# Baby pigeon being attacked!



## brooklynest (Jul 10, 2010)

Hi folks, 

My apartment in Brooklyn, NY looks onto a boarded up window that is home to a pigeon family. About 2 1/2 weeks ago a baby pigeon hatched - it was very exciting for us as the pigeons, who we had come to love, had tragically lost their previous eggs to crows (we saw the whole thing happen - so traumatic)! 

In the past couple of days *an adult pigeon has been attacking the baby *-- I have witnessed feeding many times and am absolutely sure that is not what's happening - The attacker is biting at the baby's body, getting a beakful of the baby's feathers and the baby has a *bloody wound on its wing*, shakes in fear and cowers on the corner of the ledge trying to get away (it can't yet fly) whenever the attacker is near. This is happening as I am writing this! 

One of the baby's parents (sorry I can't tell sex, I think it's the mother though, since it's smaller than the attacker) is still on the ledge, but doesn't do much to protect the baby (at first it tried to get between the two, but now it appears to have given up). I don't know where the other parent is - in fact, the attacker looks the same (to me) as the other parent - *is it possible the baby is being attacked by its own father?*

The weird thing is, the attacker seems to know it is intruding - when I throw pebbles it flies away, whereas the parent pigeon stays put. On the other hand, they seem to have started behaving like a couple - sitting in the nest together, one sitting on the other's head. 

I'm not sure what to do when the baby is being attacked - I've just been making loud noises and tossing pebbles (not to hit the attacker, just to scare it away). Am I doing the right thing? *The baby is about two and a half weeks old, has all its feathers, but can't fly yet -- is this normal behavior, or what is going on?! *


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Well, it can happen, but is unusual for the parent bird to be attacking it's baby. He should be protecting him. When the babies are older and ready to leave the nest, the parents will sometimes push them out, but at 2 weeks old, that shouldn't be happening. Some times they don't make good parents, though that is not usually the case, and the parent could be trying to get rid of them in order to mate and nest again. Maybe the parents are young and just aren't good parent material yet. Is there some way that you can reach the babies if you have to?


----------



## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

The parent bird may be trying to get them up and out, wanting to make another nest there and see them as intruders now that they are weand.


----------



## brooklynest (Jul 10, 2010)

I can't reach the baby - the nest is on the ledge of another apartment building, and the window it's in is boarded up. To get at it from the outside I would have to put a ladder in my downstairs neighbor's yard - I've seen him trying to hit the birds with a stick, so I doubt he'd be sympathetic to my cause!


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Your neighbor might not mind if you were to put up a ladder to get the birds. He might think you to be nuts, but would probably be glad that you were at least removing some of them. How high are they? Can you get to them?


----------



## brooklynest (Jul 10, 2010)

If I move the baby, how will it get fed? It's still being fed by the mother.
Also, there is a *new egg in the nest*! But the baby is sometimes still sitting in the nest (not when the attacker is near- then it sits on the opposite end of the ledge)... so it seems Spirit Wings is probably right that they're trying to get the older baby out of the way! But why would the mother still be feeding it? And what happened to its dad? I thought pigeons mated for life!


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

If you move the baby, you would have to feed it. If it's 2 1/2 weeks old, then it isn't weaned yet. Can you post a picture of the baby. And the male usually is feeding them at this point, while the Mom starts a new nest. That probably is the dad that you are seeing. The female stays on the nest at night, and the male from sometime like mid to late morning, through the afternoon usually. That way you can tell who is who. Any chance that egg may have been there before, and just didn't hatch? There are usually 2 eggs. You have only mentioned one baby. There would usually be 2.


----------



## brooklynest (Jul 10, 2010)

So, the one who is feeding it is also the one who sits on the nest at night. I doubt the egg was there all the time, as the nest has been unattended enough that I think I would have seen it. I do remember there being 2 eggs before the baby hatched, but only one baby emerged.
This morning there is a new development -- the egg is sitting on the edge of the ledge outside the nest, and the baby is in the nest with the mother (the one who sat on the nest last night and who feeds the baby). The attacker is nowhere to be seen. 
How do I upload pics from my computer? The 'insert image button only lets me pick a URL.


----------



## brooklynest (Jul 10, 2010)

*Pigeon family album*

I'm attaching some pics - 








In the first one, the pigeon I'm referring to as *the mother - with the mottled/spotty wing markings- is on the top right *('upstairs' of the pigeon house) and the attacker, who appears to be her new mate, is top left. The *baby is on the right side of the ledge below them*. Note the nest appears empty (this was before I spotted the egg yesterday).








The second pic shows what is happening right now - 'mother' and baby in the nest together, egg on ledge outside the nest.


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Good pics! Thanks. Are you sure that the "new mate" wasn't the original male? If he is indeed new, and the original male is not around, then something must have happened to him. If the new male is trying to mate with her, then he could very well hurt the youngster, where it isn't his baby. Did you ever see the original Dad? They don't normally just leave, so something could have happened to him. Normally the male would be doing most of the feeding now, while the female starts a new nest. If that is a new egg, it's a goner. She could have layed it too close to the edge. That's really too bad. That youngster isn't ready to leave the nest yet, but he may get pushed out or injured by the male that comes around. If that were the case, then I'd try to get to it and wean it myself, then release it. How high up is it?


----------

