A Pigeon Story

Over the years we have had a number of pigeons. Some were young ones Paul brought home from North Island where he worked. When a young one would fall out of the nest Paul is the one people would turn to to care for the bird. Just because Paul was a birder it was assumed he was an expert with birds. Though not a pro at caring for them he has a big heart and could not say no to helping with the young pigeons.

We found a pretty white pigeon on a busy highway, near the freeway, one time. We rescued it as it was in trouble. We brought it home and cared for it. We had it for some time.

We ended up with a cage full of pigeons for a period of time. Paul built one cage we used for a number of years. Later on a neighbor gave us a larger cage that we put to good use. Eventually all the pigeons flew the coup one way or other. We had pigeons in our yard for quite a while.

Since we had the cage of pigeons we also attracted other birds. We were able to catch a cockatiel that must have been someones pet at one time. Birdie flew into the pigeon coup for food and water which enabled us to catch him. We had him for a number of years in his own cage in the house. Paul named him Cockatiel Dundee. Cockatiels originate from Australia and Paul thought of Crocodile Dundee, thus Cockatiel Dundee. Our Birdie, as I called him, did not let us handle him as he was not used to handling. He got used to us being near him and liked attention. He could hear our car in the driveway and knew when someone was coming home. He would get all excited.

Cockatiel Dundee lived a good life for a bird that could have been a good catch for a cat. Other birds  have not been so lucky. We have tried rescuing others with no success. At this time we do our best to keep our cats inside. We do not want our cats to catch birds. We had one cat a number of years ago that caught two birds at once. And that is the truth.

Later on when our pigeon cage was empty we got a young pigeon from one of our neighbor children. J.J. is the child who found the pigeon and gave it to us. I named our new birdie J.J. after our little friend. We kept J.J. in a cage in the house as the weather was too cold for him to be outside. Our birdie got used to being in the house near us. But when he got older and the weather was better we put him in the large cage outside. He thrived as expected.

Eventually the door to the cage fell off and it was time to let J.J. fly the coup. After all he was a pigeon that needed to spread his wings and fly. He stayed nearby and made friends with some other pigeons. He would walk into the house if the door was open. He was comfortable with us.

We would leave the door open for the dogs to go in and out. J.J. thought it was for him. One day when we got home from doing our errands we were greeted by J.J. and his girl friend up on our bookshelves. When J.J. left the house he left his girlfriend behind and she was not happy being with all those strange people. She was in a scary place without him. She eventually flew outside to join him. He continued to visit us for sometime. Eventually the pigeons discontinued visiting our yard. We still enjoy other birds in our yard.