# Baby wood pigeon found.. potentially 2.



## -Lee- (Jul 10, 2011)

Okay so lastnight about 11:30pm.. i go to the back garden to let my dog in, and i notice her sniffing around "something" by the big tree at the back of my garden, then i see the same something flinching about. So i called in my dog and went over to check.. happens to be a scruffy looking grey thing with tiny feathers but still quite fat and a crooked beak. so i got a big box, lined it with toilet roll and put it in there with a bowl of water andclosed over the box for the night so cats couldnt get at it. I go out as soon as i wake up and have a closer inspection, i just took some pics which i'll add.

now this tree im talking about has had one wood pigeon and magpies and things in for a while now.. so i check a few pics and apparantly i got myself a baby wood pigeon.. but thats not all.. so i go to the tree, and VERY low down.. i mean less than 6 ft from the ground i spot a nest.. with no mother but one egg.. now i didn't want to touch the egg incase the mother came back and sort of rejected it (hey im new to this, what do i know?) so i took a pic of that too.. during the night the baby has crapped a fair bit in its box but hasn't touched much of the water. when you go near it with your hand it makes a weird clicking noise with its beak, kinda like when you click the roof of your mouth with your tongue. and when you do put your hand near it takes pecks at you.. although when i placed a syringe of water near it didnt peck at all.. just stared.

So as i say the adult wopod pigeon has been around the garden for a while now, but no sign of it last night and no sign of it this morning.. should i just put the baby back in the nest with the egg and hope the arle girl comes back or do i need to be doing things here.. and if so, what?

it doesn't seem injured and appears quite big for a baby, looks well fed, about the size of a hand.

any help would be appreciate taa.. the pics are below.

oh and im located in Liverpool, UK.. if that matters any. thank you.


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## -Lee- (Jul 10, 2011)

Quick note, just been in the garden, and the mum (i assume) is sat on my chimney staring at the tree.. should i just go put the baby back in the nest and check back tonight-ish? thanks.


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## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

Hi Lee,

Good find. Yes it is a baby Woodie as you say. Personally if you can get it back to the nest, ( without putting yourself in danger that is), then it would be ideal as at this age it has no way of knowing how to feed or drink for itself.

Obviously we don't know if it is from the nest you found the egg in, I wouldn't think so as this baby is too old unless of course that other egg isn't viable but I imagine the Magpies would have taken it by now if they'd seen it sitting there for a few days.

If you are able to get the baby back and keep an eye on the ground to make sure it doesn't pop out again that would be best for the baby.
If it's not possible then it will need to be hand reared ideally if you can find a pigeon friendly rescue centre that will give baby Woodies a chance, but be careful to check this out first as some will just put it to sleep.

Let us know how things are going and we can advise further. 

Janet


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## -Lee- (Jul 10, 2011)

Hi Janet.. thanks for the reply, yeah i stuck it back in the nest about half hour after my original post, was just about to update the thread.. so i put it back in the nest.. while the adult wood pigeon sat on my garden fence watching, didn't seem to want to attack or anything.. just watched, so then i came back in the house and about 20 minutes later, i saw the adult flying in to the nest.. about 20 minutes after that i went back to check and the babys asleep in the nest.. and the adult has gone god knows where, but i really can't see the adult living there, the nest is quite small, and the adult is massive, and i said in my earlier post, the baby is a little fatty..

its obvious i dont know about birds and this comment will prove it, but i had a theory.. it was a small nest with 1 egg and the baby was in the nest.. is it possible that an adult pigeon would allow the baby pigeon to keep the egg warm? as when i went to check on the baby it seemed to have covered the egg.

And the tree aint THAT big, and i've only saw the one wood pigeon about, im sure the baby fell from the same nest as the egg, as that is the part of the tree where the wood pigeon ALWAYS stays, guarding against maggies i assume.. it drives my dog insane.

i left the toilet roll lined cardboard box on the ground underneath the nest, incase it falls again.. to break its fall so to speak.. im thinking to myself now though, is this a bad idea? if it fell from the nest in to the box, would that kinda be like a packed lunch for the two b*stard cats that live across the road?


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## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

Hi Lee,

good job! DOn't worry about the adult disappearing, at this age they don't sit on the youngster all day, but will come back to feed. The other egg could have been laid later. They usually lay two though but if this baby is from there then the adults could have laid a second batch.

Anyway, at least the adult is aware of the youngster now and hopefully will carry on rearing it.

That's a good point about the box underneath. I made that same mistake years ago when I found a baby blue tit on the ground. I put it 'safely' in a box for the parent to care for and the next day it had gone!!! and the parent was distraught looking for it. I felt so bad. 

Mind you even if it's just on the ground the cats would find it but it could try and hide in bushes so maybe move the box. Difficult one to call!

Keep us posted if you can, I'd like to now how things go.

Janet


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## -Lee- (Jul 10, 2011)

Will do, thanks again Janet.. well here is a pic of the tree, give you a better idea of the set up.. although the adult does protect it, its swooped at my dog and a few occasions in the past few weeks to potect him/her, i'll just have to keep checking on it.. maybe put a "no cats allowed" sign on my gate.. 










you'de think that dog statue would keep that cats away right?


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## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

-Lee- said:


> maybe put a "no cats allowed" sign on my gate..


I wish... I have a local cat that sits around in the bushes watching the birds. My dog hates it but can't run so I think it knows and just laughs at him. 

Good luck to the baby now.

Janet


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## -Lee- (Jul 10, 2011)

Bad news, im afraid. Checked on the baby woodie earlier today, and it was fine, just went outside and it was lying dead directly under the nest in the box i decided to leave there (there wasn't any place to hide if the box wasnt there and i figured having the toilet roll break its fall would be safer till i found it).. now im guessing it died in the nest then fell out, i assume it wasnt attacked, i inspected closely and saw no wounds or damage to the bird, just something blocking its mouth, which i just assumed it was food that the mother had fed it.

So i've buried the baby in the garden.. now the nest is empty with the other egg still in it.. now from what ive seen of the adult wood pigeon it only visits the garden of a morning (i heard it this morning too).. now the egg may not even be "viable" but is there something i should do just incase or should i leave it be?..

I'm beginning to think there may have been something wrong with the baby from day one, seems strnge for a baby to fall out of the nest twice in two days.

Anyway, about the egg.. any thoughts? and thanks for the help so far, just a shame it turned out the way it did.


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## -Lee- (Jul 10, 2011)

anybody? i need to go asleep soon, and want to know what to do about the egg.. IF it isn't infertile will it definitly "die" with no bird keeping it warm overnight?


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## WoodysMum (Jul 12, 2011)

I don't know about the egg, but what a pity you didn't keep the poor little pigeon in your box for a few days and feed it because I was in a similar quandry about three weeks ago when I noticed a slightly injured baby pigeon (probably been grabbed by next door's cat) wandering around our garden for a couple of days and he was roosting at night on a branch just off the ground under a bush and I was constantly looking outside and never once did I see an adult feeding it so I picked it up and put it into a box lined with paper and old soft cloth.

I called it Woody and put in seed and water in the box and I read a bit about how to care for baby pigeons and fed it porridge, mushed up warm peas, sweetcorn etc and before too long it was feeding itself and loves seed, millet, peas and sweetcorn that I defrost and warm up.

I remembered we still had a cockatiel cage from when we had cockatiels a long time ago that we gave to friends with an aviary when we moved house, so I dusted it off and it has become home for Woodie with a perch and plenty of room to stretch/flap his wings. Woody loves being stroked on his tummy and is so gentle and although I feel very attached to him, three times I have let him go (as I realise he's a wild bird) and each time he has come back within a few hours and sat on the fence or on the lawn. 

We have adult pigeons around the area that my neighbour has always fed so one day when two landed on our lawn, Woodie was chirruping and moving his wings like baby birds do, but they ignored him and flew up into the ivy on our wall and Woodie followed them, but they soon disppeared so he remained in the ivy on his own for a couple of hours.

He then disappeared over the wall so I thought he'd left home but he was soon back on the lawn and back in his cage for safety! Three days later, around 7pm at night, he was on the lawn and an adult pigeon appeared and the pair of them took off onto our roof, then over the back garden onto the roof over our back wall and I thought he'd gone for good but the next morning he was sitting beside our front fence, so he was back in the cage with his warm peas!

He's had another attempt, gone over the wall and returned so we've had him since 24th June and he is definitely looking loads better that when we found him, looking a bit injured as can be seen in the picture with his wings spread out on the lawn, so I really hope he will survive and have a happy life and find some feathered friends, otherwise I think we've got ourselves a pet pigeon. Maybe if he leaves home, he'll come back every day for something to eat!

I have been taking hundreds of pictures and video clips of him and here's a few pics (limited to 4)! You can see when he was on the farmhouse roof, where he looked far too small to be out on the roof, so I was glad when he came back. Also he doesn't seem to have much of a tail and he struggles and flaps his wings much harder to gain height, unlike adult pigeons who have long tails that fan out when in flight! I'm open to advice!

You can see he was injured (pic 1) when I first found him, probably next door's cat... hence he's in the cage for protection and in our gazebo in case it rains at night!









About 10 days after we had him... looking scared as this was the first time he was about to leave!









His first attempt at leaving home!









Looking happy and content in our ivy on the front wall, about 15 days after we'd started looking after him.
HE'S SUCH A CUTE WEE THING!!!


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## -Lee- (Jul 10, 2011)

WoodysMum said:


> I don't know about the egg, but what a pity you didn't keep the poor little pigeon in your box for a few days and feed it



yeah i've been thinking that myself "what if.." "maybe i should have.." "why didn't i.." but chances are i wouldn't have done anything differently, i put it in its nest and 20 minutes later the adult flew in to the nest and was back in the garden the next day. im definitly thinking there had to be something wrong with it, it hadn't been attacked, and it was obviously full of food.. and up till it died it got really defensive when i went to the nest to check on it (popped its head up and started "clicking" at me)

And i just put on a rubber glove and went out to check the egg, couldn't wait any longer for a reply to my question.. it was ice cold and hadn't had an adult sit on it for 2 days at least (just the baby woodie).. so yeah pretty much dead, but after reading a few results from a google search i decided to leave the egg where it was, apparantly it will mean the birds will use the nest again, but if the eggs are gone they will think a predator had it off and evacuate. 

nice story about your bird by the way, hope it continues to do well.


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## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

Hi Lee, sorry I wasn't around yesterday, couldn't get logged on for some reason. 

Also so sorry to hear about the baby. You could be right that there was something wrong.
I think you did the right thing as it didn't seem that the baby had been injured like the bird Woodysmum found. If that had been the case then definitely it would have needed taking in.
It's hard when they're hand reared for them to integrate into the wild unless they're mixed in with other Woodies before release as they do tend to get very attached to humans if hand fed early on.
It's always best if possible for the babies to be raised by parents if at all possible as they teach them how to fed and what is food etc, also to be preditor aware. Most youngsters found though can't be returned as the nest can't be located or reached but as you knew where the nest was and could keep an eye out then it made sense to put the bird back in this instance.

Don't beat yourself up, you did all you could and as far as the egg goes, if it's not being sat on, then just leave it and the parents will throw it out if they decide to lay in that nest again.

Thanks for trying to help this baby out and I'm sure you'll see some more around by the sounds of it, and hopefully they'll be healthy and things will go well next time.
...............................................................

Woodysmum, Lovely story and pictures by the way. Hope this youngster does ok and you can see it coming and going in your garden as it improves.

Janet


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## -Lee- (Jul 10, 2011)

well final part of the saga, just checked the nest, the egg had a big hole in, had been hollowed out and it was full of ants, so i guess a magpie got at it?

Glad i found this place though, i'll be sure to pop by if i ever find another bird in need of help. thanks.


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