Well this was long back, we had a pigeon couple in one of our bedroom windows. Every day they would come and hang out there and do their lovey-dovey stuff. The girl would sit on one of the flower pots, which had almost become pigeon pots by now because it grew pigeons! She would act as if she has laid eggs, but when she flew, it was evident that she hadn't so far. Surprisingly, her boyfriend was very positive that she will lay eggs one day.
I used to watch them and ponder on the fact that these people have very little stress in life. There were pigeons nests at almost all the windows of our two-bedroom apartment. So many that we had kept a tea party where all the kids from different windows met each other. Initially, my mom was worried that we have to put back the kids in the right nests. But that wasn't a problem all were in different shapes and sizes and easily recognizable. By this time I knew, how a baby looks when its 2 days old, 5 days old and so on :)
So coming back to our lady pigeon, whom we used to call Kalli, because she was so cute. I guess that's the reason her BF hung around her for so long. Then there was another couple in our living room-window, where the female was so afraid that she would fly away the instant she heard some noise in the hall. She had lain two eggs. We were not happy with her dedication to her eggs. The other moms would not move from their place even when we would sneak on them or even try to frighten them. I had become so attached to my pigeon cuties that I would talk with them on a daily basis. Of course, they did not talk back to me. But from their eyes and body moments, it was understood that they wanted me to buzz off.
Then one day, in our hall window, no one had returned to the eggs for a long time. That is when I had this innovative idea of lending one of the egg to Kalli. So I removed one egg and put it in Kalli's pot, when she was away. I waited to see her reaction when she saw the egg. She came around 20 minutes later and sat at her pot as usual.The moment she sat, she was startled to find something smooth and round under her. She jumped for an instant to look at the egg, and sat back on it as if nothing had happened. The next day when her BF came, we wanted to see his reaction too. In pigeons, it is difficult to read emotions, unless you are an expert. The BF sat on the egg without too many questions to Kalli. And over the new few days, I saw two dedicated parents blessed with a pigeon chick. They adored the chick without any doubt, after all pigeons they are!
The second egg in the living room window had also hatched by this time, but was left unattended most of the time. Suddenly, the mom in in hall window stopped coming and the dad sat by himself in the daytime for a couple of days. This time I had thought of adding the baby to Kalli, but had some reservations about it because pigeons are not friendly with other hatched babies! This is disheartening but is the truth. I kept the twin baby in Kalli's nest and as I guessed, she kept away from it. Same for her BF. So I kept it back to its old nest to discover that the dad also stopped frequenting there. So for the next few days I researched and tried feeding it myself, but by that time it had become very weak and stopped eating and died in a couple of days. That left my crying for some days. But adopted baby did well and flew away in a couple of weeks leaving Kalli and BF on their own. But they were proud parents by now.
I used to watch them and ponder on the fact that these people have very little stress in life. There were pigeons nests at almost all the windows of our two-bedroom apartment. So many that we had kept a tea party where all the kids from different windows met each other. Initially, my mom was worried that we have to put back the kids in the right nests. But that wasn't a problem all were in different shapes and sizes and easily recognizable. By this time I knew, how a baby looks when its 2 days old, 5 days old and so on :)
So coming back to our lady pigeon, whom we used to call Kalli, because she was so cute. I guess that's the reason her BF hung around her for so long. Then there was another couple in our living room-window, where the female was so afraid that she would fly away the instant she heard some noise in the hall. She had lain two eggs. We were not happy with her dedication to her eggs. The other moms would not move from their place even when we would sneak on them or even try to frighten them. I had become so attached to my pigeon cuties that I would talk with them on a daily basis. Of course, they did not talk back to me. But from their eyes and body moments, it was understood that they wanted me to buzz off.
Then one day, in our hall window, no one had returned to the eggs for a long time. That is when I had this innovative idea of lending one of the egg to Kalli. So I removed one egg and put it in Kalli's pot, when she was away. I waited to see her reaction when she saw the egg. She came around 20 minutes later and sat at her pot as usual.The moment she sat, she was startled to find something smooth and round under her. She jumped for an instant to look at the egg, and sat back on it as if nothing had happened. The next day when her BF came, we wanted to see his reaction too. In pigeons, it is difficult to read emotions, unless you are an expert. The BF sat on the egg without too many questions to Kalli. And over the new few days, I saw two dedicated parents blessed with a pigeon chick. They adored the chick without any doubt, after all pigeons they are!
The second egg in the living room window had also hatched by this time, but was left unattended most of the time. Suddenly, the mom in in hall window stopped coming and the dad sat by himself in the daytime for a couple of days. This time I had thought of adding the baby to Kalli, but had some reservations about it because pigeons are not friendly with other hatched babies! This is disheartening but is the truth. I kept the twin baby in Kalli's nest and as I guessed, she kept away from it. Same for her BF. So I kept it back to its old nest to discover that the dad also stopped frequenting there. So for the next few days I researched and tried feeding it myself, but by that time it had become very weak and stopped eating and died in a couple of days. That left my crying for some days. But adopted baby did well and flew away in a couple of weeks leaving Kalli and BF on their own. But they were proud parents by now.
