The Trouble With Journalism

As always, the picture isn't stellar, but you can see, Big and Little are more and more pigeony every day.  This pose is one they spend a lot of time in - usually with Big plunking himself atop Little. There's a lot of cuddling that happens, and a lot of bodily pushing one another around the A/C that vaguely looks like cuddling, vaguely looks like an MMA battle.

Activities of late: wing practice, pecking practice, and awkward family photo time, which happens when ParentPigeons come back, and they all wind up in some odd configuration or another, usually with one or more of the children sitting on the parents' heads. Seriously.

Unfortunately, I've started to fear my overzealous picture- and video-taking is interfering with their pigeon activities, as evidenced by the "Who Dat?" video from my last post. I mean, if you know me, you know what I feel about food - the last thing in the world I ever want to do to is interrupt someone's meal. I'll still try to get some video - it won't be long now till they fly the coop - but I've got to ease off a bit and let them do their thing, fowl as it may be (har har har).

I did get this, though, more disturbing feeding footage, rendered ridiculous by the totally coincidental background music, Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd(!!)'s Desafinado.  Between the music, and the slightly sped up quality of the video, it reads like a misguided Benny Hill sketch.  He did like his chicks...

They Grow Up So Fast

You go away for five damn days and you've got totally different pigeons on your hands, am I right??

Little and Big have undergone quite an evolution.  Big is much bigger, Little is not too much larger than when I left last week, but both have feathered out much more - their little wings sprouting the recognizable pigeon patterns. I'm a tiny bit nervous about Little - he's significantly smaller than Big, but I'm hoping it's just from being two-or-so days younger.

Some of you may remember last year BabyPigeon used to peck at me whenever I'd come near the window.  BP was a feisty little bugger. This year, Big has taken over the Intimidate-The-Huge-Face-Creature duties, but instead of pecking, Big opens up its little wings, puffs up into a fluff ball and looks at me angrily. Little still seems to be more introspective, cocking its weird head quizzically at me.

They're walking around a bit, exploring their 2' by 3' environs. Hobbling is probably a more accurate term - they're not the most graceful creatures.

Speaking of gracelessness, I present these two videos. The first horror show I call "Consumption" - a warning, duel baby pigeon feeding is not attractive. The second I call "Who Dat??!" titled after Dad/Mom caught me checking out the feeding.

Siblings

As I sit here typing from my couch, every few seconds I see a tiny head pop up above the line of the window, sometimes two. My two little guys (girls?) are doing great. One is bigger than the other - I'm assuming the one who was born first - so I have very originally named them Little and Big. Both Little and Big have grown so much, it seems, they can keep themselves warm enough, long enough for Mom and Dad to fly the coup - so to speak - for hefty periods of time. Thusly, I took this shot yesterday.

It's hard to see any definition between the two, as their spiny, pin-feather fluff blends together, but you can see one beak at the top of the nest - Little - and then where that piece of hay is just below him is covering Big's beak.

Where their heads keep bopping up and down, I've decided they're having a little discussion, perhaps a sibling spat.

Big seems to be more responsive - poking its head up whenever I turn lights on or off, noticing when I walk up to the window. Little is the introspective type - where Big attacks Mom and Dad for food, Little hangs back a bit, waiting its turn.

What they have in common is a lot of sleeping, and a lot of very rapid breathing.

Babies!

Mom and Dad have gotten very crafty. It used to be, when the changing of the guard happened, there was a period of time - as long as a minute - where neither adult was on top of the nest, and I had a wide open view of the eggs/baby. I think, however, they figured out that whenever they leave the nest exposed, a large, wide-grinned predator suddenly appears on the other side of the clear wall, and clumsily flashes a metal box at them. So they've started to both squeeze onto the nest, until the relieving partner is fully situated, and then the first sitting partner gets off the nets.

CRAFTY!!!

But! I got 'em yesterday. Dad/Mom and I had a total stare-down. The babies are getting big enough that their heads pop up in front of the adult's chest. I sat at my window staring at the little buggers, with the adult staring at me. After a while, something changed, where I can only imagine the adult decided they were safe, and began feeding. I'm honored.

So, without further ado, a couple videos. The first I like to call "Sibling Rivalry" and the second I call, simply, "Feeding."

BP2.0#1 Is Here!!

So, after a long transmission-silence I was all prepared to do a post about how we're in PigeonLimbo right now, waiting for metamorphosis from egg to breathing creature, not much goin' on. And then I was going to write something melodramatic about how I feel like I'm in the same boat right now, in a slumped holding pattern, waiting for something. But then! The changing of the guard happened and look! Ok, the picture's terrible. But I think you can at least see the clearly cracked egg on the left, and the tiny yellow fluff in the middle, BP2.0#1! I'm very curious to see if the second egg hatches this year. From the look Mom/Dad gave me when I was racing around with my camera phone, my presence isn't necessarily helping BP2.0#2's process...

Here's hoping I'll make my way out of my egg as well. Happy Easter/Passover/Vernal Equinox, BabyPigeon(s)!

Now do something cute.

A Pigeon's Work Is Never Done

I managed to catch a neat little hour of pigeon behavior this afternoon, as the couple continues to develop their nest. I always thought, once it's built it's built. But they spent about an hour this afternoon with one of them flying back and forth, reappearing with new materials, while the other weaved. Wove?

A note on materials: their nest-making skills seem to have improved from last year. They have upgraded from discarded plastic bag ties and oddly sized twigs to an intricate braiding of solely hay. Yes, hay. Or ... at least it looks just like hay. I noticed one of our local empty lots is currently filled with a weed that looks a lot like what seems to be populating my air conditioner. Whatever it is, it's a much prettier concoction than last year's.

Here's Mom/Dad at work, mid-weave, not at all happy to see me.

There's a strange clicking noise coming from the nest, the source of which I can't quite pinpoint. I'm not sure if it's from the feet/claws of ParentPigeon, or if there's an escaping baby. Come out and play, baby!!! We're all waiting!!