I had bought some Anti-Mite spray - Johnsons - to be exact so I could deal with the lice and 'flies' on the squabs. I did think about bathing them, but I've never bathed squabs before and as the weather had changed to rather chilly I thought I'd better not. I didn't know how long their feathers would take to dry and I can't have them out of the cote for long. As they are now older and can flutter about, I made them a little play pen and put them in that to keep them in one place while I cleaned out the nest box again. It wasn't a perfect clean, but good enough and I sprayed inside with the product and relined with clean newspaper and a handful of clean hay. I played with the babies for a little while - they are quite tame in as much as they don't mind me holding them at the moment - and checked them for parasites. Thankfully I could see none, but I still followed the directions and sprayed them, thinking this might be the only chance I get to relieve them of any infestations before they fledge properly. I don't know where they got the flies from - Omo and Flash don't seem to have them, but maybe they do.

Daz and Vim in the play pen

I thought about spraying Jose too, but I have never seen any parasite on her at all, not even the lice, I decided it wouldn't be kind and was probably unnecessary.

I researched the disgusting flies and found out that they are probably the pigeon louse fly, Hippoboscid - they suck blood from the less feathered parts of the bird - and in nestlings those parts are easy to find! Photos below show the dead example I kept - approx 1 cm long so not small! Truly vile, but at least I know now what I am dealing with!

Pigeon louse fly - Hippoboscid

Flash fed the babies as usual today, but soon he will be encouraging them out. I think they can perfectly well feed themselves already, as I put little seeds onto the sill of the cote and they are always gone! They often come out and teeter precariously on the sill - which is probably why Daz fell off the other day - below is Flash on the hedge possibly trying to make them come out.

But eventually he flew up to feed them - they are young yet! It may well be a few more days before they fledge.

Flash goes in to feed his babies, and below you see one of the interlopers land on top of the cote. Flash will send it packing as soon as he's finished feeding!

To be cont (you may have to scroll down a bit for the comments)

A New Poorly Pigeon

2011-10-01T06:28:00.000-07:00

Sunday 25th Sept '11 - Home from holiday and while my husband was paying the taxi driver I was going through the gate and relieved to see two little heads in the window of the dovecote! Thank goodness nothing happened to my little squabs while I was away - Flash and Omo are good parents, and you can see how big they've grown and how white they've become since the last blog. In this photo they are approx 16/17 days old - one always hatches a day after the other.
The next thing I noticed was a dark pigeon that seemed rather poorly. It was very shy, not letting me get too close, and as the afternoon went on I realised it couldn't fly or had no energy, and I caught it easily, creeping up behind it, and put it in the hospital box with food and water for the night.

Jose was immediately released from the cage attached to the hutch so she had total freedom, and the only sad thing about coming back was there was still no sign of Fairy. I hadn't seen him/her for at least two days before we went on hols, and still she wasn't back in the garden.

I hoped the dark pigeon hadn't got the dreaded paramyxovirus but in the end decided he was probably just old and slow, dubbing him 'The Elderly Gentleman' (I don't know if he is male or female of course). So I ringed him and we call him EG for short.

Mon. 26th Sept - EG's box was set on the ground in the morning and he wandered out and spent the day contently in the garden, just pottering about.

White dove squabs 17/18 days old

You can see from the above how dreadful the mess in the nest is now .... and the smell too! I took one baby out of the cote when Flash and Omo were not around. 'As fat as a woodchuck!' - I read this in a book once and had to look up what a woodchuck is (marmot/groundhog). Anyway, the expression seemed to fit the baby exactly - it felt very fat, round and heavy! I brought it out in a towel lined washing up bowl to have a look at in and was disgusted to find that there seemed to be flies living on it! I could hardly be surprised with the amount of poo now in the nest box! I got rid of the flies of course - I didn't know if they were normal flies, or what? They definitely were not fleas because I'm well acquainted with them! But I had seen fly type things occasionally on some of the white doves as they feed and I observe them closely - and these flies seem to move in and out of their feathers. Jose, I am glad to say is sparkling clean, and I haven't seen anything on Flash and Omo. I put the baby back in the cote, and discussed with my husband later about whether I should clean out the cote. He felt not. as it might upset Flash and Omo if the nest wasn't exactly how they left it and I was inclined to agree... at the time.

Flash and Omo were spending much of the their time in the garden, courting each other (and Flash courting Jose on the sly too!), popping in and out of the different rooms of the cote, and I could tell that they had a new nest on their minds. The photo below shows them in the cote together, Omo almost squashed under Flash! I think I forgot to say in the last blog that I managed to mark Omo, so that I can recognise here when she is not with Flash. Before I went away, I saw a white dove fly up to the nest with a straw in it's beak - and I thought it was rather odd, but Flash allowed it to enter so I knew it must be Omo, so while she was in there, I got the steps and drew a couple of lines of blue pen down her wing!

The next day Tuesday 27th and another beautifully sunny day. I wanted to spend it in the garden but had to go to M&S to collect some shoes I'd ordered. As I left the cottage, I realised my washing load was nearly finished and thought I'd wait and hang it out before I went. While waiting, I thought I'd peep at the babies. The hot day brought the stench from the cote to me as I climbed the steps and on impulse I decided I couldn't stand it any more having my sweet fluffy white babies living in this awful fly-infested unhealthy mess any longer. I brought them out of the cote and put them on the ground in the washing up bowl as before. You can see they still have fluffy yellow down, and bare bits where their feathers haven't fully grown in yet.

One scrambled out of the bowl, and onto the grass, and then under the hedge!

So I quickly scooped them up and put them in the hutch - they looked really small and sweet in there!
Cleaning out an old nest is something I have done before, and not pleasant, but usually I can do it at my leisure. I didnt want to upset Flash and Omo and I didnt know when they'd come back so I knew I'd have to work quickly. I put on a plastic apron (not my cooking one!!) and some disposable gloves and started pulling the whole nest out into an old carrier bag. Truly disgusting, and I couldn't believe how substantial it was! It was originally built in early June with more bits being added since then. I always line the cote sections with newspaper which was a tip someone gave me and it does make cleaning easier. Once the stuff was in the bag, I quickly cleaned up the last bits in the cote and then relined it with newspaper, and some hay, plus some clean bits of twig/leaf etc that I picked up in the yard, similar to the stuff they had built the nest with. Squabs need something to grip on.

The photo shows a sample of the mess - including (see just up from the bottom middle) a m*ggot that must have been about 1.5cm long. I have a great aversion to these things, can hardly say the word! and hate dealing with them. They were lots more, not just one - but tiny little wiggling things - just waiting for one of the babies to get a scratch from a sharp twig to start feeding on them! I wasn't in the least sorry that I'd cleaned it out, and of course it would give the babies more room as they grew. It was exceedingly cramped before with no room to move about hardly!

Then I checked the babies over, and between them they had 6 of these fly things on them - 4 I managed to catch and kill, but 2 got away. I popped them back in the cote, and then started worrying that Flash and Omo would be upset by what I'd done and not feed them. I do know that pigeons and doves go to the place where the babies are, to feed them, and not to the actual babies. So if, for example, I moved the babies to somewhere else in the cote, the doves wouldn't look for them and feed them, and if I put some other squabs in their nest, then they would probably feed those babies! That's what my book says anyway. Then after a quick wash and brush up for me - I went off to M&S to get my shoes!

When I arrived home in the late afternoon I watched the dovecote continually and Flash eventually fed the babies at 4.30pm, thank goodness! I also had a lovely surprise when Fairy arrived back to visit Jose - in the photo below, Fairy is the middle one.

Since then, I've had the babies out of the nest box every day for a short while, and there have been no more flies or visible parasites on them.

The weather has continued unseasonably warm, and Flash and Omo eventually settled on one of the back rooms of the cote for their nest - which has never been chosen by any doves before - maybe it is to do with the current light from the sun, I don't know. I do know it is the most awkward section of the cote for me to get at. Omo stayed last night, and this morning - Sat 1st Oct - there was one egg in the nest. I didn't really want them to have any more babies this season, and today they haven't seem to have fed the squabs as often as usual. On a typical day last week I decided to write down the feeds I saw and the schedule went like this - F=Flash and O=Omo of course): 7.50am F/8.10am O AND F/9.40am F (then 2 feeds while I was out and my husband was sitting in the garden having coffee with his friend)/12.30pm O/1.30pm O/3.55pm O/5.25pm F AND O - both of them definitely (that's 11 feeds at 9 feeding times, that we actually saw).

To be cont.

Omo & Flash are proud to annouce....

2011-09-16T13:23:00.001-07:00

16th Sept.'11 - The picture above was taken in the garden today - one of those lovely warm dreamy Indian Summer afternoons when the doves laze, take baths and peck on the lawn - you can just see Mummy Omo or Daddy Flash in the dovecote window. The egg or eggs hatched a week ago - Friday the 9th and on Tuesday I saw Omo peek her head out, take a good look round, then fly out. Flash didn't replace her so I grabbed the steps and the opportunity to look inside the nest. Two babies! Both covered in yellow down and plumptious! I could see them well, but they were so small this is all the camera could get I'm afraid, and of course I was trying to be quick in case Omo came back!

4 days old

and here is big sibling, Fairy - aged approx 11 weeks

There is an excellent website showing the day to day growth of a baby pigeon here - from day 1 to day 31 I think it is : http://www.speedpigeon.com/ - see the left hand side panel.

And here we have my two squabs at about 5 days old - the eldest is starting to open it's eyes.

I visited Claremont again and this time took my camera. This is Rusty as she was in June when I rescued her - I'm sure you remember the state she was in.

And here she is now, ringed by me, still with her flock - a bit scruffy, but a true survivor!

The flock at Claremont are tamer than my own birds. They'll do anything for a peanut!

Even two at a time - it reminded me of the good old days when you were allowed to feed the pigeons in Trafalgar Square. Do you remember the men selling the little bags of food?

And now here are the babies again - 6 days old (below) Sorry I don't think the flash worked that time on my camera, and I don't like to take too many photos in case it upsets them.

And today Friday 16th Sept '11 is their one week old birthday. They were cuddled down and I didn't get a good photo. The nestbox is beginning to smell a bit, and hopefully this will be the last lot of squabs this year and I can clean it out! It'll be a lot smellier by the time these babies are fledged! I do hope all goes well for them. I'm going away for a few days next week on holiday, so will miss some of their growing up. I pray nothing happens to them while I'm gone.
Their story will continue when I get back.

A rescued racing pigeon and an exciting find!

2011-09-09T12:12:00.000-07:00

9th Sept '11 - The photo above shows cute Pixie, with her feathered feet, that I ringed a while ago - see last blog. She having a little doze on the lawn ...I don't see her now and fear she has died but hopefully just moved on. Other doves I am not currently seeing and wish I was are Peace (came down my chimney on the day my mother died and a very special bird) and Toffee Splodge (Jose's gentle friend from earlier this year). Remember Rusty with the awful bloodied face rescued from Claremont? I saw her this week when I went there to walk round the lake - forgot my camera though. I was very pleased to see her still doing well. The flock there is about 40 strong, and I do worry that come the winter, when people don't visit so much, the doves will go hungry, but I asked at the entrance kiosk and was reassured when the lady told me that the gardeners have a seed store and feed the doves and the birds on the lake morning and evening. Oh yes, said the lady, the flock of doves have been here at Claremont forever, they interbreed with the seagulls you know (ermm, no, I don't think so!, I thought, but I didn't say anything! - maybe she said the wrong word and meant 'pigeons'. Certainly the doves do breed with the pigeons as they are the same species but, having said that, birds, apparently, choose a mate that looks like their parents, and a white dove would, out of preference choose another white dove for it's mate)

While I wait for the eggs to hatch (hopefully this time!) I'll tell you about the beautiful grey ringed racer that I returned to her owner a few weeks ago.

A truly lovely bird, softly grey all over, and ringed, but limping and dragging her wing.

After a few days of throwing her extra peanuts to build up her strength, I managed to trap her in the net when she was eating them with her back to me! And I put her in my hospital box, made nice and comfortable, and placed it on top of Jose's hutch.

Flash checks out the newcomer, while she makes herself at home in the box

I noted down the number on her ring and filled in the online form from The Royal Pigeon Racing Association website - 'report stray' section - http://www.rpra.org/ I've done this before, but that bird was dead. The website informed me that if it was a Friday they would not be contacting the owner until Monday and I might well have to keep the bird til Tuesday. Just my luck I thought to catch a bird on a Friday, but luckily an email pinged into my box giving the owner's full details including telehone number and I was able to ring him straight away. He was a very nice gentleman from Billingshurst, West Sussex (I am in Surrey), grateful for the call and said he would come the next morning for her. I must admit I had wondered if the owner would want to bother to come to collect an injured bird but when he came and told me how much these racing pigeons can cost then I wondered no more! He himself has paid £1,000 for a bird and told me of some (extremely wealthy) man who had paid £45,000 I think it was! Wow!

Calm in her owner's hands - I've got a lovely smiley pic of him, but I didn't mention my blog and it would hardly be fair to put his photo up for everyone to see without permission
The gentleman, having examined his bird (these pigeon fanciers don't name their birds like I do!) felt that she had suffered a hawk strike. He said this damage to her body is consistent with that. I was glad that he said he would very likely be able to help her fully recover - he'd take the weight off her legs by hanging her up in his pigeon loft in a stocking - suspended with her feet sticking out! - and the damaged one set with a little stick. No doubt he would be able to fix her wing too. Out of interest, he told me he had released her - with others - from Petersfield. She must have really lost her way to end up at mine! I also recently found a printed white wing feather - some owners stamp their address on the their birds' feathers, but I've never found one before. That bird came from Saxmundham - approx 80/90 miles away I guess.

And now the exciting news! Today was hatching day - 18 days from when I first noticed Omo and Flash 'swapping' places in the nestbox - and as the last eggs were duds - see previous blog - I was concerned that these eggs wouldnt hatch either. This afternoon when I came home from shopping, I checked under the cote to see if I could spot any 'signs' but nothing there.... no worries, I thought, it might be tomorrow, don't give up hope... and then as I walked up to my door, there on the path was the announcement egg shell!

Can you see the little white blog on the centre line - that's it! I photographed where I found it. Just exactly like when Hope & Glory had Victory & Purity and left an egg shell on the gravel path, Flash or Omo had left their new squab's egg shell for me to find! I am convinced of it! And I am so happy... though it's still early days of course. I will update you soon.

To be cont...

The new eggs - and a new dove

2011-09-06T06:44:00.000-07:00

6th Sept '11

Read on to find out why Fairy is in the guttering!

Fairy, Flash and Omo's squab - see previous blog - grew up quickly. She had a good instinct for keeping safe and in the early days she spent most of her time, when not feeding, inside Jose's hutch.

I thought it was clever of her to put herself there, and in fact the first day when I came home after being out, and found her there I was amazed! Jose was tolerant of her and allowed her to sit on the table with her or go inside, whatever she liked!See, in the photo below of Fairy inside the hutch, how she has changed....grown up in a few days! In the photo above of her in the hutch (the one second photo down from the top) she has the immature beak still.

On the afternoon of the day Fairy first came out of the nest, as time drew on, Flash spent ages flying in and out of a section of the cote, plainly trying to show his baby 'spend the night here!' but Fairy didnt understand and eventually about 8.20 pm (very late for him!) Flash left the garden and flew away to wherever he roosts at night. Fairy stayed on the roof and eventually settled, sitting in the gutter (see top photo) for the night. Luckily it was mild, but I hated it and was up very early in the morning and thankful to see her ok.

By the next night Fairy had cracked it and spent the night in the cote. It felt very cosy and Happy Families to me - Mum, Omo, in the the nest with her two eggs, big baby Fairy also in the cote and Jose in her hutch. I hadn't had so many doves for the night for ages.

On the 8th Aug when Fairy was 37-39 days old, she flew off with Flash in the evening and didnt spend the night in the cote. I was sorry about that but she was always a forward dove.... I was even sorrier in the morning when she wasn't there with Flash and the others for the morning feed and I hoped nothing had happened to her. I didn't see her again for two days and had almost given up hope, but she found her way back and since then I see her regularly. She's one of my special darlings and always gets peanuts thrown to her!

On Sunday 14th Aug both Flash and Omo were off the nest and I got the steps and checked it. Two eggs, and one warmer than the other.

The doves spent the day 'fussing' - other doves were around the cote and Flash didnt see them off as usual. The atmosphere was wrong and the next day they abandoned the nest in the morning. About 2.30pm Omo went back to it and spent a whole minute checking it out, but left again. I was upset of course, and wondered what was the reason? Had the buzzards mewing cries upset them? Was it the weather... or what?

The eggs had been due to hatch, why would they leave them at this stage? That evening Flash and Omo came back, left again, came back again several times over a period of an hour and a half but eventually flew away for the night. I removed the cold eggs when it was completely dark but didnt crack them then as I knew I'd be upset if there were squabs inside.
The next morning I opened them - nothing! Duds! Just like the one that had been with Fairy.

Flash and Omo visited Jose and spent a day or so back to normal, and started mating again!

By the 18th August Flash was bringing sticks to the nest again (same nest) and by the afternoon of the 20th Omo seemed settled in it once more. Two days later, 22nd Aug, I saw Omo and Flash swap places, so there must be an egg!!

While all this was going on a new dove came into my life. I first noticed her on the ground alone when the other doves had left for the night and managed to catch her in the net. It's almost impossible to catch a dove that's not poorly so I assumed she was, but could see no obvious reason, so I ringed her and named her Pixie, and put her in the hospital box for the night. In the morning I set her free and saw her frequently over the next couple of weeks.

She had cute feathered feet and a funny little personality of her own.

My husband wondered if she had come from another cote as she was quite tame, joining the peanut eaters in the morning to eat off my hands. She acted differently to the other doves, clambering on my fingers and ducking under my elbows to get the nuts. One day she wasn't there, and as it was a Sunday I went round to the back of the buildings near us that are used as offices. Pixie was on the ground and I was afraid she couldn't fly so I took round some food and water. I think she liked being waited on hand and foot, but since then unfortunately I havent seen her.

It is nearly time for the new eggs to hatch - 18 days is the norm - but I am trying not to get my hopes up, but of course I AM getting my hopes up..... today is Tue 6th Sept so I calculate Thurs or Fri should be hatching day - fingers crossed! Today is rainy and blustery and the doves were acting a bit funny again. They do not like wind! They both left the nest for about 5 minutes and that seemed too long to me but have settled down now. I do hope all with be well this time. My husband is pessimistic - he says that of the four earlier eggs, only one hatched and 1 out of 4 is not a good percentage and maybe Flash is firing blanks. Well, I said, what about Fairy? Maybe Omo mated with another dove as well as Flash that time he said. There is nothing I can do but wait and see...

The last two photos are the doves enjoying a puddle! Fairy is at the front of the first picture. She's beautiful, isn't she? The end... to be cont.

The Baby Grows Up

2011-08-03T06:06:00.000-07:00

July 2011

Read on to find out what happened here!

July 2011

Before I carry on with the new baby dove's story, I just want to say that I caught and ringed one of the 'peanut eaters' and named him Shanti (peace) just for you, my friend Linda! (and in memory of your lovely dog of that name)

The singleton baby dove was getting big, visible and vocal! Omo and Flash weren't staying the night with him, and I was blocking the dove cote entrace at night with a ball of crumpled wire to keep out predators and getting up early in the morning to take it away when the doves arrived back in the garden.

Omo with her baby

On Sunday 17th all through the morning and early afternoon Flash started bringing more sticks to the nestbox.

Even though it was full up!

Omo and baby inside

But Omo, as a dutiful wife, still tried to drag them in!

The next day Flash changed tactics and spent much of the day bringing sticks and busily making a nest in another section of the dovecote. He carried on doing this all week - on and off - stopping if the weather was gloomy. But Omo had other plans and by Friday 22nd she had spent most of the day in the cote with her big baby and I wondered if she was laying again.

She stayed in the cote that night - the first time for a week - and that was great for me as I felt she would protect the baby and I didnt have to block him in for safety or get up early.

The next day, Sat 23rd, in the afternoon, Omo came off the nest and Flash was not about either, so I rushed to get the steps and got the baby carefully out of the nest to take his 3 weeks old photo!

So big and beautiful - approx 21-23 days old

Alert and very interested in life outside the dovecote!

I didn't dare keep him out for long and when I popped him back, I noticed one egg in the nest - toasty warm!

From then on there was no chance to look at the baby or get him out. Flash and Omo took turns sitting, and though on Monday Omo did come out briefly, leaving the nest unattended, she just greeted Flash on the roof and went back to the nest within a minute. Big baby was there to keep his little siblings in eggs warm anyway!

Tuesday 26th - At lunchtime Flash was on duty but he did fly out at one point for three minutes maximum. He first flew to the roof, then to Jose's table where he greeted her, then ate some of her food and drank from her bowl, and then back to the roof for a quick flirt with a likely young female!While he was playing jack the lad, I went to have a peek - two eggs definitely! I've never experienced this before - the parent birds laying new eggs before their baby is fledged. But I've never had only one baby before either.

In the next few days the baby spent more time at the entrance window of the cote, even wobbling about on the small ledge before ducking back in to mum or dad again. I worried about the eggs getting trampled! Then early on Sat 30th on his 4 week old 'birthday', my husband came in to say that the baby was out of the cote and on the hedge below. I rushed out straight away and took my camera but before I could turn it on the baby flapped its wings and attempted its maiden flight to the roof, where Daddy Flash was waiting. It ran out of oomph just below the gutter and landed in the climbing rose! (see photo at top of blog). I took the photo and then got the steps out to rescue it, getting scratched in the process. I wonder how many birds get into difficulties on the first day of fledging and don't make it. So sad after all that feeding and care from the parents. My book says mortality for post-fledging pigeons in the first year is between 43 and 56 per cent.

Having caught the baby who could already fly so well I realised I might not get another chance to ring her, so I took her in to my husband for some help, even though he moaned grumpily that he didn't like doing things like that before breakfast! The rings are awkward but durable. Ringing time is naming time, and so my big beautiful baby is FAIRY! Dad is Flash, Mum is Omo and I'm sure housewives over a certain age will see the connection!

Fairy with her new rings

I'd already planned to spend most of the day out so I was glad the baby could fly so well, but still a bit apprehensive about leaving her (or him) all day. When I got back in the mid afternoon, Fairy was in Jose's hutch - the perfect place! She'd obviously chosen this safe haven and was sitting on Jose's branch very contentedly in the main section of the hutch.

Later on, when Flash was off nest duty, Fairy joined her daddy on the top of the dovecote and roof.

My daddy loves me!

Even though I am nearly as big as he is!

Flash preens Fairy

A 28-30 day old squab still gets fed

Below, Fairy goes down on the ground for the first time and seems bemused
She watches another dove pecking at the food....

And thinks she'll have a try herself...

To be cont asap....

Omo's Egg

2011-07-18T11:56:00.001-07:00

Doves and pigeons outside the cottage door

June/July 2011 - On the 27th June, Rusty, the rescued dove with the injured face in my last blog, wasn't there for the morning feed, and it was exactly two weeks since I had brought her home. My husband suggested she had flown back to Claremont, and I hoped it was so.

In the spell of hot weather we had a while back in May I had been giving Jose a bath once a week. The other doves enjoy bathing in the washing up bowl in the garden and I felt she ought to have one too, for general feather maintenance, including getting rid of parasites, though I don't think she's got any. She didn't object too much to a quick dunk and since I have put another bowl out with lower sides she has given herself a bath - only once but it's a start!

Me bathing Jose

A quick wrap in the towel

All fluffy and drying out on her brick

On Tuesday 5th July '11, nine days after I last saw Rusty, I went to Claremont and was delighted to find her there with her flock. It still amazes me how pigeons find their way back to somewhere, though Claremont is at most only five miles from here. I recognised her by the red ring I'd put on her of course, but also by her face and body still not being quite right, but so much better!

Below is Rusty the day after I brought her home

And then 23 days later, back at Claremont and being chased by an interested male
Back to Omo and Flash - Well, on the 23rd June I noticed an egg rolled to the entrance of the dovecote and my heart sank a little, but Omo was still sitting and although there were flies around I didn't want to disturb her. The next day, the Frday, the egg was still there and in the late afternoon I set the stepladder up at the side of the cote out of Omo's vision and put my hand up quickly to remove the egg. It was cold of course.
Out of interest I weighed it - approx 20 oz or 0.7g. My book says a Western European pigeon egg weighs approx 17g at laying so this was extremely underweight. Then I opened it - it contained yellow milky fluid with an unpleasant but not foul smell. Obviously Omo knew it was a dud.
After this the doves lives continued as usual, with Flash mating with Jose whenever he got the chance. I wondered when the solitary egg was due to hatch. Last time I had doves in the cote I discovered both egg shells in the garden - one had even been left on the path for me to fnd as a sort of 'birth announcement'! But this time I found no evidence of hatching at all.

Wednesday 6th July, Omo came off the nest at the morning feed but I saw her go back to it straight away, and on Saturday 9th in the late afternoon I suddenly realised there were absolutely no doves around at all in the garden, so rushed for my steps to look inside the cote, and got my first peek and pic of the new baby!

Squab about 7-9 days old

Although I was pretty sure there was a baby inside, it was still such a lovely sight and almost a surprise to see it, and so big! From the photo I'd judge this baby dove to be about 7-9 days old. Squabs don't fully open their eyes until they are 7 days old. Also it was 30 nights since Omo first stayed the night in the cote.

The following Saturday, 16th July, was the first night Omo didn't stay the night after hatching the squab, making the baby approx 14-16 days old

Approx 2 week old squab - see how much he's
feathered up in a week!

Of course, me being me, I started to worry about the lonely squab left on it's own all night. When Hope left Victory and Purity, I took them out of the cote and brought them into the kitchen at night, but part of the reason for that was because it was March and so cold. The other reason was predators, especially in the early morning before Hope got back, and that still concerns me. I don't understand why Flash and Omo can't spend the night in another part of the cote - there are 5 other empty 'rooms'! As I write, it's only been two nights so far, and at dark I have blocked the entrance where the baby is with a piece of crumpled chicken wire, and got up early to remove it before the doves come back to the garden. The first time I did this I had no idea what time that would be, so got up at 4am! The first birds I saw in the garden were robins at 4.45am, then a jackdaw five minutes later. Woodpigeons were flying over at five to five, and by five past there was a jay, woodpigeons and a thrush in the garden. It's the jay that I think just might enter the cote and attack the baby - remember, I'm pretty sure it killed the baby starling. Flash and Omo with a few other white doves and one grey pigeon turned up at 5.15am. Once I knew Flash and Omo were there I was relieved but didn't go back to bed as it was quite interesting watching the birds in the early morning. I put some food down - I don't normally go out to feed the doves until 6.45 - 7.15am - and Flash and Omo came down to eat, but Flash didn't feed the baby until 6.35am.

To be cont

Before you go - see an endearing video of Jane Grey's rescue pigeon LARRY - find Larry Loves a Tweak! on Youtube or, easier still, just click on Jane's photo in my followers list, and click on her Hope in Paris video link, which will take you to Youtube and all her videos.

Another Rescue + continuing Hugo's story

2011-06-29T06:19:00.000-07:00

Sat 11 June 2011

Flash was definitely on the nest today, and so I assume there must be eggs, which is great news!

I ringed another white dove today - pink ring - and called him Ice. It's fairly easy to catch the doves at the moment, and Ice is one of the morning peanut eaters. I caught him by putting a few peanuts on the doorstep, some just inside the door and some in the kitchen. He just walked straight in, I shut the door quickly and caught him. He is none the worse and still comes each morning to eat peanuts from my hand (since then I've caught and ringed another - Bianco - green ring)

At night now Jose goes in the hutch and seems to have accepted the situation and doesnt look longingly at the cote, and Omo is on the nest. Females always do the long night shift! Flash doesnt stay the night, which is strange considering there is plenty of space in other compartments of the cote.

Tuesday 14th June - Hugo the jackdaw has been with us for one week today! See photo at the top of the blog. We celebrated by giving him a shiny yellow ring.

He has definitely got bigger in the last week and so I took the box out of his garden cage to give him more room and made him a perch by poking my mother's old cobweb duster stick through his cage (that would've made her chuckle!)

It was a lovely warm day and Flash had a bath while his wife, Omo, was sitting on their eggs. His mistress, Jose, sat on the bath rim and watched him! Flash definitely considers Jose his property. Naughty Chocolate Brownie was courting her again, and Flash saw him off in no uncertain terms! When he's in the garden he spends most of his time with her, and saves her from hassle, but the chancers are always there when he has to go back to nest duty.

Flash on left, Jose on the right

I mostly go to Claremont National Trust garden on Tuesdays to see the flock of doves there and walk round the lake. I take up a bucket of grain and peanuts for them. You can see from the photo that the doves have a lot of competition for the food!
I saw one particular dove first at the lakeside where a mother and small child were feeding the ducks with bread, and this one was at their feet trying to get any falling crubs. It was the only dove there, and I thought then that it had a brown face, almost rusty looking. I threw it a few grains and then walked round to where the main flock normally comes down to feed. The doves quickly surround me and then I noticed the brown face dove again. It was reacting much more slowly than the other doves and I realised it must have had a horrific injury to its face as the brown was actually blood! Up close, I could see one of its eyes was closed too and it was in a dreadful state. I easily picked it up, it felt quite cold in my hands, and I put it in my flat-bottomed hessian bag and left the garden immediately to drive straight home. The dove stayed quietly in the bottom of the bag. Once at home I wrapped it in a towel so I could examine its face. Not a pretty sight.

Maybe she flew slap bang into something? I do know from my St John Ambulance days that a small amount of blood smeared around can look pretty worrying but is in fact only from a small injury, and where there's life there's hope!
I bathed the dove's closed eye and offered it a drink by gently dipping its beak into a deep pot of water. After a few tries, it ook a sip or two, and I thought, good! Like Jose (also rescued from Claremont) it was choosing to live! I ringed it with a red ring, and called her Rusty.

There wasnt much more I could so I shut poor damaged Rusty in the hospital box with food and water, and every hour or so through the day I took her carefully out and tried to get her to drink. She stayed in the box, shut up in the conservatory, next to Hugo that night - the dark sheet draped over both their boxes.

The next morning Rusty was stil alove. I truly hadn't thought she would make it, she looked so bad, and had felt cold to the touch, but she was alive and her closed eye was now open. I let her out of the box and onto the garden table where she helped herself to drinks and I offered her peanuts and grains. She seemed to be able to pick up the peanuts more easily than the small grains and whole peanuts seemed easier than ones I had broken for her, but she also seemed to 'bring back' some of them. I wasn't at all sure how much she was eating and wondered if her throat was damaged but I knew she had more of a chance now with me giving her as much as she wanted, than she would have had at Claremont where all the birds fight for the food. Rusty seemed much happier out of the box, so I put her on top of Jose's hutch with food and water where I felt she would be partly hidden by the tree, but would still be free.

She stayed there for a very long time but when something happened to make the doves take flight from the lawn, she flew up to the top of the dovecote and from there to the roof, where she stayed all day.

Rusty on top of the cote - you can just see Flash or Omo inside

I hoped to be able to put her safely in the box for the night again and luckily my little plan in the early evening of throwing peanuts worked; several doves flew down, including Rusty, and I was able to catch her again. She stayed inthe box in the conservatory but I let Hugo be free for the first time and he roosted up on the metal support rail.

I ordered some live meal worms and they arrived this morning. Not my favourite sort of thing, but I wanted to get Hugo used to seeing and eating live food. They came from http://www.livefoodonline.com/ and I was very happy with them - they were delivered super-fast, alive, plump and juicy-looking! but no care instructions so I just left them in the sack things they came in - in the shed kitchen. Hugo seemed to like them and the robin was also very pleased with me for the treat! (p.s. 2 weeks later many of those that are left are still alive - they had newspaper and some sort of 'feed' possibly with them, a bran like substance?)

Thursday 16th June - I caught Hugo with great difficulty this morning - remember he was free in the conservatory - and put him in the garden cage. My husband thinks he is big enough to be set free, and I am inclined to agree. It was never my intention to keep him for ever, that would be cruel, but I wanted to make sure he could fly well and hopefully fend for himself and find food before I let him go. I think he was too old when I got him to attach himself (imprint) to me and probably that is just as well.

Rusty seemed a lot better today. Her body was warmer and she seemed to 'cough back' fewer peanuts. Maybe her beak or throat has improved but anyway they are staying down and she can peck more easily. She stayed on the roof again all day, coming down about twice with the main flock for food. Funnily enough she seemed to remember her water pot was on the garden table so she came to drink from that, inside of drinking from the doves bath or the low dish on the lawn. I couldnt catch her for the night, and she flew off with the others before 7pm. A bit later it occured to me that maybe she hadnt flown off but was spending the night on the other side of the roof, or part of the building beyond. These old buildings are used as office so when I was sure all the office people had left I wandered round into their car park and saw a small group of five white doves had settled there, and Rusty was one of them - her face still so streaked with blood that it was possible to pick her out even from the ground. Maybe those other doves always spent the night there, I must admit it must be months or years since I had even thought of going to have a look! Luckily they had accpeted Rusty stayed the night with them too and I was pleased she wasn't all huddled up on a cold windowsill all by herself! I wondered if Flash was in the group too, but I couldnt see his tail or blue ring.

Friday 17th - Hugo had been loose in the conservatory for the night, with a dish of meal worms and water on the table and on the floor. In the morning I peeped in and saw him eating on the table so I was glad he'd had some breakfast as I felt today would probably be bye-bye day! The weather forecast wasnt good and I would've preferred to have kept him for another few days, but I couldn't catch him in the conservatory and it can keep extremely hot in there, so I opened the doors and fixed them wide open, waiting to see what he would do. Precisely nothing! He sat on the rail and just observed, but after a while he could hear the other jackdaws 'Cak!' and a knowing look came into his blue eyes. I got tired of watching him and went to do other things but popping back occasionally to see if he was still there. Half an hour after I'd opened the doors he had gone, and I didn't see him go. I felt a small sense of loos, but glad I'd helped him to survive. I haven't seen him since.

The end.

Wonderful News - Part I

2011-06-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

From the ground, Jose watches the NEW doves in her cote

June 2011

On Saturday 4th June, completely out of the blue, several doves become interested in the dovecote. One was the white male with the black streak in his tail - Flash, I call him, and he's one of the doves that has mated with Jose, although she did seem to prefer another totally white male. Also keen to view were a pair of doves, one white and one more of a pigeon being brown and white (and ringed I think, but not by me). For several hours they fluttered round the cote, popping in and out of all the little compartments, and back and forth to the nearby roof.

Soon it became obvious that Flash and his new white mate were not going to let the brown and white pair get a look in. They wanted the cote and they were going to have it! Of course I wondered what would happen at bedtime when I put Jose to bed in the cote. Depending on how light the evening is, I put Jose to bed about 7-8pm - if this is the first blog you have read, I'll just tell you that Jose can't fly and that's why she can't put herself to bed! (see previous blogs).

Checking out the cote

Portrait of Flash and his new love

But at bedtime Flash and his mate were tucked up together in the top side compartment facing the hutch, so I popped Jose into her normal place, and waited to see what would happen.

Flash and mate came out of their place, where they had seemed very cosy, and flew off, but within a short time they were back and one flew into Jose's bit. I observed from the path - the bird had Jose by the back of the neck and was aggressively pecking her, so I ran up my step ladder and dragged it out. It was the male, Flash, and he was strong and feisty. My husband ringed him for me with a blue ring. I like the ring the doves for easy identification, although it would've been handier if we had caught the female, as Flash is already distinctive with his black streaked tail. I let him go straight after ringing and he flew away, so I put Jose back in the dovecote. This time the female chucked her out, though less aggressively, so I gave in and put Jose in the hutch for the night. Having made the cote their own, the new pair didnt stay the night! Poor Jose! I have a list of names I like for doves but the next set of names I wanted to use were gentle ones and didn't fit the fighter Flash and his lady, so as he was Flash already in my mind, I decided not to change his name and settled for Omo for his mate!

Sunday 5th June - Flash and Omo were around the garden again this morning, Flash busily collecting sticks. They couldn't seem to decide which compartment of the cote to use, but in the end Flash decided on the one that all the doves I've ever had have preferred for their nest box - luckily this is the one facing the house, so as I sit in my chair, say typing this blog on the laptop, I can just glance out of the window and see what's going on. Both Flash and Omo seemed ok with Jose, even spending time with her on her table, and Flash mating with her when Omo's back was turned.

Flash stands on Jose's brick and presides over his girls!
Omo, Jose preening, and Flash

Again, the new doves didn't spend the night, so after they left I put Jose to bed in the dovecote as before - the trouble is I know intuitively that that is where she wants to be at bedtime, she looks up at the cote so pitifully! My husband says I can't possible know what she wants, but he is more of a machine man than a bird lover. I knew Flash and Omo would be back in the morning of course, and I didn't want Jose to be hurt or killed by them so I got up about 4.30am and moved her to the hutch.

Jose grabs a peanut in a funny way!

The end - Part II of this blog is below, PLUS the story of a rescue!

Wonderful News + A Rescue - Part II

2011-06-17T08:04:00.000-07:00

Monday 6th June 2011 - Again Flash and Omo were in and out of the cote all morning. Flash bringing so many bits of twig and leaf that the cote appeared full up, and bits of stuff were poking out. Later in the afternoon Omo didnt seem to be around and I saw Flash mate with Jose on three different occasions - and I promise you I am not watching them all the time!

By 7.20pm the others had gone again and I put Jose in the cote. I can usually tell if the doves are leaving for the night rather than just going off for a fly round, and of course it depends on the light and weather conditions as to the time they leave my garden.

Tuesday 7th June - I took Jose out of the cote at 4.45am, put her safe in the hutch and went back to bed myself. By 7am when I was up again Flash and Omo were at the cote. Again they were in and out all day and more nesting material was brought.

Flash and Omo kissing

Flash makes his intentions clear!

Flash prepares to mount Omo

Mating only last a few seconds

And then it's over!

Still Tue 7th - My husband has a workshop on the farm. About 9am he rang me and asked 'Do you want to look after a baby crow?'... 'Oh yes!' I said. 'You'll have to wash it' he replied 'It's fallen into oil - I'll bring it round'. I was still in my dressing gown but no time to get dressed, and I rushed to get a plastic pinny n and find a washing up bowl and some old towels. Hubby turned up with the bedraggled little scrap wrapped in a grimy workshop towel. 'It's a jackdaw, not a crow' he said. He handed me the wrapped bird, suggesting that I apply the washing up liquid straight to its feathers, rather than dilute it in water. I did this as best as I could, rinsing it in the bowl of water (blood temperature - well my blood temperature, I hoped it was ok for the bird). It took about six washes and rinses before I felt the oil was off and the water ran reasonably clean. The bird struggled a little but I didnt have time to worry about it, I just got on the with job, trying to be as delicate and careful as possible. For some reason it reminded me of washing lace! Then I grabbed the camera and took a couple of quick shots for my blog.

My husband had suggested that I put the jackdaw to dry in the sun - in the dog box. Although it was early in the day it was very warm, but the bird was shivering uncontrollably and after a few seconds, I scooped it back into the towel again and tucked it under my arm while I collected my hairdrayer and put the 'snugglesafe' microwave hot pad into the microwave to heat up. I felt it was very important that I warm it up as quickly as possible if it was going to survive. I took him into the conservatory which was very warm and gently dried him a little with the hairdryer on the lowest setting. Then I put the snugglesafe in the dog box, wrapped in a towel of course, and put the baby on top of it. Whew! I was now able to take a good look at him and was quite pleased that he looked fairly ok.
I didnt want to be too hopeful in case he didnt pull through so I thought I'd done my best for him and now I'd leave him a while - with food and water in the box of course. I was back within the hour and went straight to see how my baby was, and he was still alive thank goodness and looking quite perky so I decided to name him. Meet Hugo! You'll want to know what actually to him. He was found by a motor mechanic when opening up his workshop, in part of an old barn, after being away on holiday for more than a week. Hugo was on the floor and had obviously fallen into, but scrambled out of, a pan of oil. How long he had been there is anyone's guess but it probably wasn't more than a day or so or he would not have survived. The mechanic knew there had been a jackdaw's nest in the other half of the barn as he'd seen the parent go in and out, but now the nest was deserted and the other babies had obviously fledged and gone.

Next thing of course was to get Hugo to eat - he certainly wasnt going to make it if he didnt eat and of course I had no idea when he last ate or indeed what would be best to offer him. I have mealworms so I soaked some, and I also got some worms out of my wormery and chopped them up. Doing this was unpleasant but I figured no worse than birds would do themselves with their beaks. I tried offering him the bits of worm and mealworms on long tweezers held out to his beak, but he just wouldnt open it. I even looked up people feeding baby jackdaws on Youtube and put his box near the laptop so he could hear the other babies squeaking for food in the hope that it would stimulate him! I started trying to feed him about 11am - on and off, mosting on! - and eventually at 1.10pm he opened his beak and ate the tiniest morsel of chopped worm! Hurray!

Then he ate NOTHING again and I was getting desperate. Some of the advice on the internet suggested puppy food, either wet or soaked dried pellets, so I zoomed down to the petshop and bought a small selection to try. At ten to three Hugo suddenly got the hang of it and started to eating soaked mealworms and the occasional bit of soaked dried puppy food. I fed him half hourly until about 9pm ish, and I'll be honest with you it was a labour of love. Sometimes he wouldn't open his beak, sometimes he dropped the mealworm, or I dropped it off the tweezers, or it broke before it got into his mouth. I had no idea how much he should eat, but each feeding session fed him til he seemed to lose interest, then waited another half hour before offering the food again. At about 9pm it was getting dark and baby birds are not fed at night of course, so I covered the box, still in the conservatory with a dark sheet, and hope he would survive the night.

Back to the dove - Flash and Omo didnt stay the night, so I put Jose to bed in the dovecote again.

Wed 8th June - Again I got up at 4.30 am and moved Jose to the hutch. I often wake up around this time anyway so it wasnt a big effort, and I can easily go back to sleep again afterwards. At 6am I removed the sheet from Hugo's box and fed him soaked mealworms again, which he ate quite well but slowly. His box was on the conservatory table and I sat on a chair, sipping my tea and poking mealworms through the grille with the tweezers. Sounds crazy but he preferred the straightest ones. Imagine me bending over an icecream tub of soaked mealworms trying to pick out the straight ones at 6am! By mid morning Hugo had started to peck at the mealworms that had fallen off the tweezers and started to feed himself! Big relief for me at it is extremely time consuming feeding a baby bird!

I arranged a cage in the garden for Hugo withthe small hospital box for him to stand on or go inside. I draped the end with a towel and plastic to give him shade and shelter and he seemed fairly content.

Again Flash and Omo spent a busy day arranging their nest, but didnt stay the night. Flash was also busy behind Omo's back, mating with Jose, and then later with Omo!

That evening I let Hugo be free in the conservatory and he seemed to like it. He was not brilliant at flying, more fluttering than flying, but he flew from my hand to my head!

I put Jose to bed in the dovecote again.

Thursday 9th June - I was up at 5am, half an hour later than yesterday and Flash and Omo had already arrived and kicked Jose out onto the hedge below the cote! I rescued her and put her in the hutch til I got up properly. Flash and Omo repeated yesterday, including Flash mating with Jose while Omo sat inside the cot. Chocolate Brownie also mated with Jose today - all these carryings on! I think CB and Dalmation Dove have eggs again as I'm only seeing one or other at present. Yet again Flash and Omo didnt stay the night so I tried something different. I put Jose to bed in a different section of the cote, not her old place where F and O had built their nest but the top side one facing the hutch.

Friday 10th June - I got up at 4.30am and meant to wait and watch to see what Flash and Omo would do when they arrived - see whether they noticed Jose was in the cote, but I was too tired and just put her straight in the hutch and went back to bed.

Today I saw Hugo drink for the first time - he probably has drunk before but secretly! In the evening I brought him into the conservatory for flying practice between 6-8pm so he could built up confidence and get the feel of his wings.

At 7.30pm Omo was on the nest and Flash was on the roof. I surreptiously moved the step-ladder and put Jose to bed in the side section the same as last night. Within one minute Omo had flown out of her part and onto the roof to 'tell' Flash. Fifteen minutes later she went back in and ten minutes after that Flash entered Jose's bit, chucked her out and was nastily pecking her on the hedge. It seems she is fine for a plaything when Omo is not around, but he isn't going to allow her to live in his house! From the hedge Jose fell on the yard side, not the garden side, and she immediately ran under my car. Brilliant! It was raining and I had to force her out from under the car and catch her with the net, so I could put her safely in the hutch. This time Omo DID spend the night in the cote but I didn't think Flash stayed with her. And that's my wonderful news - breeding doves in my cote! It's been more than TWO years since Hope and Glory hatched Victory and Purity in March 2009 (see previous blogs for their story) and I am full of expectation again.
The end.

Interlopers and Sad Moments

2011-06-10T13:28:00.000-07:00

May 2011

First interloper was the sparrowhawk and this happened a while ago but I forgot to mention it in the previous blog.I couldn't believe it but it actually flew into our bedroom! We call our home the cottage; it's a bungalo, and our bedroom window faces the river. I was in the garden early one morning, and the bedroom sash was pushed up high to air the room. I saw it land on the outside window sill, hesitate a second and fly into the room. I wouldn't have thought that was usual hawlike behaviour. I tried to call my husband but the name wouldn't come out because I was slightly flabbergasted and maybe a bit scared, but then I rushed inside and to the bedroom but it had already flown out again - luckily!

Another bird in the house was one of our coal tits. They have successfully reared a lovely brood of extremely noisy fat chicks and we're very fond of them. The babies sit and 'shimmer' flapping their wings and calling to be fed while the worn out little parents try to keep them all satisfied. This particular one flew in through the open kitchen door and into the living room where it flew madly round and round, occasionally banging into the windows and evading our attempts to catch it. Normally if the little birds fly in, which they do fairly frequently, they are easily caught up against the window. This one seemed panicked, landing on top of the bookcase and suddenly disappeared. We have bookcases on two walls that meet in the middle with a gap in between. They are screwed to the walls so we had to move many of the books - a chance to dust!! - and unscrew the bookcases to free the bird. My husband had been complaining he was bored and not much was happening - well all that unscrewing, moving of books and putting it all back together took about an hour and gave him something to do alright! I was glad the little thing hadn't damaged itself though.

Other interlopers include the cheeky jackdaws that check out the dovecote, and squirrels that sit on Jose's table and eat her food or even enter the hutch! We have a squirrel problem as you can see from the photo!

Interlopers who were very welcome, and in fact guests! were the robin and the starling who on one particular day both kept popping back to the house for mealworms - presumably feeding babies. They took turns to come in and collect the mealworms from a little dish on my kitchen door mat.In May there was a day or so of high winds. I know the North and Scotland suffered badly, but here in Surrey I didnt think it was too bad, but after the gale several doves arrived in the garden with injuries. All were totally white doves so it was difficult to sort out who was who, but at least three were limping with foot injuries and one had a wound on its chest. Unfortunately there was very little I could do for these birds as, if they can fly, they are certainly not going to let me catch them and the only thing I can do is throw the poorly ones peanuts so they get a more nutritious meal. And that's not easy to do as every single dove and pigeon adores peanuts and runs for them! Difficult to run if you're limping! I usually keep the peanuts for treats for my special doves like Chocolate Brownie, Peace, Jose and a few others, but every morning, first thing after putting out the grain, I do set on the step with two handfuls of peanuts and the boldest doves come to get them. There are about six of them with a few 'hoverers' who hope that a peanut or two will roll away for them to steal without having to be brave enough to actually eat from my hand!

One of the limpers has now recovered and I know this is so because I recognise it's feet; another is still on one leg only the other drawn up to its body and may be crippled for life. The one with the wound on its chest has a sad story. It had been on the lawn, sitting in the sun near Jose who was off her table and basking in the warmth up against the raised vegetable bed, and I tried to catch it but it still had the strength then to fly away. By early evening I realised it was on Jose's table with Jose. I had assumed it was Toffee Splodge - Jose's 'friend' - and hadnt taken much notice (more about TS later). I watch the doves frequently and so see much of their behaviour but I hadn't seen what happened next before, and don't wish to. It was obvious the wounded dove was very poorly and while I was observing and wondering if I could again try to catch it, a dove flew down onto the table and mated it forcibly. There was no attempt at preliminary courting behaviour - it was what I can only call rape, and unpleasant to watch even in birds. I straight away approached the table and shooed the male way, and Jose and the ill one both entered the hutch through the little entrance. I immeditaly put my hand over it so neither could escape, then slotted the door into place. I removed Jose from the hutch leaving her outside on the table and put food and water inside for the other one. My plan was to give her peace and quiet for the night and see what could be done in the morning. An hour later when I peeked in the poor little thing was in an un-natural position and I knew she was dead. At least I was grateful I had been able to let her spend her last hour on earth in peaceful, dim, cool, quiet surroundings and more importantly unmolested.

Wounded female, and below with Jose (also female)

Below, one of the limpers

I removed the body from the hutch straight away, laying her on the garden table so I could see how bad her wound had been. It was much worse than could be seen through her feathers, quite a large deep hole and infested with m*ggots. I have a slight phobia about these and hate to see or hear the word! I don't want anything to do with them - even writing this makes me a little sick, but it's part of the 'job' sometimes when dealing with birds. The poor little angel had been being eaten alive! It was quite revolting and I actually got the hose and swished the ones I could see out. If you think I am crazy, you may well be right! I picked a few flowers to cover her wound, and gave her a river funeral - back to nature, beautiful bird.

Yet another casualy of heavy rain (possibly) was the hatchling robin - just emerging from the egg - or maybe the egg was broken before the baby could hatch. Found under the hedge as you see in the photo. Another sad story was the little fledgling starling I found in the garden. I knew two starlings had nested in the building next door - they do every year. Other than that we just don't see any starlings in the garden. I even found both the discarded egg shells and brought them in for my kitchen window sill. I like having little egg shells on my sill, reminding me of new life. The first time I saw the fledgling it was bumbling about on the lawn and I didn't recognise it as a starling but thought 'you're too young to be out alone!' It found the edge of the garden and scrambled its way round the fence and walls, and I followed it watching. There seemed no sign of the parent so I made a playpen in the herb bed and hope its calls would attract the parent. I also tried to feed it with soaked and unsoaked meal worms held to its beak with long tweezers, and it was quite receptive to this, and started eating, much to my relief.

'Toddler' starling as I first saw him

He jumps up to the shed and rests there a minute - so cute and feisty!
By evening I had identified him as a starling - obvious really! - and decided to bring him in for the night as there were no sign of the parents. I made up my dog's old carrying box that I use as a dove hospital, with a hay nest at the end. In the morning it was still alive and sensibly settled in its nest. It was me that wasn't the sensible one and I feel I let the baby thing down very badly. I found it only two days before I was going on holiday - my husband was also away and there was no-one I felt I could ask to look after it. The next day I was still hopeful the parent would come and did in fact see a starling in the tall tree overlooking the garden. I dithered about, worrying about in constantly, and chopping and changing my mind as to its care. Sometimes I left it in the play pen and sometimes just in the herb bed, as I though the pen might put the parents off. Eventually I decided I would take it to the local wildlife aid to be looked after there, and stupidly before going, I popped to the village for ten minutes, leaving it unattended and not in the pen. When I came back, my baby was dead - it had suffered what looked like an aggressive peck to the head. I was devastated and cursed myself for being so stupid, ignorant and careless. I knew it was too young to be left alone, yet still I took the chance. I don't know why but I always get in a state before I go on holiday, maybe that was the reason. The first two nights away I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about it and grieving for it. It was adorable as you can see from the photo. I am pretty sure that the jaw was the culprit as it returned to the same sport. I determined that if ever the Universe sent me another baby bird to look after, I would take no chances! Little did I think that I would be given the challenge again so soon - see my next blog!
A baby with a happier ending was the little fledgling thrush I saw in the yard outside my neighbour's house. I was driving, but as a few more hopes would've taken int into the path of any other car coming through, I found it impossible to just drive on! I stopped the car and was looking at it when my neighbour came it and we discussed what to do. Almost straight away I could see the parent bird and R said he thought there was a nest in the hedge. He couldnt find it, but could see another two similar babies in the hedge, so we gently put the found one up next to them, and R said he would keep his cat in for the day. We didnt see them again, so we assumed that those babies made it. That one was adorable too - wish I'd taken a photo of it. We seem to see fewer thrushes nowadays round here, so I am very much hoping that little brood survived.

A brief moment of special bird happiness was when my husband and I saw a pair of kingfishers fly up from the river, dart around the garden and back to the river. We see them so rarely,that's the one and only time so far this year, but it's wonderful to know they are there - the sapphire of the river!

Toffee Splodge hasn't been seen for two or three weeks now. Photos show her mating on the lawn - maybe her new love took her away, as it's the male bird that chooses the nest site. She's a gentle and distinctive bird so I hope to see her again soon.

Typical courting behavior - billing (kissing!)

Below, cloacal kiss (mating!) - my doves don't usually mate on the lawn

My next blog has excellent news, so please come back and read it!
The end.

Jose, me and the hawk

2011-05-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

Jose has been very well since my last blog in December (read all about how I got her in my previous blog). Her name is pronounced Hoe-Zay. My husband kindly made her her own table as we are hoping for lots of sunny days when we will need to use our big garden table for meals outside - so Jose had to be moved! He also cut a little doorway into the hutch so she can go in and out at will. She was rather nervous of it at first and wouldnt use it, but soon learned to dodge in and out when danger flew overhead!

Portrait of Jose

Jose's new day arrangements - she still goes into the dovecote at night

Yes! The sparrowhawk was very much in evidence earlier on in the year, particularly in March. At one point it seemed to be hanging round the garden all day, making me and the doves very apprehensive. The photo below shows the hawk on the garden chair and this was taken literally five minutes after I'd put Jose to bed in the dovecote!

Below, a photo taken through my living room window of the hawk sitting on the guttering

Another time I saw it on the fence separating our garden from the river. I threw the missile I happened to have in my hand at the time (an avocado stone!) but I'm a pretty poor shot and the stone hit the fence not the hawk! I wouldn't actually want to hurt the hawk and appreciate that in March it probably was feeding babies but I am very protective of the doves, especially Jose who can't fly. She is strong now though and canny! One day around this time the doves flew up in a mass panic from feeding, and I though I bet the hawk's here again, so I went outside. It all happened so quickly as I walked out through the kitchen and out from under the tiny porch
that shelters the door.... there was a rush of air, a flurry of wings and I instinctively dropped into a crouching position..... I felt the hawk's talons rake through my hair and then it was off! I didn't have time to be scared or even think about it, but it did make me a bit nervous about going out of the door for a few days. It's not many people can say they've had their hair combed by a sparrowhawk! On the early evening of the 29th March the chap who was painting our outside windows, popped his head through to say 'the hawk's carried off one of your doves'. I sprung up and ran out round the side of the house. The hawk had taken one of the pair of little collared doves that visited my garden and was eating at the back of the house, in full view. I didnt disturb it as if it didnt get its meal it would only be back and the poor little bird was dead already. In fact I managed to creep up quite close and got lots of photos, but the light was bad and they're not very clear (the 'red' you can see in the photo is not blood, just a paint pot in the foreground). I almost wished that the hawk had taken an anonymous white dove, rather than one of my sweet little brown doves. In the days afterwards the other one searched for its mate in the garden and it was a very sad sight to see but within a couple of weeks it had found another one.

Practically every day Jose jumps off the table onto the grass - maybe to just peck around or to be with the other doves, but after she's had a play, I go to get her and she sees me coming with the net to catch her and put her on her table again, so she runs to the shelter of the big garden table and its very difficult to get her out from there. As fast as I go to one side, she runs to the other. Sometimes her friend Toffee Splodge sits under the table with her, on on her own table. TS is very companionable to Jose and often spends long periods with her. She is probably another female as she doesnt try to court Jose. She has unusual colouring in that she is a totally white dove with just one large patch of brown (hence her name) on her lower neck and part back. Up close the brown is iridescent with green.

There have been a few heart-stopping occasions when we have 'lost' Jose, searching the garden and not finding her. Now I know that in an emergency she will probably hide in the coal bunker or at the side of it, and it's my job to get her out! The last time was very tricky and I had to lie on top of the bunker, getting filthy, and not for the first time in my life I was glad that my arms are long and thin. Even Jose seemed glad to be out, and was much kissed on the top of her head
by me! I would hate to come home and find Jose had been attacked by the hawk but also I won't keep her shut up all the time. She can't fly, but she must have what freedom I can give her. Luckily as I said she's quite canny and seems to be aware of danger.

After this was taken, she squeezed round the back and was even harder to get hold of!

Jose has several male admirers, mostly white and unidentifiable, but one has a black streak in his tail and I call him Flash. Flash, despite his best endeavours has not captured Jose's heart as she already has a lover in the form of a big white dove. The first time I saw them billing and cooing (kissing) on her table was 22nd March '11 and they mated three times that day that I saw! I have to say I was rather concerned as how would a flightless bird cope with having eggs, then squabs to look after? - even though I would love her to have them. My dove bible is Feral Pigeons by Richard F. Johnston and Marian Janiga - I gather from this that mating is not sufficient for pigeons to produce eggs, they have to build a nest together first, and as Jose can't fly off with her mate, and the male is the nest site chooser, it is not unlikely and probably just as well that she won't be having babies.Bit of a shame - I'd have loved to help her look after them! Since March I have only seen her mate occasionally but by 8th May she was at it again, and today 10th May she mated with Flash for the first time (well first time that I've seen) AND also with the big white male!

My lovely pair, mentioned in previous blogs, Chocolate Brownie (male) and Dalmation Dove (female) are still visiting every day. I'm thinking they are rearing young as I was only seeing one at a time a while ago, but now they are coming together again, and I look forward to seeing their speckled babies in the garden as I did last year.

Peace, the dove that came down the chimney the day my mother died (see previous blogs) and that's two years ago this coming July, is also around occasionally. Not every day but I note from my Log that I saw her in January for the first time since the first snow, and then again on 21st March and several times since then.

One day this spring I came home to find a white dove wandering near the door. For a few seconds I thought it was Jose but as I shut her in her house if I'm out all day I knew it couldnt be. He allowed me to pick him up so I knew he was probably poorly and that night I put him in the dovecote which was a silly thing to do really as he could have had something wrong with him and infected Jose - I didnt put them in the same section of course. So for one night only I had two doves in my cote, but by morning he was dead which was sad. He may have just been old of course. It seems from what I've read that feral pigeons only live 3-6 years (if they're lucky!) I can't assume that all my visiting white doves are feral - some may come for a free meal and then go home to their own cosy dovecote or loft. The oldest ever pigeon was called Kaiser and lived for 32 and a half years, according to what I've discovered on the internet. You can google him for more info!
My own feral flock as increased to about 40 regular birds, with many 'new faces' and ringed racers passing through at the moment.

The end

A special dove - and Turtle-Doves

2010-12-15T12:20:00.000-08:00

It was 18th October 2010 and my Pilates class wasn't on due to half term so I decided to go to Claremont National Trust garden to have a walk and see the flock of 30-50 white doves that live there. The dove above is a rather scruffy fantail at Claremont - the only one. The rest have ordinary tails.

Here are some more of them, with a few pigeons

They appear to roost in the trees - I don't think they go anywhere else at night.

I was probably the first person in the gate that day, and almost straight away I noticed a dove sitting alone on the grass, nearly under a hedge and near the lake. I thought it looked sweet and took a photo but didn't think much more of it. I wandered on and fed the large flock and wondered anew how they all manage to get enough to eat, competing as they do with ducks, geese, swans, seagulls.....

After I completed the shortish walk around the lake, it struck me that there had been something unusual about the first dove and I went back to see if it was still there. It was in the same position and I got close and took another photo and it allowed me to get closer and closer until I could pick it up without any trouble at all.

The poor little thing looks pretty in the photo but had a damaged wing and was very poorly. It occurred to me that if I went back to the entrance kiosk and said I've found one of your doves with a damaged wing, and can I take it home, I have a flock of white doves, I know what to do etc etc they might actually say no, health and safety, property of the NT, we have to ask someone, blah, blah, so I just whisked out the carrier bag I had in my pocket and popped it in there, secreting it out of the gate with no-one any the wiser! Safe in the car, I put it in a box that just happened to be there. One good thing about me being so messy is that I always have useful things in the car!

I named the dove Jose, after the men from the San Jose mine who had just been rescuedf. My poor little Jose was very quiet in the car. He (or she) appeared to be a young bird with the sharp beak of a juvenile and was very thin and dehydrated. At home, I filled a little pot with water and dipped his beak into it, but he didn't respond. For the first 48 hours I kept him confined in the 'hospital box' in the conservatory, with food and water of course. Every couple of hours I took him out and held his beak in the water pot - and when at last he took a sip while I was holding him, I felt uplifted and happy that we'd turned a corner and he might pull through. The next day though one of his eyes was sticky and half closed and I thought 'here we go, the beginning of the end' but I bathed it gently with a soft, non-fluffy cloth and plain water and the following day it was clear again. Jose started eating and drinking normally within a day and quickly gained strength, but unfortunately I doubt if he will every fly again. I had asked the Universe to send me a dove for my empty cote so I wasn't surprised when I found Jose, but he was not like Spirit a very friendly dove who had also had a damaged wing and lived with me for a month from Sept to Oct '08 (her story can also be found on this blog), Jose was much less amenable. Spirit spent her days on a branch near my kitchen door, mingling with the other doves on the patio and lawn, and walking out onto the path when she wanted to go to bed in the dovecote. Jose didn't like the branch, wherever I placed it, choosing to jump off and go and hide in the flower beds or the shed kitchen if I left the door open. Eventually he decided to like being on the big garden table with the hospital box as a shelter. He now goes in and out as he pleases, and has a big shallow dish of water to drink from and bathe in. Well he's supposed to bathe in it and has done so precisely once! He's beginning to look a bit grubby now.

I've had him for about 2 months now and he is more friendly. I don't have to chase him round the table when it's bed-time any more before I can pick him up. Bed time is currently around 3.30pm -3.45pm as the days are so short and gloomy. Of course he is vulnerable on the table if there are any hawks around, but I saved him from probably being eaten by a fox on the first night, or starving to death. I do wonder if it was the right thing to do - is it much of a life for a bird, not being able to fly? But it is a life, and he does have company as he can see the other doves, and some of them alight on the table - most probably to eat his food rather than say hello! I also worry that if he proves to be a she, in the mating season she will get hassle from young males who don't realise her disability.

Since I've had Jose I've looked after three other birds. The first was a dark pigeon - the one above. Here he is getting better - sorry I've got the pictures out of order! He arrived alone, lame and lacking much of the feathers from his back. I threw him peanuts as he had difficulty hopping between the feeders but as he could fly I wasn't too worried.

Jose again, looking perkier - we ringed him as soon as we knew he would live

Here's the poorly lame one, as he first arrived - possibly got away from a hawk or other predator

The second was a brown pigeon who was seemingly dazed and unable to fly. I put it in the dovecote - not Jose's quarters, in case it was diseased! - with food and water and it flew away after a couple of hours, so don't know what was wrong there. The third casualty was a cock pheasant, also dazed, wandering round in circles on our little country road. I got out of the car to see what I could do and it flopped into the ditch and lay trapped in a bramble. I got it out and it sat quietly on the back seat of the car til I got home. I put it in a box with food and water and next time I looked it had gone. I think it may have suffered a slight collision with a car but was basically ok.

The old saying of be careful what you wish for can be applied to me now as I have dependant bird and we are going away for a few days after Christmas. There is no-one I can ask to bring Jose out of the dovecote in the morning and put him to bed in the late afternoons - although someone is coming to feed the birds, of course. So I bid on and won and super hutch from ebay - a bargain at £28. The hutch is just right, all one level, as Jose wouldn't have been capable of going up and down a ladder. Occasionally he jumps off the table, thinking he can fly, and lands feet up, totally helpless. He will have to stay shut up in the hutch while we are away, but it is roomy and he will be safe - I hope.

Jose standing in front of his lovely new hutch

Before I finish, I must mention Turtle Doves, the gorgeous recycled wrist warmer and fingerless gloves rolled into one. I met Kate, who makes them, at her stall at the Bishop's Castle Michaelmas Fair - I was attracted by the name!- and just fell in love with them. I bought 2 pairs for me, in soft blue-grey and emerald green, and four pairs to give as presents, all of which have been enthusiastically received - especially the lucky girl who got the cashmere pair! The photo shows me in mine feeding a pigeon at St. Peter Port Harbour, in Guernsey. But do please go to her site to have a look, they are so colourful, pretty and useful http://www.turtle-doves.com/

The end

The Doves This Summer - May to early Sept '10

2010-09-05T11:36:00.000-07:00

So, so long since I've written about the doves, and now.... how to put the whole summer in a nutshell? It was the end of April, in my last blog, and I was only seeing 4-8 doves in the mornings, and 4-5 in the afternoons. Yet, by 5th Sept 2010 there were 40 doves and pigeons on the roof! And I love the coloured ones as much as the white ones! The numbers have crept up and up On the 9th June I noted in my log that I saw 13 white doves, including Peace and Harmony. Peace is my dove that came down the chimney the day my mother died, and then I ringed her, and Harmony was a ringed dove (not by me) that was often with her, but didn't seem to be her mate. I haven't now seen him for a while.
By the middle of July, due to the new young doves (squabs) coming with their parents, the number was up to about 25, and by the middle of August, 31. Not all young ones of course, many are just nomad doves 'joining in', I guess.
My most wonderful surprise flew into my garden on the 19th June. Victory, my own dove, hatched in my dovecote in Spring '09 had come back! She - and I know she's a she now - hadn't been seen since August '09! I was sorry when she'd gone, but by going off she missed the mass cull in Oct. '09, thank heavens. Victory came back two days before my darling little Yorkshire Terrier died, giving me some comfort in my loss. She didn't seem to be around much in July, and I suspected she had gone off with Grey Joseph, as I'd seen him courting her, but she came back in August with him in tow! I'm not sure if they are mates, though. Grey Joseph formely courted Peace, but nothing seemed to come of it, and has also been seen with a white female.

Grey Joseph courting Victory (3 pics above)

Victory - she is 18 months old now
Grey Joseph with a white female

My special and distinctive pair, Chocolate Brownie (m) and Dalmation Dove (f) are here every day, and very tame. They know if they hang around, after the others have gone, I will start dishing out the peanuts! They've been busy this summer, having babies! Here's some of the courtship ritual in photos.Hen-pecked CB! - sorry this pic got elongated somehow!

And here's their babies, what sweet little birds, and what a mix of mum and dad! Here they are with Peace. Sadly, after this photo I never saw the second one again.
I call the remaining baby, Chocolate DD
and here he is with his father

No sooner was Chocolate DD raised than CB and DD were mating again, and one day another young one appeared with them. Dark grey speckled, instead of brown speckled this time!
In between Mother and Father on the roof
Soon after, the baby's twin appeared and I gave my husband the naming of the them - so now we have light head Inca and dark head Inca. These two look incredibly similar to the speckled pair in the my Nov. '09 blog.... I assume those two didn't last the winter or flew away as I haven't seen them since. They may have been raised too late in the year. I found a dove/pigeon egg in the water bath at the end of August. Sometimes the eggshell attaches to the underneath of one of the parents, and gets washed off in the bath! Pigeons can breed at any time of the year, if food is plentiful, but squabs hatched at the end of August won't be fledging til mid Oct and that's not the best start in life!

Another easily recognised bird in the very dark Noir. When I first saw him on the roof my heart skipped a beat and I thought it was my beloved Nero come back, but it wasn't. Still Noir has stuck around and is my darkest pigeon. From zero pigeons, I now have maybe up to 10 regulars.

Noir, with white dove, making himself heard!

To be cont.....

Spring 2010

2010-04-20T23:49:00.000-07:00

27th April 2010

Things are not so bad as in my last blog, thank goodness. The number of doves I see in the garden varies and the most I have seen together, here, since my last post is 9. Mostly there are between 4 and 8 in the mornings, including my yellow and red ringed Peace, and Harmony, also ringed (but not by me) and 4 or 5 in the afternoons.

I have had a few little dramas and excitements recently to tell you about. The first was lovely! I note from my scribbly dove 'log' that it was the 23rd March - I was feeding the few white doves one morning and suddenly two coloured ones flew down from another part of the roof. I was so surprised and delighted to see some coloured doves (well, pigeons!) again and then I realised it was Dalmation Dove and Chocolate Brownie! Wow! I hadn't seen them since the beginning of January, had really missed them and thought they had been shot, caught by the hawk or perished in the snow. I ran in and got my camera and managed to get this shot of Dalmation Dove. They came again on the 25th, but I haven't seen them since. How I wish I could track the doves - where on earth do they go? Where was this pair through all the bad weather - where were they getting their food from? Doves and pigeons are very resourceful though which is one reason I like them. They remind me of people! So the two visits from DD and CB uplifted my spirits - still alive and still together!

Then a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon I came home to my quiet and sunny garden to find a vast quantity of white feathers scattered up close to the house in the flower bed. There was no body, but some gore, and I had to assume that the sparrowhawk cornered a dove up close to the house and it didn't get away. Not only did I have the sadness of losing one of the very small flock left to me, I also had to clear up all the feathers by hand! The other doves did arrive back on the roof later on, but were very scared, and wouldn't come down.
This attack has put me completely off starting again with my own flock. I just couldn't bear to be in the situation that my friend Yan was in - with the sparrowhawk watching and picking off one dove after the other - it's just too upsetting. I do waver though - I remember that Glory was killed by the hawk, but Hope reared the two babies, Victory and Purity, successfully and they all lived - but then maybe they were protected by the huge feral flock that was around then. I don't know what to do..... maybe when the hawk breeding season is over..... or maybe not...

A week after this attack, it was very late afternoon or early evening, and I had assumed feeding time was over for the doves. I happened to glance out of the little window in my kitchen door and for a startled second thought there was a large dead grey bird in the garden, near the path. I then realised it was the sparrowhawk and was probably not dead at all, but covering a late straggler dove that it had caught. I decided that if it had caught and killed it, I may as well let it eat it, as I assumed if I frightened it away, it would only go hunting again, thus 'wasting' that kill. I got my camera and took a rather shaky couple of photos. My husband suggested that the dove might not be dead - I couldn't even see the dove at this stage, but we both went out of the door and there was a quick scrabbling and fluttering on the path before both the dove and the hawk flew away!

Maybe I had spotted the hawk on the ground the very moment after it had caught the dove, or perhaps they were both stunned..... I don't know. I was thankful the dove had got away, but then some minutes later I saw it - or another - back on the roof again. Doves are not always the brightest birds - although some can seem quite canny - but I suppose this one was hungry, or had squabs to feed, so had come back to the feeding ground. It landed on the lawn and I stood right by it, thinking my presence would deter the hawk. But no, the hawk had also returned to it's feeding ground and I assume was watching from the wooded area beyond the river. Hawks fly so fast, like a speeding bullet, that you hardly know what is happening before it's happened - you can hardly make out that they are, in fact, a bird, they're so quick. Mr. Hungry Hawk flew past me, straight at the dove and luckily she realised and got a head start. I don't know what happened, whether she got away or not - there was a white bird ahead and a grey one after, and then they were both gone.

The grey sparrowhawks, like this one, are the males. The females are larger, heavier and brown. My book says that the males specialise in taking smaller birds like chaffinches, so maybe that's why this male hadn't killed the dove it got on the path; it was a little too large for it. Although the book says that birds as large as wood-pigeons can be targeted by sparrowhawks.

The next event was another lovely surprise. My husband reported that he had seen doves on the island and I haven't been feeding them there since.... oh I don't know how long ago.... months! Before the snow anyway so I was a bit surprised. Why would they go there? I had to assume that they would go there if they remembered being fed there - and who would remember as they were mostly all dead? The next day - one of those glorious sunny spring days we have been having here in Surrey recently - there were quite a few white doves on the lawn and I could see one was ringed with a white ring on one leg and a yellow on the other. I rushed to my 'log' to see which dove I had ringed in the past with white/yellow but nothing was written down. Then I had a little brainwave and remembered Bob Friar's dove that I named Belle - see previous blogs for the full story, but briefly ... way back in Autumn '08, a ringed dove joined my very large flock and as I could see a phone no. on her ring, I caught her and her owner came to collect her. Then again, she turned up in Feb. 'o9 and this time I took her back myself and visited Bob's pigeon loft. I knew that Bob had added an extra ring, a purple one, so I wasn't sure that this dove on my lawn was, in fact, Belle but having caught her on camera, and enlarged the photo, I could also see the purple ring. It really was Belle, and how lovely to have her fly all the way from Ash back to my garden - a distance of some twenty-five miles. I have calculated that Belle must be about two years old now, and could live up to about fifteen years or so, if she is lucky. She and the others with her flew to the island, and I took some food over, and got a few more photos. The island is my special place and I love to share it with the doves.

I take an interest in and feed all the birds that visit my garden. I'm taming my robin and so far he will come into the kitchen as far as the mat, when I sprinkle it with mealworms! I would adore to have him feed from my hand.

My neighbour had a surprise when she drew her curtains back ther other morning - there was a peahen on her lawn! It was still there when I arrived to get her shopping list, so I went home to get some dove food and my camera. She did pick at the food, but wandered out of the garden and into the copse near the stream. Most odd - we have no idea where she came from! And later on she appeared on our roof. Never a dull moment with the birds around here!

The end -

to post a comment you may have to scroll down a massive gap. I just can't seem to close it whatever I do - if anyone can help, please tell me how!

Three, just THREE left!

2010-02-07T12:09:00.000-08:00

7 Feb 2010

I have not written about the doves since the end of November. I wish I had as now the little time I had with the 'After Doves' is over.

Probably the farmer as been busy with his gun again. I can think of no other explanation for the fact that now I have just three white doves, and no coloured ones, visiting.

The little After flock, visiting me from November to January, numbered sometimes as many as fourteen white doves, but on a day to day basis was usually about eight white and some others I particularly recognised including the beautiful speckled Dalmation dove. I enjoyed and fed them all through the hard snowy weather. I cleared a large circular patch of grass, and swept it every day to keep the snow off. Doves are cautious creatures and don't like anything different; they didn't like landing on the snow or even the grassy patch I made, but of course they had to - to eat!

My usual lap top has died and is off at the menders so I haven't even got a pictures of that poor little flock to show you, and I can't work this laptop properly, so can't drop the pics into the text!

One visiting pigeon I called Lady Jane Grey, after my internet friend Jane Grey - see my side panel to see her YouTube series of photos of her lovely woodpigeon, Hope. Lady Jane Grey seemed to escape this second dove slaughter and is shown here with a surviving white, but now she is nowhere to be seen - perhaps flown off to find more pigeons to flock with? I hope so.

Peace also was seen after the others had vanished. This is my last photo of her - I hope she didn't go back to the farm, but I fear she did. It really is so upsetting and there is nothing I can do. I hate it when I can't do anything positive.

Now, no doves greet me in the mornings. My roof tops that were once lined with doves are empty, and if it wasn't for my cheeky, hungry robin I would feel bird-friendless. There were four white doves visiting, but one got poorly and spent more time on the ground. I soon saw he had some damage to his beak; it was permanently slightly open and crossed - see the photos above. For the first few days, he managed to eat if I gave him a deep pot of grain, by shovelling it in. He couldn't pick up individual grains from the ground. He lost strength and couldn't fly after a while, so I kept him in my hospital box at night and set him free for the day. When he couldn't eat at all, I couldn't bear it and took him to the vets to be put to sleep as I didn't want him to suffer by starving to death. I left him at the vets in the box to be seen by my lovely vet as soon as he had time, but they rang me to say he'd died before that could happen. Poor little thing. I didn't even name him.

So now they are just three white doves visiting my garden. I think they come from some way away as they don't arrive til 11.30 am at the earliest and mostly after noon. Two are a pair as I've seen them mating and how I wish they'd set up home in my dovecote like Hope and Glory did. That was only last year but seems much longer ago. A life time ago. I so loved having my babies, Victory and Purity... even getting up early to put them back in the nest when Hope was leaving them all night. It was a very special time.

I try to be around when the three arrive so I can feed them. I can't just leave food down as there are hordes of hungry woodpigeons and jackdaws, plus at least two pheasants and squirrels. During the hour of my RSPB Birdwatch I listed 17 woodpigeons together, and I have seen as many as 25 together at one time in my garden. I think the doves are well fed, they don't seem starving and probably only come for the peanuts I throw, which are a treat!

Now, am I mad but I'm thinking of starting again with a new set of doves? Before that can happen, I will have to repaint the cote - it's now nearly four years since I bought it and rather grubby with a tinge of green. My husband thinks maybe we should re-site it, so that is under consideration too. I need to find someone who can sell me some doves, and a homing net. Many dove sellers only want to sell to those who have bought their dovecote. I got mine from Kootensaw, but feel their doves are pretty expensive, considering they breed so easily and rapidly. A breeding pair can have 8-10 pairs of squabs a year, apparently. Not that mine ever did!

The garden truly seems empty and lifeless to me without the doves but I dread getting new ones just to be sparrowhawk fodder. Another internet friend, Yan, lost three of her beautiful doves to the hawk and ended up giving the last one away to someone who keeps his birds in an aviary rather than see it swooped on and carried off.

So, what do you think? Start again? or not..... I think you know what I will do!

The End

Let Me Introduce You

2009-11-24T00:10:00.000-08:00

25th November 2009

I miss my large flock and mourned for them, but still have some white and coloured doves visiting every day. Here are most of what I call the After Doves.

In the beginning the birds seemed upset. It was heartbreaking to see a single dove sit on the roof waiting patiently for the others that never came, then fly round in circles to come back and wait again. Gradually the ones that were left either flew away entirely or reformed into little groups.

I had suspected that Peace, the dove that came down the chimney the day my mother died, lived in a different place to the main flock - or maybe she was tempted away by the green ringed (not by me) white male dove that I now call Harmony. They are still visiting, usually only in the mornings, and have been joined by a single white dove.

This is a beautiful multi-coloured pigeon that was my new Joseph. I often have a 'Joseph' (coat of many colours!). She was one of the survivors and turned out to be a Josephine but I havent seen her for quite a while. I think it's likely that the survivors have flown far and wide looking for new family groups to belong to.

Josephine in in the photo below, at the back, with a couple of white doves and a grey at the front. There are several greys and they look pretty similar. The two browny-pink ones are called Chocolate Brownie (new CB - I had one that died naturally) and Ruffle (at the front). They were always with the shot flock and I thought that they were related. Now Ruffle comes daily, but CB hasnt been seen for a while.

Here's a grey I recognise - a light grey with distinctive bands. I call him BlueBand. He doesn't come every day and I wonder where they go for food when they are not at mine!

This next one underneath was taken in the summer - is it CB and Ruffle? Hard to tell but I think so.At the most, just after the shooting, I saw a maximum of fourteen birds together, coloured and white. Now the most I might see is eight or nine, and usually just small groups of two, three, four or five...... or just a single bird. As I type, I caught the reflection of a bird in the computer screen and went to look out of the window and it was Blue Band on his own. You might wonder how I recognise them all, but it's quite easy with birds you see regularly. Many have distinctive markings or characteristics. I don't recognise any of the whites, except Peace, Harmony and Spartacus.

I thought Spartacus had been shot with the others, but he was so named as I suspected there was at least two Spartacus's (as in I'm Spartacus, No I'm Spartacus - from the film!) and it seems that one has survived. Certainly a big bold male is still arriving on my patio and waiting for me to bring him peanuts. Peanuts are a special treat and I feed them from my hand, and the ground very near my hand. Spartacus will eat the ones on the ground first, cautiously darting in and out, and then, usually, he will tentatively do a little rush, peck at my hand and grab a peanut, hopefully rolling a few more onto the ground for himself. I crouch patiently and uncomfortably cramped within seconds, almost holding my breath and keeping my palm open and very still, to encourage him. It's always a special moment in my day if Spartacus feeds from my hand. He seems to have a mate, or a friend, who hovers close by but is not brave enough to come for peanuts. Sometimes I put a few peanuts on the door step for both of them, and because I like having them come so close to the house - reminds me of Spirit.

I went up to another local farm - not where my flock were shot - to see if they still had doves roosting in their buildings. The lady who I'd met before, was nice and said no doves were roosting, but they did come down into the field to a particular spot. We went to look and there, sure enough, was Ruffle and a white dove. They must've flown there as I was driving as I'd left them on the roof at home! The lady said they always went to that certain place - maybe minerals in the soil? I don't know.

One day I spotted a dove on the roof that first I thought was Dalmation Dove (DD) but I wasn't sure so I took a photo.

When I uploaded and enlarged it, I could see that it definitely wasn't DD but another dove, and I was so delighted to see it and then within a day it had been joined by it's twin!
I wanted to call them John and Edward, but my husband can't stand Jedward and didn't like the idea so I didn't. I haven't seen them for a little while now, so the speckled twins are still un-named. I have seen them with DD and think they are closely related. Here's another photo, not so clear.
I also have a pair of white doves regularly visiting that I call the Lover Doves as they are always billing and cooing. My last pair of Lover Doves, right at the beginning of the year, set up home in my dovecote and were Hope and Glory, parents of my sweet little squabs, Victory and Purity (RIP) so I am hoping that these two might decide to live here too.

Here's a photo - looking exactly like any other pair of white doves!

And here they are again taking things a bit further!

So, thankfully, I still have doves in the garden and hope of new squabs in the spring.

The end

Rest in Peace - Flock of '09

2009-10-15T10:20:00.001-07:00

Friday 16th October 2009

As some of you know, nearly my entire flock of white doves have been shot by the farmer at Pig Farm (see previous blogs) where they roosted at night, and made their nests.

I am devastated by this. The doves are a huge part of my life. Or were......

The farmer is a nice man - he really is! - and I knew he liked the doves. When they started coming to his building - a steel framed barn, he put up a wooden dovecote for them and hoped they would use it - of course they didn't, and even when he kept the door shut somehow they would squeeze determinedly in through the small gap at the top that couldn't be blocked.

The farmer is a friend of my husband's - his father died when he was 15 and he was taken out of school to run the farm. I don't suppose that was an easy life and in recent years he has had many personal problems culminating with his mother dying recently, just after mine. His farm was run as a pig farm in the past - (it isn't actually called Pig Farm by the way!) but now he and his partner run it as a livery stables - the building where the doves roosted is used as an indoor schooling area, with sand on the floor.

He warned me a while back that the doves numbers were increasing too rapidly and that he was getting complaints from the riders that the doves were startling the horses by swooping in through the door, or fluttering up from the sand. Certainly they were making a hell of a mess on the metal beams, light fittings and ground.

Before I went to Harrogate I knew that the dove numbers had dropped dramatically and I told my husband that I felt the farmer had culled them - 'He wouldn't do that' said my husband 'I know him... go up to the farm and see' but I didn't, knowing in my heart of hearts that the deed was done, but not wanting to know for sure and be upset in Harrogate.

I went the day after I got back. I could tell just by being there. The farmer, by chance, was working right near the schooling barn and he didn't look overjoyed to see me. He didn't lie, he told me he'd shot them (my pure sweet doves!) - he'd gone in one time, he said, and there were 60 of them in there. He didn't want to do it, but the horsey people were complaining and he didn't want to get sued...... I didn't ask the details and I'm trying not to imagine it..... the little white doves huddled together in rows, then the pile of fluffy limp bodies to dispose of...... I went into the barn, nothing there except feathers in the sand and you'd never know til you looked up and saw one small white dove, probably a young squab, dead, wing outstretched, draped over the beam. I hoped the horsey people saw it and felt bad, but doubt it. To them, it's problem solved and round and round the ring we go without being disturbed by little white nuisances.

The farmer followed me in to the barn. It's ok, I told him, I understand why you did it, I don't blame you. You're the only one then, he muttered - most people blame me for everything. 'I didn't shoot the blues' he mentioned 'Only the white ones'. Was that supposed to make me feel better, I wondered. I presumed he hadn't shot what he called the 'blues' because they are the ordinary grey pigeons, and some could be racing pigeons and it's illegal to shoot them, but I didn't comment. I picked up a fluffy bunch of soft breast feathers from the ground and drove away with a gloomy cloud over my head like a cartoon character. It's one thing pretty well suspecting a bad thing has happened; it's another having it confirmed.

I do understand why the farmer did it and I don't hate him, but it doesn't mean I like it. I bloody hate it! and if I'd been him I would've found another way. It's on his conscience and I hope fluttering white doves haunt his dreams. My garden seems so dead and lifeless without them. I can hardly believe that they've gone. I love all birds, but there is something magical and mesmerizing about pure white doves; you can't stop looking at them. But I have to draw a line under this, stop being tearful and move on and this blog is my little memorial to the beautiful birds that gave me so much pleasure every day, all day.

When I got home there was one single pure white wing feather near the door step, and when I went to the island, another one there. Good omens. I've stuck them in the kitchen sash window

In 2008 I was concerned about the huge flock - over 100 birds - coming to be fed. Husband was complaining and I cut down the amount I was feeding them in an attempt to disperse the flock and pacify husband! but secretly I adored having them swirling and whirling round me and every early morning as I trooped out carrying the blue bowl of grain they flew to the island to meet me and be fed, I thought of the words in the Elton John song Can You Feel the Love Tonight?......."there's a calm surrender to the rush of day"..... the doves were my 'rush of day'. Morning has broken - the doves are here! Now the morning IS broken and I'm in mourning.

The 100 strong flock of 2008 - with Spirit who couldn't fly on the path,

Maybe someone else culled that large flock of 2008 or they did disperse naturally because this summer I never saw more than 30-40 birds together or maybe sometimes 50 at the most, but of course they didn't stay together all day..... just met up as the sun went down and they went to roost.

Some of this summer's flock - I used to love to come home and find them all over the lawn, pecking, preening, bathing and sunbathing.

For me, this number was just right. I could afford to feed them all properly, and that of course has been part of the problem. I know I've contributed to their death..... if I hadn't fed them so much, they wouldn't have bred so fast and increased to become a nuisance to the farmer and the horsey people. A breeding pair of pigeons can, apparently, have up to six clutches a year - with the usual two eggs in a clutch, you can see how the numbers can add up!

I don't know exactly which of my ringed or recognisable doves were in the barn but these are all missing, presumed shot, and so very much mourned by me:

Hope - Feathered feet and brave single mother of my March squabs, Victory and Purity.

Photo is Hope and Glory in the dovecote in January this year.

Purity - One of the two sweet babies reared in my dovecote this year by Hope alone, after Glory was killed by a hawk, and helped by me. Green and purple ring. Named by Elizabeth D from Purplecoo and her God-dove.

This is one of my last pictures of him/her. She was only 7 months old and probably didn't get a chance to breed. I never even found out what sex Victory and Purity were.

Sweetie - Caught by me on the island in 2008 as a squab and ringed with two green rings. She was a small dove but at least 14 months old.

Spartacus - Big, bold, beautiful white male who ate peanuts from my hand, and crept up to the back door and stole the robin's food by the step when I wasn't looking.

Pearl - White dove with a few soft brown feathers on her back and named by my neighbour's little girl. She's at boarding school and I'll have to tell her next time she's home because she likes to help me feed the doves and will notice they're missing. What on earth shall I say? - 'They just all flew away, sweetheart.....' or the bitter truth.

And of course the VAST number of unringed but much loved pure white doves and their this year's squabs, and some lovely dove/pigeon crosses with black tail feathers

Rest in Peace my dovie angels - Not lost, just gone before.....

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, which doves escaped the massacre? and how are they doing? Well, the few that are left seem nervous and have to be more watchful than usual. They keep to the roof and fly away at the slightest thing. They turn up alone sometimes and sit there for ages...... it is so so sad.

There is a little hope for the future.........

Do you remember the dove that came down the chimney the day my mother died (24.7.09)? I called her Peace - see previous blog if you want to read about it. I suspected Peace didn't live with the main flock as she never seemed to arrive with them, or be there in the mornings. Sometimes she had a green-ringed (not by me!) male with her and sometimes I'd see her for several days without him. She has survived - thank God! - and he is with her most of the time. I call him Harmony. Peace and Harmony, and I am so glad she didn't die as she is linked to my mother. I don't in any way believe she is a reincarnation of my mother or anything like that, but it was odd that she came down the chimney that particular day. It's not a frequent occurrence - I've only had one other dove (Sooty) that survived coming down the chimney, and two that didn't.

Peace on the roof earlier this week.

Talking about Sooty - he hadn't been seen for a while before so it's possible he might come back some time as will other doves that haven't been around. Some doves do seem to be travellers and occasionally I see one that I haven't seen for months. Autumn was one that I mentioned in a my last blog - ringed with the same colours as Victory (pink and green) but on different legs - she just turned up one day in June after not being seen for 7 months! But I only saw her that once. I've also seen the white dove I believe is my Columba (white ring) in June and September. If it IS Columba then he must be 3 years old, as hatched in my dovecote in 2006.

Sooty, with a purple ring

Possibly Columba - but I'm not sure if those grey smudges were feathers or just dirt. Columba was pure white.

On 9th July I was absolutely amazed to see a pure white male with an orange ring courting on my lawn, and wondered if he was my Pax. Pax was my of my first four doves, the mate of Persephone and father of Columba and Lily. He flew away after poor Persephone had her head bitten off and I haven't seen him since. That must be three years ago or so now. I don't know for sure if this dove was Pax but he was pure white (tick), a male (tick), wearing an orange ring of the type I used then (tick) and in my garden (tick) so I like to think it was him. When I started keeping doves I didn't note the leg I ringed them on - now I do.

I haven't seen Victory - Purity's sibling and hatched in my dovecote in March - since mid August, so hope he/she escaped the carnage too and will come back some time. Nero and his mate Messalina flew away some time between the beginning and mid July so hopefully living happily elsewhere. I was sorry they left at the time, but I am now so thankful. Nero was one of the most beautiful pigeons you would ever see and no photo ever captured his luxurious plumage.

Last photo of Victory eating a pea, taken on 18th August.

Nero, with others, on the little porch above the kitchen door. The two brown ones have survived.

A pretty speckled dove I call Dalmation Dove - DD for short - also thankfully survived and has been seen every day, in company with a brown pigeon with a white tail- see photo above. Sometimes there is a paler brown pigeon too, and I think it's the older brown pigeon's squab. There are also a young dark grey pigeon and a larger pale grey pigeon with black bands. And a white courting couple that I have seen mating.This is DD on the lawn in the summer.

And again here, with the white tailed brown one.

The farmer said no doves had been back to the barn - hardly surprising, would you? They are sensitive and knowing; I'm sure would be able to understand at some level. But, he told me, some are roosting in one of his other buildings - where he keeps machinery. I pray he will let them stay...... but know he'd do the same if he had to. It's all in a day's work to the likes of him.

Some of the very few white doves and pigeons left feeding in my garden this week.

I wish some would come again to live in the dovecote. Hope and Glory, earlier this year, were interested from January. I've decided that if no doves set up home by next April, I will put up the homing net and try again. I am a bit wavery about this as it is heart-breaking to get to the love the doves and then have a fox or more likely the hawk get them. I have a new dovie friend, Yan, that I met over the internet and poor Yan had such high hopes of her little flock of four. Already she has lost two to the hawk, and her special dove Ffion was sadly damaged, but survived. I am so sorry, Yan. I know how upsetting it is and I do wonder sometimes, for myself, if it is worth it. Another dovie internet friend, Lee, had the same hawk problem and told me in the summer that a friend of his. living in the New Forest, had given up trying to keep white doves, due to the hawks, and now keeps them in an aviary. Lee doesnt want to do that himself, and I agree with him, the doves are and should be free spirits. There is no solution to this - Yan has tried all sorts of anti-hawk devices, and they don't really work. And yet, there is a dovecote not far from here, in a garden that I often pass, and there is always a dozen or so doves - in the cote and on the roof. Maybe I ought to knock on the door and ask how they manage to keep them all.

I'd just about finished this blog and was talking on the phone near the door, watching the garden, when I saw two white doves fly over, seemingly chased by something. It was probably a sparrowhawk though I didn't see it clearly, and then one dove flew madly off in another direction. I didn't see if the hawk got the dove - but you see it's a sorry state of affairs as my mother used to say, and I don't really know if I'm up to it any more. When there was a huge flock the individuals were protected when there was a hawk strike - now they'll be picked off one by one til there are none left.

The end (sorry you might have to scroll down quite a bit to make a comment, I just can't seem to get this right)

Not just doves

2009-08-18T00:14:00.000-07:00

18th August 2009

Although less doves are visiting en masse I have calculated that there are probably approx. 40-50 visiting. The most pure whites I have seen together at any one time is 22 (browns 6 and greys 9). Nero is still definitely missing - he is so distinctive that I can pick him out anywhere, His mate, Messalina, is still missing too - hopefully they are together and haven't been destroyed. The town I live in is quite hot on culling pigeons. There used to be a large flock on Sainsbury's roof that one day just vanished; as did the pigeons on the roofs in the town. A little flock of 10 has crept back to Sainsbury's and already are making their presence felt with feathers and mess on the ground near the trollies, so I reckon their days are numbered, poor things. I was watching them as there was one very dark one and I wondered if it was Nero, but of course it wasn't. He's much too refined to live on Sainsbury's roof!

So, no Nero but I have seen Victory again - thank goodness - and it is definitely him/her as his pink and green rings are on the correct legs. He only seems to come in the afternoons though, yet I see Purity at all times of the day .... strange! Peace only comes in the afternoons too.

I went up to Pig Farm to see the nests again. There now seems to be a group of 'teenager' type squabs all hanging up the roof. They got very excited when a parent bird flew in to give food and were all tumbling over each. One of my books does say that if a squab is orphaned it will try to get food from another parent bird and often succeeds and I did wonder if that was what was happening here. I suppose it is in the interests of the flock as a whole if a parent bird was to feed orphaned babies.

My husband and I had reason to go to another local farm recently, and I noticed a dead - long dead actually and in 'pieces' - pigeon on the ground. It was ringed so I noted the number and contacted the Royal Pigeon Racing Association to report it as the number prefix was GB. If the number prefix had been NPA I would have known to report it to the National Pigeon Association. There are other prefixes - all of which can be found here - http://www.rpra.org/Home/tabid/53/Default.aspx By the way, if you find a 'lost' racing pigeon, it may hang around for a few days to rest but will then usually get on its way. Only contain it if it is injured or at risk from a predator. If you do find one that needs looking after, then give it food and water and the owner will be pleased to be contacted so he can arrange collection. What food to give it? - pigeons eat grain so wild bird seed if you have it or failing that bread I suppose. Small quantities of pigeon food can be purchased at most pet shops. I buy whole sacks of it @ the current cost of £15.99 for a 25kg sack. My preferred brand is made by De Scheemaecker Bros. which I find much the best of those I've tried. But back to the ringed pigeon, I reported it using the special form on the webpage and giving my email address and I was soon contacted back with thanks and the info that the bird had originally come from Deptford (about 20 miles away). A few days later the original owner rang me to thank me too. He said he had lost quite a few birds at that time as it was a very hot spell.

(My favourite grain, and the dovecote at The Jenny Wren Farm, Birdworld, Nr. Farnham)

I've been to Birdworld in Hampshire several times this summer (I'm a member) http://www.birdworld.co.uk/ It's a lovely bird park, very well kept with neat gardens and a super little farm, with a dovecote. The doves of course fly wherever they please all over the park and turn up in unexpected places!

And I've adopted a bird for the year! It has the most beautiful plumage and is a Rufous Crowned Roller or Purple Roller from South Africa. He now has my name on his cage - I hate that word 'cage' for birds but Birdworld do release birds back to the wild if possible.

Plenty of other beautiful and interesting birds at Birdworld too,....

Pigeons love peanuts so I thought I'd try to get some feeding out of my hand. I miss Eagle Eye from last summer who always flew up to my hand on the island. I've managed to tame a big male whom I call Spartacus and he now comes up to where I'm sitting on the grass and eats his treats.

The end.

The doves have deserted me!

2009-08-08T00:56:00.000-07:00

8th August 2009

I keep a very rough garden notebook and jot down info about the doves, so I know that on the 8th of July I was seeing a flock of just under 50 doves (and the coloured pigeons that visit are included in that number) yet by the time I came back from a few days away I noted on 24th Julyu that there were only about 25. They were definitely fed while I was away so that's not the reason. One particular morning I went out to feed them and there were only TWO waiting on the roof - instead of the large flock I am used to. That day those two were Nero and Messalina (see previous blog) and that was probably the last time I have seen them. Neither are visiting at any time of the day for food and I went up to Pig Farm and they do not appear to have a nest there. I do hope I see my exquisite Nero, my beautiful black boy again. You wouldn't think you could miss a bird, but I do - very much. And I am also missing my March squab, Victory. I haven't seen her (I think she's a her) for several weeks. Purity, Elizabeth's God-dove, is still arriving for food every day, thank goodness and also Sweetie, who I caught and ringed last year. I suspect she may have a nest but I don't know where.

There are several nests up at Pig Farm, and the little squabs I saw last time I went up are now much bigger and more vocal. The top picture shows a couple of squabs probably about 4 weeks old. They move about freely on the shelf area that is obviously behind the red metal rafter. The second photo shows them cuddled up together, and a large squab or more probably a parent dove in a nest in the next 'house' along. Doves like to live together.

The day my mother died, 24th July, my sister rang me in the morning and I went down to Sussex to help. I arrived back in the early evening having been out all day. We have a three bedroomed cottage and now the girls are gone, two bedrooms are empty, though I use them for clothes and other things. There are chimneys in all the bedrooms, and we have had doves down them before. Recently I removed two bodies from one (closed) chimney and this upset me very much, so I have removed the metal plates that close the chimneys to at least give a dove-down- -the-chimney a fighting chance! Anyway, that evening I did go into one of the bedrooms and noticed a little soot and grit in the fireplace, but I was tired and didn't think much of it. The next morning my husband and I were having breakfast in the sitting room and he remarked 'There's a dove in our bedroom' - as the door was closed I wondered how he knew, but there are slight cracks in the wood panels of the door and when I got up to look, yes there was a dove in our bedroom! Firstly I assumed it had flown in through the open window, but doves are not like the little robins and blue-tits that frequently fly into the house and I remembered the soot in the hearth from yesterday. She had obviously hidden overnight, and then walked through and ended up in our room. We caught and ringed the dove (yellow and red rings) and set her free - poor thing, she seemed dazed for a while and then made straight for the water bath to have a drink. Hopefully, she wasn't too dehydrated - doves only drink a couple of times a day. Then I checked the spare room out again and in the gap between the bed and the wall there was a pile of droppings on the carpet. She had come down the chimney on the day Mummy died and been there overnight. We named her Peace, as Mummy's name, Irene, means Peace (from the Greek) - see http://www.behindthename.com/ for the etymology and history of first names - an interesting site.

I know Peace is a female as I have seen a ringed male (not one of mine) courting her - and she is still visiting (though he is not!) unlike Sooty who came down the same chimney 19th Sept. 08 (see last year's blogs, prob. Sept.Oct for her story and pics).

However, I don't despair about any the missing doves - they often reappear unexpectedly. On the 9th July I was surprised to see a white dove with an orange ring on it's left foot and did wonder if it was my beloved Pax - one of my first four doves and my first breeding male. I haven't seen him again since, but I do hope it was him, coming to say hello.

The only explanations that I can think of for the lack of doves is many are nesting so I don't see them all together, there is plenty of food in the fields as it is summer and/or the flock split as it was too big. I don't blame the sparrowhawks for such a large decrease.

I have uploaded two montages of photos with music to YouTube - thanks to Jane Grey for help there. If you haven't seen her beautiful Hope in Paris sequence of pictures (baby woodpigeon) then click on her name on my list of followers and you will see the link below - well worth a visit. My own selections of photos are titled 'A Pure White Dove' and 'White Doves Bathing'. When I work out how to put a link from YouTube to my blog I will do so! The end.

Nero's in Love

2009-07-08T09:18:00.001-07:00

8th July '09

I am so proud of myself as I have added a random slideshow of my dove photos to my blog - anything techie usually takes me ages but I accomplished this in a few minutes. Hope you enjoy it!

Having done that I realised that it is over a month since I wrote my dove blog so thought I should do an update - as much for myself as for any readers.

My two babies, Victory and Purity, are now grown-up and approx. 4 months old. Surprisingly enough they are exactly the same age as my eldest daughter's pregnancy! They are a similar size to many of the other doves visiting, but I recognise them by their coloured rings. I think that Victory may be female, but I'm not sure yet. I was hoping that Victory would be male and Purity female - suits their names better, doesn't it? Anyway, they are well and visiting regularly at least twice a day for food.

I have seen my black dove, Nero with a dark female pigeon, both at the farm where the doves roost and here at home. He has been trying to fix his interest with her for ages - he is so beautiful how can she resist? He is much blacker than the photo - I can never get one that shows off his irresistable darkness with the iridescent purple and green neck feathers.

Here they are at home, on the roof and the lawn

And here they are in a very bad photo at the roosting farm which I will now call Pig Farm in my blogs as not wanting to identify it by name, and they used to keep pigs there.I read somewhere that pigeons tend to choose mates that look similar to themselves or their parents, and Nero and his love would seem to bear that theory out - as she is a very dark grey bird with a white patch on her back like he has - but the expensive and informative book I got for my birthday - Feral Pigeons by Richard F. Johnston and Marian Janiga - tends to disagree, and says that, according to their data 'more matings occur between birds of unlike plumage, and fewer between birds of like plumage, than would be expected on the basis of chance'.

This book informs me that as these birds are monogamous (which I knew) they choose their mate carefully (if they have enough choice) on the basis of age, breeding experience, dominance status, size, feather parasite load and plumage colour and pattern

Nero appeared to choose Messalina (that's what I'm calling her!) and she seemed to resist his advances strongly for a long period of time. It seemed like he was always after her - I'm surprised either of them got anything to eat as there was only ONE THING on his mind! Male pigeons walk, run or fly after the object of their affections, never giving them any peace, and pecking them on the neck to try to bring them under control!

Oh there you are! .......eating!........................................ Well here I am! See me!

Look how gorgeous I am!................................... Hey, don't walk away!..................

Eventually, some part of his charm worked and I caught this series of photos as the sun went down.

Messalina is on the left...................................................and now Nero is, puffing out his chest in courtship

Billing.......................................................................and then Messalina starts to crouch down

Nero mounts Messalina.........................................and they copulate (cloacal union)

This takes seconds so clever of me to capture it in a photo!

Messalina on the left, starting the henpecking that always follows marriage!!!

But they will stay together, and nest building - according to the book - starts about 5-7 days after the first copulation. So soon I will take another trip down to Pig Farm to see if they have started a nest. There are currently about 4 or 5 white dove nests there, with squabs being raised.

Back to the other doves -

A flock of just under 50 ( white doves and pigeons) are currently visiting - last year at this time it was approx. 40.

I had a surprise recently - Victory (pink ring and green ring) was on the front lawn when I went through the garden on my way to the island to feed the doves. I walked through the honeysuckle arch and there in the lavenders was Victory again. 'You cheeky thing!' I said 'How did you pass me?' and then I realised that this dove, also with pink and green rings, was not Victory at all but a bigger, older dove, with the rings on the opposite legs. I checked my records and discovered that it must be Autumn. Autumn was a dove that I caught and ringed last October and haven't seen since before Christmas! Wonder where he/she has been all this time, and why he went away? Remember those deep snow days? Somehow he found food then because he definitely wasn't visiting my garden for it.

The End. (you may have to scroll down for the comments section - I still can't work out how NOT to have a huge gap!)

Where do you go to my lovelies?

2009-06-05T23:52:00.000-07:00

6th June '09

The doves all fly away at night, or rather they come and go during the day and I didn't really know where they spent their nights and time away from here. Now I've found out!

The very night that Victory and Purity celebrated their 9 week old birthday they didn't come back to sleep in the dovecote. Big doves now! They decided to be in with the in crowd and go off with the rest of the flock, leaving a sad me and an empty dovecote. They are now over 11 weeks old, and I see them at feeding times, or when they choose to spend time in the garden.

Purity, left, and Victory searching for grains on the lawn

Purity and Victory often stay together when they are eating

Playing hide and seek round the pots!

And Victory looks up at the pot thinking 'I wonder if there is something yummy in there?' I have already had to move a pink as the doves kept pecking off the buds.

We went to a BBQ at a local farm recently. My husband had often mentioned that the farmer had a lot of doves in his barn and that maybe they were mine, but I didn't really think about it as I assumed my doves spent their nights on a much nearer farm. At the BBQ, as the sun started to go down, the farmer pointed to the sky and said 'They're coming in now' and I could see a flock of white doves flying over the fields. It's a beautiful sight on a warm tranquil evening. Of course I hadn't got my camera with me! I asked the farmer to take me to see where the doves were roosting, and whilst we walked round he told me that, initially, he had tried to prevent the doves getting in the barn by putting up wire, shutting doors etc but they always got in and now he doesn't bother. 'They make a mess' he said cheerfully 'But so do the horses!' He also said that despite the mess, he likes them, so it looks like they have a home for life!

As soon as we got to the barn - which is actually a metal building erected to use as an indoor schooling area for ponies, with sand on the ground, I saw Nero sitting outside. There is no way that I could mistake him as he has such distinctive dark colouring and orange and green rings. 'That's my Nero!' I gasped. I hadn't really believed til then that the doves would fly so far, though actually it's only about 10 minutes in the car down lanes, and probably quicker cross country as the doves fly. 'No, he's my Nero!' joked the farmer. 'You don't feed him' I teased 'He's mine!' ... 'Ah,' said the farmer 'But I give him lodging, and all his mates too!'

This is Nero - on my lawn. He really is MY Nero, as Bob Friar gave him to me!

Initally, when he was trying to keep the doves out of the barn, the farmer had kindly made them a wall dovecote and stuck in on the outside. Of course they don't use it! They much prefer the sheltered warm accomodation inside, with lots of roosting space and a soft landing for their babies when they fledge.

I took a camera up another day, and took some photos, but couldn't see Nero or any other of my ringed doves.

The barn in the distance, doves in the field, and close up with doves on the roof.

The wall cote that the farmer put up and the doves ignore, and inside, a dove searching for sticks on the sandy floor. I watched it collecting little twigs, and flying up to give them to the female in the nest.

Doves in the rafters, and one on her messy nest - sorry I couldn't get a better photo of this.

Two friends visit a nest, and another two, cosy together - this was the one where the male was collecting the sticks. I counted five nests in the barn.

Enlarge this photo by clicking on it and see how many doves you can see - there are more than you think! The second photo is a dove in my garden.

So, I'm happy that my lovely dovies have a safe home and that, at last, I know where they really do go at night.The end (you may have to scroll down for the comments section).

Victory and Purity 8 weeks old

2009-05-20T00:33:00.000-07:00

Wed. 20.5.09 - In fact they will be 9 weeks old tomorrow!

This may be the last close portrait I can get of them together. Victory has the pink ring, Purity the purple.

They are still returning to the dovecote at night, but stopped sleeping in the same nest box at about 6-7 weeks.Since Silver, no other dove has invaded their territory, thank goodness.

Purity's Godmother, the blogger Elizabethd, alerted me to a lovely giveaway on her friend's blog - please do have a look at this lovely and different china http://ramblingsfromanenglishgarden.blogspot.com/

The end.

The Crippled Dove and why he had to go

2009-05-10T23:53:00.000-07:00

My husband dubbed the dove with the crippled foot who had taken over the dovecote, Long John Silver. Silver for short. I wasn't too happy he had jumped in there almost immediately the babies had fledged, but as long as he left them alone I didn't mind too much and hoped he would find a mate.

Although Silver spent much time bowing up and down in male dove courting fashion (even when alone) none of the females seemed interested in him. He didn't spend nights in the dovecote, just part of each day. He would fly here in the morning and re-establish his claim, either sitting smugly in the nesting box or blocking one of the entrances. Later, he would join the others, and there seems to be a little flock of 5 to 15 doves within the larger flock who spend all day here, which is really lovely as I enjoy seeing them on the roof.

In the early evenings about 6 - 7 pm when the doves start thinking about going back to their night time roosts, Silver would go back to the nest box. And of course so would my 7 week old squabs, Victory and Purity, as they were born there. Silver wasn't allowing them in their orginal nest box but they both packed in together in one of the others and seemed content enough. I wasn't happy about Silver - the last thing I wanted was another crusty old bachelor dove in the cote, like John had been after Lily died.

Victory and Purity, in together, and nervous about what Silver would do next.

As the days went on Silver got more aggressive. He would settle himself in the nestbox and then keep popping out to see where the babies where. One evening, strangely, he blocked the entrance while the two young birds were inside. Other times he would force them out of whichever part of the dovecote they had attempted to settle in. But every night by 8pm at the latest he had flown off and away and they could sleep in peace.

Sunday 10th May, and I had had a stressful two weeks with my daughter in and out of hospital and wasn't in the mood for any dovie trouble. Silver kept harrassing the babies; routing them out of wherever they were hiding in the dovecote and forcing them to fly back to the roof. Then he'd settle himself, and they'd sneak in at the back, and after a while he'd do it again. Obviously he wasn't going to allow them to live there and it was past 8pm and he showed no sign of leaving. I couldn't stand it and went out and trapped him in the nestbox by blocking it with my hand. Then I removed him to a secure box (with food and water).

I rang my sister, a sensible retired farmer's wife, and she said that she felt it was unlikely Silver would find a mate this late in the season or indeed ever, especially with a crippled foot. Doves. like all animals, are aware when something is wrong with one of their number. She also confirmed what I was feeling - that the young birds, Victory and Purity, are my hope for having a few doves living in my dovecote permanently and that Silver wasn't going to help matters to say the least.

I made up my mind, and although I felt worse than when I'd got rid of the devil dove (see previous blogs) I still felt I was doing the right thing. Without going into details, my husband despatched the crippled dove the next day as quickly and humanely as possible. I really wish this hadn't been necessary.

I cleaned out the nestbox Silver had been using. This was easier than before as I had taken the hint (don't know where I read it) to line the inside of the box with a folded over sheet of newspaper with a bit of hay on top. The fouled newspaper came out relatively easily.... and straight into a plastic bag to be disposed of! Then I relined with more paper, and hay. When no doves are actually rearing babies I check the boxes and clean if necessary about once a month. When I got the cote the makers Kootensaw Dovecotes http://www.dovecotes.co.uk/ suggested that once a year would be adequate! Believe me, pigeon/dove poo sets like concrete and you wouldn't want to be cleaning out a year's worth. Also I want to keep the doves as healthy as possible and roosting every night in a pile of poo is not very hygienic!

11th May - I wondered whether Victory and Purity would settle in the dovecote or whether the harrassment from last night might have put them off. They were both in the cote by 8pm and did spend a bit of time popping from box to box, and peeking out craning their necks around, obviously wondering if they were about to be hounded out each time they settled. They didn't stay together, but in two different sections, but they did stay, thank goodness.

Victory (left, pink ring) and Purity (purple) on the island wall.

A quick update on the general flock - The only other ringed doves I am seeing are Nero, shown here with a big neck in courting mode. I love the purple colour of his neck feathers. And Sweetie, who I caught and ringed last summer. There are another pair of young doves, seemingly about the same age as Victory and Purity and I think they were the ones born in the barn. I went to the barn one evening and they were there, alone, and babies always go back to the place they were hatched, unless for some reason they are not able to, or are hounded away by other older doves, as Silver was trying to do to Victory and Purity.

The end.

The Doves at Amberley Castle

2009-05-07T23:41:00.000-07:00

We went to Amberley Castle in West Sussex for one night for our wedding anniversary in April. My own squabs, Victory and Purity, were just flying and finding food for their own so I wasn't too worried about them. I knew from their website http://www.amberleycastle.co.uk/ that Amberley had white doves and was looking forward to seeing them. (More about our visit to Amberley with my photos on my usual blog if you are interested http://faithsdoves.blogspot.com/ Although it's called 'faith's doves' it's not my dove blog!!!

We were so fortunate to have one day of gorgeous, almost summer, weather.

The castle has been a hotel for 20 years. I don't know when the doves were introduced or when the dovecote was erected, but imagine they have been there for some while, as there were a fair number of them and they all seemed mightily at home! They do use the dovecote

But also shelter and nest in the nooks and crannies of the old castle walls. You can just see one peeking out in the photo below.

Some of these holes were the places were the original beams slotted in, see below, and make ideal nesting sites for doves. I put my arm in a lower one at the front of the castle and it went in to the elbow - that's plenty of room to make a good nest! I didn't see any squabs but knew they were somewhere around as I could hear their high-pitched squeaking.

At night, the old stone wall was studded with white pom poms, and they looked so endearing, but I just couldn't get a good photo. If you click on the picture, it should enlarge and you can see three doves in the rounded wall (turret) at the side of the portcullis.

The gardens were beautiful and, for me, the pure white doves, cooing gently and fluttering about added to the loveliness. As did the white peacock

I spoke to the lady gardener who, with one other, looks after the gardens entirely alone. She said that they feed the peacock (and the peahen who was currently kept penned up as she keeps escaping) but do not feed the doves. The doves rob a bit of food from the peafowl but otherwise find their food in the nearby fields. I wondered how they got on when we had all that snow - there wouldn't have been much natural food around then! But I suppose it keeps the numbers down, as does the sparrowhawk which the gardener said was also around.

Doves on the battlements
And on the window above the portcullis

They have a truly delightful home! This was taken early in the morning before the hotel guests were around.

The end. (double clicking should enlarge the photos)

Two little dickey birds

2009-04-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

Started blog Tuesday 28.4.09

Continued Tuesday 5.5.09

The very day before we were due to go away, Purity at last joined Victory by managing to fly to the roof.

I had been out and come home to find Victory on the roof with Hope and some other doves. I checked Purity and found her sitting comfortably well into the nestbox, not peeking out and with obviously no intention of disturbing herself. I felt it was a good opportunity to get her out, so she could see the others and maybe join them. I was desperate for both babies to be fully independent before we went away - able to fly, and find food with the flock.

I put her gently on the ground and she pecked a few grains, then hopped up on the 'nursery' branch and looked around. Mustering her strength, she managed to get herself airbourne and flew in a scrambling way to the low adjacent roof.

Here, Purity, low right, walks up the roof to Hope and Victory.

After a short while, the doves took off to the island to feed and Victory went with them. He flew strongly and surely, thank goodness, as I didn't want him to tire and land in the river. Joking apart, the water flows very fast there and he wouldn't have a chance. Purity waited on the roof, and when they all returned, she joined in with them.

Victory and Purity on the roof with the others, far right. They are still smaller than the fully grown doves.

In the afternoon, I saw Hope feed them on the hedge.

Wed. 29th - the day we were going away. The babies had spent the night in the cote as usual and I was up in time to see them with Hope on the hedge, but I don't think she fed them.

Later, they both flew to the roof with her, and at some point after that, a dove - Hope? Pascoe? another dove? flew to the dovecote and blocked the entrance to the babies' nestbox. Victory tried to get back in, but the dove prevented him. I suppose this dove, whoever it is, has earmarked the nest box for itself. The minute they were fledged it was in there! I only hope it allows Victory and Purity to spend the night in another part of the cote, or that they go with Hope and are safe.

Later when this mystery dove had disappeared, I had a peep in the nestbox - nothing there, but Victory was in one of the other compartments, and, I think, alone. I must just resign myself to leaving my babies' fate to nature. Obviously I would like more eggs in the dovecote, but would've preferred Victory and Purity to carry on living there, and eventually rear their own babies there.

Tuesday 5.5.09

We came home late Sunday evening 3rd May 09. It was dark so no doves around on the roof of course. The new dove was in residence in the old nesting box, but I was pleased to see at least one baby was in one of the other compartments of the dovecote at the back. When I fed the doves early the next morning, I was pleased to see both babies flew to the island with the rest of the flock. They are tentative about feeding, and still only manage the smaller sized grains, but are coping well. They are smaller and more delicate than fully grown birds, and still are not fully feathered under their wings.

Later, on the roof, and sitting together as they still like to do, I captured an amusing picture of them.

The mystery dove who has taken over Victory and Purity's old nest box has proved to be a male, and he is the one with the crippled foot that I have seen all winter and spring. He doesn't appear to have a mate, but spends time on the top of the dovecote, bowing and scraping in male courting fashion. I hope, despite his foot, that he will find a mate so we can have more eggs. I haven't named him yet - he is an attractive dove, despite his foot, as he has a fan-tail. He may not be a full fantail white dove, but has definitely got the genes! I suppose one good thing about him is that I recognise him by his foot! Hope has now gone back to anonymity - the pink food colouring mark has faded away.

The end (you may have to scroll down a bit for the comments section)

Victory Flies!

2009-04-27T23:29:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 28th April 09

If you want to read about the Dove Naming Competition it is in the blog below this one.

Hope didn't feed the squabs, Victory and Purity, for the first time on the evening of Wed. 22nd when they were 35 days old (I go on Victory's age, Purity is a day younger). She did feed them on the Thurs evening but not again since in the evenings. I have seen her feed them during the day, but ONLY if they come out onto the hedge. She won't feed them in the nestbox. Of course this is her way of getting them out and making them independent. When she didn't feed them in the evenings, I got them out of the nestbox when she'd gone away and put them on the ground with small grains - and they fed themselves! From approx. 39 days, they could put themselves to bed, by short flights from the ground, to the stump, to the hedge and then into the nestbox. I was relieved when they could do this as it made them so much safer.

I sneak up on the babies to see if they are actually feeding, and to take a photo.

In case you wonder why I note the dates and how many days old the babies are all the time, it is so I know what is roughly to be expected next time that I have any squabs, and can hopefully worry less about what is normal!

Not a very good photo, but shows the feeding tussle in the hedge. The babies try to get to Hope's beak - sometimes she refuses, sometimes she gives in.

One baby, probably Victory, with Hope. There is not much size difference now - the baby is on the right. When you see them in reality, though, the babies are much more delicate and still have yellow down on their heads.This photo was taken at 40 days old.

I obviously had to make a decision not to keeping removing them from the nestbox at night and bringing them into the house. The first night I thought I might do it, I checked the temperature and it had dropped very low, so decided against it. The next night (39 days old) it was mild, so I left them and I didn't even worry about them, but was up at 6.30 am to see if they were ok. I just caught Hope on the hedge trying to entice them out. She has been a brilliant mother to these fatherless squabs. The info I've read says that many lone pigeon parents will chuck one squab out of the nest if the other parent dies when the babies are very small as they can only cope with feeding one baby on their own.

Monday 27th April and again I was up early, to feed the flock and check the babies. Hope had both babies out on the hedge with her. I pottered about in the garden changing the doves bath water and checking on the plants. Suddenly there was a flutter of wings and a small dove almost touched my head as he flew past - it was Victory! He'd found his wings and landed on the main roof of the house (not as high as some houses as our 'cottage' is a bungalow).

He seemed to look around in amazement! Wow, up so high! and proud of his achievement.

Then walked along the top of the roof to where the other doves were. Young birds are likely to get 'picked on' by older birds. There is definitely a pecking order in all flocks, large or small. But I hope if Victory and Purity stay close to the dovecote they will not interfere with any other dove's arrangements and therefore stay out of trouble. I often wonder what happened to poor little Smudge - (see previous blogs) She/he was only a squab really and probably couldn't cope with the new environment.

By 7.30 am that morning Victory had flown away with Hope and the others and I wondered if I would ever see him again. Poor little Purity was left on the ground on her own.

She soon put herself back in the nest box where she feels safe.

I felt a little bit sad, but later on when I got up on the steps to check if Purity was in the nestbox and ok, I found Victory cuddled up beside her! Ah, what a nice big brother he is! (I call Victory 'he' and Purity 'she', but no idea what sex they are. It is extremely difficult to sex pigeons until they are older and display male/female behaviour).

In the afternoon, Victory came out onto the lower roof adjacent to the dovecote with Hope and Pascoe.

Here he is, top right - you can just see the pink ring.

And again, with mummy Hope. Her pink food colouring mark has entirely gone now, and I only recognise her by her feathered legs and attention to the squabs.

Purity hasn't caught up yet, but of course she is a day behind in development. Today is Tuesday and we go away for one night tomorrow. Back again on Thursday, but for one night only before going away for three full days. I must leave the babies to Hope!

The end (you may have to scroll down a bit for the comments section).

The Winner is......

2009-04-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

Sunday 26th April '09

Thank you to everyone who entered my Name the Baby Dove competition. Just a little update before I discuss all the entries and announce the winner.

The babies are now 39 and 38 days old. Victory is the largest and therefore I assume the oldest. They are making slow but sure progress. On Friday I had to be out the whole day, much as I hate to leave them. I got them out of the nest box before I went for a while, and again when I came home at 6pm. I assume,the rest of the day they spent in the nest box. They are both capable of flying short distances and Victory has even got up onto the cardboard box and then flown to the nest box. so they could come out on their own, but they don't.

Hope still tries about twice a day to get them out and I did see one come out to the hedge with her for a short while, but then popped himself straight back in. I managed to get a quick photo - it's not very good but you can see the size difference between mother and offspring.

These show Hope fluttering on the hedge trying to encourage the babies out.

When I get them out they peck at the seeds I put on the ground and in little dishes for them and have sips of water, but they do not move far from the immediate area underneath the dovecote.

Hope has caught me with them out a couple of times but she doesn't seem to mind. She and Pascoe spend time on our roof or on the island and if they fly away them come back frequently to be near the babies. I'm hoping when these babies have grown-up that they will have another brood in the dovecote but that will be up to Pascoe as the male chooses the nesting site.

The baby on my hand is shown the nest box, then I retreat a few paces and let it fly.

It wheels round to the right place, but ends up too high and crash lands on the roof!

I'm still taking them in at night but that will have to stop soon as we go away next Wednesday. I weighed them yesterday morning and they have not put on any weight whatsoever since the last time which was a while ago. However, they are being fed, and feeding themselves a little now, and seem perfectly healthy so I am not worried about their weight.

Now to the contest.... Over 70 names were suggested - Wow! Honour was the most popular choice. Suggested first by Wizzard, and then by Puffin, spelt Honor. DJ Kirkby also gave it a mention, as did Jane Grey in three different forms - Honor, Honoree and Honory and Zoe suggested Timo which means Honour. It is a lovely name, but no, I didn't choose it this time.

Grace was suggested twice, by Camilla and Jane Grey. I do like this name very much. My mother had a very elegant friend called Grace, and my friend has a pretty daughter with this name. Pearl was also suggested twice, by Puffin and Pondside, and I think that's a very pretty and appropriate name for a dove, as is Peace, suggested by Puffin and Jude.

My online name, Faith, was suggested by Tiggywinkle and Jude. Very flattering but I didn't want to choose that.

Glory was suggested by Billie Jane who probably didn't realise that the squabs' daddy (killed by a hawk) had been Glory and Jane Grey suggested Gloria in honour of him - that was a lovely thought, Jane!

Some of the names suggested by children were sweet - Snowdrop, Pretty Dove (just Pretty in it's own is nice) and Fluffy - doves ARE fluffy when they have been bathing. See!

Fennie, much as we empathise with each other usually, surely you didn't expect me to call my delicate baby dove Vic Labour to go with Vic Tory? You are being too witty or off the wall for me! Coo is a cute little name and I liked your clever explanation. Puffin suggested Little Coo first though.

I did say that I wanted a name to 'go' with Victory and interesting attempts were made:

Nelson by ArtSparker (and my husband suggested that too).
Endeavour by Lee. I liked your connections with this one, Lee.
Victoria by Celtic Heart. I liked this as I had some doves from the feral flock last summer called Octavius and Octavia, and Victory and Victoria would've been similar.
Parade and March - suggested by Fennie and Billie Jane's husband. Well I agree they do go with Victory!

Names that I have already used for my doves were suggested. Pax by Pipany - Pax was the leader of my original flock and was so special that I couldn't possibly call another dove after him. Paz, suggested by Pondside, sounds too much like Pax. Columba was one of my Pax and Persephone's babies, but you didn't know that, Celtic Heart. It's a beautiful name and I have seen my Columba back for visits on several occasions. And I think I called one of my feral doves that died, Blanche - as suggested by Jane Grey.

Other names that weren't quite right were:

Majesty suggested by Crystal Jigsaw - too grand! Your own name Crystal would be lovely now I come to think about it.

Endurance suggested by Pondside - no, sorry, it's not a pretty enough word for a dove.

Abrax suggested by Zoe - I like the meaning, but not the word.

Yrotciv (reversal of Victory) suggested by Calico Kate - I'd never be able to say it!

Verity suggested by Jane Grey. It's lovely but my niece is called Verity, and Valory (spelt Valerie) is my sister's name!

Some names didn't appeal very much including Jaws, Captain Beaky, Defeat (I know it was a joke EJ!), Alba and Dorothy (the name of my first Mother in Law).

Names that very much appealed were:

Fortune by Arosebyanyothername - I was very taken with that one.
Serenity by Camilla - a very suitable name for a white dove.
Charity by Jane Grey - very good for Hope's baby
Lucia by ChrisH- I just love the way that name sounds and ditto to Excelsis suggested by Calico Kate.
Cailean by Calico Kate (pronounced Kaylin and Gaelic for dove) - I've never heard that word before, it's lovely CH.
Constance by Zoe - one of my favourite names of all time.

So what name did I eventually choose for Victory's brother or sister?

When I said I wanted a name to 'go' with Victory, I actually meant I wanted a name that went with the word Victory, rather than the meaning of victory, or the ship Victory.

The names for my doves tend to pop into my head. I chose Hope as I was hoping so much that the pair of feral white doves interested in my dove cote at the beginning of the year would set up home and the name Glory of course followed on naturally. It has been a victory for me to rear these babies. The last babies hatched in the dovecote were the Ugly Dovelings, born at the end of July 07 who died aged two weeks and before them the tiny babies who died aged a few days old at the end of May 07. I haven't had any babies successfully reared for two years - the last being Francis and Iona - March 07.

So Victory it was for my first new baby in two years, and I suppose a Triumph for me (as suggested by Pipany, but no I didn't choose that one).

Although I wanted to have the naming competition I couldn't help names coming into my head as to what I would call the other baby if I was to name it myself, and one particular word came into my mind.

When I saw this name suggested on my blog I was very surprised and pleased. The very name I would've chosen. The perfect name!

PURITY

I love this name, and, for me, it works perfectly with Victory. Three syllables and both ending with 'y'.

So Purity is the name I have chosen for my 'little one' and thank you, Elizabethd, for reading my mind and choosing the very name that my heart had chosen already.

I will contact you through Purplecoo private messages to ask what prize you would prefer - a bouquet, some lovely chocolates or a surprise!

If Purity hadn't been suggested then I may well have chosen Fortune or Serenity.

Thank you very much everyone for reading my dove blogs and taking part in my little competition. Please come back soon as I want to add Jane Grey's YouTube photos (set to music)

of her lovely little woodpigeon squab - also called Hope - hatched among the geraniums in her windowbox - when I work out how to do it! If you can't wait then look up Hope in Paris on YouTube.

The end.

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Can fly, Won't fly!

2009-04-21T07:15:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 21.4.09

My dove squabs, Victory and the little un-named one (see Naming Competition in blog below) are very reluctant indeed to come out of the nest. Hope has spent time on the hedge or on top of the dovecote encouraging them to join her. Even if she is on top of the cote and they can't see her, they can obviously sense her as they immediately start their high pitched 'peeping'. She is slackening off the feeds no doubt in an effort to force them out of the nest.

I have taken them out every day since the first time - see previous blog - and have ringed them. I have made them a box to go in if they tumble out of the nest when I'm not around, and put Spirit's branch for them to sit on too. (Spirit was my beautiful dove that couldn't fly - see last late summer blogs). The first time I took these babies out I was afraid they would scramble away from me and get under the hedge so I arranged all sorts of boxes and stuff around to make a pen.

The nursery box to hide in and Spirit's branch.

This is Victory, with his pink ring, he jumped into the water but jumped out again pretty quickly. You have to have shallow water trays for the young squabs or they could drown.

This is the little one, with the purple ring, looking around and assessing the situation.

They ignored the food, because they prefer Mummy to feed them, thank you very much!

The little one crouches and jumps up onto the low branch easy peasy!

Since I started taking them out of the nest three days ago, they have learnt to fly quite well. They just don't want to let on to Mummy Hope!

They quickly learn to fly up onto the step ladder from the ground. There was me worrying they would be scrambling into the bottom of the hedge, and they could actually almost fly onto it!

This is a close up of Spirit, an adult dove, so you can see the difference particularly in their beaks. It's the little one again in the photo, 33 days old.

More close ups of the little one. He seems slightly more tame than Victory, though I give them equal amounts of attention.

Here he is again on my finger. Bob Friar from Everlasting Doves told me to handle them as much as possible and I would love it if they were tame when they are adult, but I don't count on it.

Here you see how un-feathered they still are under their wings, and how delicate their wings are. Victory flew up to the wooden rung on his own from the ground. See the yellow down on his head blowing in the breeze.

Now I put the babies on my hand and raise it to the dovecote and they fly to the entrance and scramble in.

That's all for now. The Naming Competition close this coming Saturday 10pm, so please have a go naming my Little One if you haven't already, and you can choose up to 10 names each.

The End.

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Name the Babies Competition

2009-04-18T05:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Step-Families! This is widowed Hope, with her new mate Pascoe, and her two babies inside the nest-box.

Saturday 18th April '09

Hope and Glory's squabs are now 30 and 29 days old and I think it's time to name them. If you want to skip my updating waffle then just scroll down to the Naming Competition part!

Hope has been leaving them since they were two weeks old and I have taken them into the house every night, partly to keep them warm and partly to keep them safe from predators in the very early morning. In the past my parent doves have slept in the dovecote and would have been 'on guard' but Hope is entirely feral and only here because Glory (now dead) chose it as a suitable nesting site, and as she now has a new mate, Pascoe, she has been leaving them and no doubt spending the night with him! I have no idea where the doves all go at night, but there are lots of barns on the farm and nearby farms.

In the beginning I kept the squabs in the kitchen near the aga to keep them warm, but the last few nights have been putting their nursery box in the conservatory to harden them off a little!

Hope has been spending some time each day on the hedge, looking up at the nestbox, maybe in an attempt to encourage them out. I believe pigeon (dove) squabs fledge at about 30-40 days so shouldn't be long. We are going away in 11 days time so I hope they hurry up and do it before we go! This is important as they will need help to get back up into the dovecote at night until they can fly.

When the doves were away this afternoon, I took each baby out of the dovecote and put it on the grass (for no longer than a minute) to let them see the world beyond their little dark and smelly space! After four weeks in the nest the nestbox is rather unpleasant - although I do do a bit of pooper-scooping, and as they spend the night in the nursery box that does help reduce the mess in the dovecote. The smallest one came out first and seemed quite at home, looking around calmly. The doves came back to the roof just after I'd taken photos of the largest one, so I quickly tried to catch him to put him back before Hope noticed but he fluttered and flapped about the grass so fast that I could hardly catch him!

Smallest one looks around and then hops up onto the stepladder - I am impressed!

This is the largest one - see the yellow down, punk style, still on his head.

Naming Competition

I have decided on a name for the largest, and I presume the oldest, of the two squabs. He (or she - it is extremely difficult to sex pigeons until they are old enough to display characteristic male or female behaviour) is going to be called Victory. He is the one with pink colouring on his tail, on the right in the photo.

So your task is to name the other one! You can choose a male or female name, or just a lovely or suitable word, but it has to go well with Victory.

These are the actual shells that these squabs hatched from.

This baby will be ringed with a purple ring (of course, as it is a Purplecoo baby) and Victory will have a pink one.

You can choose up to 10 names each, and the competition is open to anyone who reads my blog, including children.

No favouritism, I will just choose the name I like best.

The prize will be your choice of a bouquet of flowers, or some lovely chocolates, or a surprise! So you will have to be prepared to give me your address so that I can send it to you. You have a week to think about it as the Closing date is Saturday 25th April '09 at 10pm.

I am looking forward to seeing your suggestions, and thank you in advance.

The End

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Four Week Birthday - and weighed again

2009-04-14T23:47:00.000-07:00

Thursday 16th April 09

Hope and Glory's babies (squabs) are four weeks old today. The oldest, and I assume that is the largest one, is 28 days and the smallest, 27. As you know, poor Glory died at the claws of a hawk when they were only days old, and Hope has done a magnificent job rearing them on her own. According to various studies, when one parent dies and the babies are very young, the remaining pigeon parent will chuck one baby out of the nest as it can usually only rear one. Hope has had unlimited access to food of course and that has made it easier for her. On Tuesday 14.4.09 the day's feeding schedule went like this - mind you this is just the feeds I saw, there may have been more: 7.30 am, 7.45 am, 8.20 am, 10.00 am, 4.15 pm and 6.50 pm. Some days there are less feeds and then I get worried that they might not be getting enough food. Mind you feeding does slacken off eventually so that hunger drives the babies out of the nest to fledge.

Hope goes in to feed. If you can click on this photo which should enlarge it, you will just see a squab's little beak lower right.

The babies are now very vocal. I've been able to hear their faint peeping since they were a week old, but now I can hear their high pitched squeaking for food when I am in the house with the doors and windows shut! Yes, it's that loud! And this is the reason that I am alerted to many of the feeds - I hear the squeaking, look out and see Hope's in the nest box. If you are ever in a town with old buildings and you hear noisy high squeaking then look up because there could well be a pigeon's nest tucked up in the nooks and crannies somewhere. Another giveaway is the mess on the buildings and the ground nearby of course. Squabs are sometimes called 'squeakers' for this reason.

They are also much more visible at the door of the nestbox, appearing and disappearing like little ghosts. If I see them and approach, then they shimmy down out of sight. They are still nervous and cautious, although don't seem to mind me handling them too much when I collect them at night to bring them into the kitchen and put them back in the morning.

A little face at the window

And sometimes two!

I weighed them again this morning to see if they had gained from when I weighed them on the 13th - see previous blog - and also because CalicoKate wanted to see a photo of one of them on the scales. So these are specially for you CK!

Big enough to peep out of the box, but not climb out!

Won't stand still on the scales!

Posing nicely now! - This is the smaller one of the two.

The largest one, tail marked with pink, was 9 and 3/4 ounces and is now approx. 10 ounces

The smaller one, was 7 and 3/8 ounces and is now approx. 8 and 1/2 ounces.

(This is their weight gain in 3 days, but difficult to be accurate as they kept getting off the scales!)

According to 'the book'*at 28 days feral pigeon squabs should be between 300 - 350g (i.e. 10 - 12 ounces) so my biggest one is just hitting the target and the other is underweight.

Notice the claws - they are extremely sharp!

I will be having a Naming Competition for them soon, with a prize, so watch this space!

* The book is 'Feral Pigeons' by Richard F. Johnson & Marian Janiga and costs over £70. It is on order for my birthday!

The End

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