# Question about weird pigeon walk



## irrka (Apr 5, 2012)

Hi, 
just saw a pigeon walking down the street with both wings kind of rotated down his body towards the feet. i tried looking on google on why that could be but couldn't really find anything. wish i had a picture i could post. Any ideas?


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## ETphonehome (Jan 3, 2012)

If He/she was walking not normally it was beacause obviously he/she was ill or injured, in this cases when the intention is to help the best thing to do if you can is to act inmediatelly and catch the pigeon first, simptoms in pigeons as in humans can be the result of dozens of diseases and by the time you come to know the possible cause of the symptoms he/she would be probably dead.

Unless you catched him/her or you have the oportunity to do so later, to come to know the possible cause/s of the symptoms are of little to no value at all for him/her now.


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

Muscles of both wings sprained? If he hit a wire or something on the upswing or uplift of his wings?

I have seen pigeons with the tip of one wing almost dragging on the ground. They sometimes had a sprain, or had a broken wing.

One of my recent rescues had a wing dragging because of broken right humerus.

Some pigeons with a dragging will still make the effort to fly off if you get too close, and often succeed.

Perhaps you can add a bit to your description of "wings rotated down his body towards the feet." Specifically, what is the pivot point of rotation, and what part of the wing is rotated the most?

If I try to imitate the walking position of a pigeon, I will squat down, walk on the balls of my feet with feet in line of direction of walking. I will hold my elbows to my side, touching the torso near the waist. I will hold my outer arms (radiuses/_ulni_ and ulnas/_ulnae_ close to my upper chest, with my wrists bent and fingers pointing down and backwards as though I am trying to touch my elbows with the tips of my fingers. 

Looking a the bird from the side, is the wing tip touching or almost touching the ground? Is it touching the ground, almost touching the other wing? 

Sorry about the verbosity. Pictures work better in a case like this.

Larry


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

Here is a thread with picture, which I found while googling "pigeon broken wing"in Google Images.

Baby pigeon has broken wing. Rotates under body.

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f6/found-baby-pigeon-broken-wing-25982.html


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

Here is what my rescued *Pigeon 10-26* with the broken right humerus looked like from the front.


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## irrka (Apr 5, 2012)

guess both proximal wings hurt, did look like the broken wing one but on both sides. i didn't know if it was a behavioral posturing thing or what. maybe something fell on him from the top and clipped both shoulders or something
thanks!


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

I had a recent rescue who looked similar to Larry's pic, but he/she was x-rayed and nothing was found to be broken/fractured. In the weeks I had him (just released today, BTW !) his flying ability kept improving and he became quite evasive and fully-flighted....he moved fine upon release...yet, he usually still tended to hold one wing down a bit. So, that symptom/posture doesn't necessarily indicate a break or fracture.

I think if you approached the Pigeon and in fact he could not fly or lift off, that would be indicative of something serious....


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