# More Love In The Loft ..



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Well, my birds have surprised me again.

Darth Vader (WOE) became a widower last year, and I thought he had taken up with Cameo (Frillback). I KNOW I saw them billing not too long ago. Turns out that Darth Vader has actually paired up with Aspen (Fantail and now known to be the DAUGHTER of Castor and FanFan). They are proudly and diligently sitting on two eggs for the past three days or so now.

In another aviary, it appears that Silver (banded and presumed to be some type of Tumbler, but don't really know) has taken up with a big, beautiful, unbanded and unnamed white pigeon. They have one egg as of today and are hard at work adding to their nest.

Assuming these babies hatch, they should be some interesting looking little ones and hopefully will grow into lovely adults.

Aspen and Darth Vader on New Year's Day 2007. They definitely were not a pair then .. Aspen was hardly more than a baby and Darth was mated to Stinky.










Cameo who I thought was Darth's chosen:










Have to go look and see if I have pics of Silver and the white mate.

Terry


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## philodice (Sep 30, 2007)

Wow. You have some beautiful and lucky birds in your aviaries.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Congratulations Darth and Aspen. You will have a couple of REALLY GOOD LOOKING kids!! 

Cameo is no slouch in the looks dept. either...

Thanks for sharing.


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## Rooster2312 (Mar 8, 2006)

How nice that Darth has found love again with Aspen! Congratulations!!

Lindi


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

Gonna be some beee-yoooou-teeful babies!


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## FloridaLuv (Dec 19, 2008)

..........Seems like Darth has chosen a girl with less "Fro" maintaince...lol.... ( more princess Leah style) But If I do say so myself, I LOVE Cameo's " curly Fro"..... so either way ... I think he's one LUCKY lil' guy to have the pick of such beauties! CONGRATS..... Can't wait to see the babies!!!!
Jenn


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## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

Oh they are so beautiful, what stunning looking birds.

It will be very interesting to see the babies when they develope.

Janet


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

So glad Darth found a new mate - and a very attractive one, too! Must be spring, all these pairings. Gonna be some adorable babies!


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Thanks everyone! Darth and Aspen are certainly working hard on incubating their eggs. Sadly the eggs of Silver and mate were both cracked when I checked on them this morning. Perhaps they will try again .. we'll see.

Terry


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

FloridaLuv said:


> ..........Seems like Darth has chosen a girl with less "Fro" maintaince...lol.... ( more princess Leah style) But If I do say so myself, I LOVE Cameo's " curly Fro"..... so either way ... I think he's one LUCKY lil' guy to have the pick of such beauties! CONGRATS..... Can't wait to see the babies!!!!
> Jenn


LOL! Great post, Jenn! Yes, Cameo definitely has some "maintenance" issues with all those curls, but then so does Aspen with that big beautiful fantail! 

Terry


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Im in love with Aspen...Ive seen her pic before and totally fell in love. the others are pretty too of course, just she is perfect dove like color and that tail !


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

spirit wings said:


> Im in love with Aspen...Ive seen her pic before and totally fell in love. the others are pretty too of course, just she is perfect dove like color and that tail !


Thank you! Here's a better pic of her:










Terry


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

OH goody! MORE babies.........these should be interesting............


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

*Deadbeat Dads ??*

Well, I think some of my pigeons are either very strange or their internal clocks are off. Every time I've checked the two nests that are going, the hens (Aspen and Silver) have been sitting on the eggs. Silver didn't waste any time in replacing the eggs that were cracked and had to be tossed. Today I checked about every half hour, and it was just a few minutes before 1 PM when Darth and El Blanco finally got on for their shift. 

Last week I found Pepper sitting on Aspen and Darth's eggs with her brother and nestmate, Parfait, hovering nearby. Uh Oh, I thought .. don't tell me these two want to be a pair! Finally Aspen got back on duty and Pepper and Parfait went on about their business.

Aspen and Darth have been a bit flaky about their nest duties, so I'm not at all sure there will be any babies for them this time around, but we should soon know. Silver and El Blanco have been quite dedicated with Silver taking most of the duty.

If the Dads are as shiftless at caring for the young as they have been about nest duty, the poor Moms are going to have their work cut out for them.

Terry


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Maybe the Daddy mode will get stronger as their hormones build. Feeding some hemp seed might help with that, too.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

They are still deadbeat Dads, Terri. They take over their shift so late in the morning and give it up so early in the afternoon .. poor Mom birds here. I rather doubt that any of these eggs will hatch, but we shall see shortly.

Terry


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

It's funny how the drive to set eggs varies between birds. Both Walter and Charlie love to set on the eggs. Charlie will sometimes wedge himself under KD and pop her off the nest, all the while she's grunting in protest! Bliss is attentive but just wants to hang with his mate, Mieke. She has a heck of a time getting him to take his turn on the nest! If I ever need to foster a baby, it's going under Walter and Grace. It would be the best fed, best protected baby ever!


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

*Valentine's Day Babies!*

Whoo Hoo! Silver and El Blanco have two brand new babies today! I just got a glimpse of them a few minutes ago. Both babies have very long and very thick down.

Nobody was on Aspen and Darth's eggs. I picked the eggs up to see if I could tell if there was anything going on, and both eggs feel like they are hollow. Thus, I'm sure there will be no babies from Aspen and Darth this time around, but I'm sure they will try again soon.

The parents of little Ebony and Ivory are on eggs again. I'm going to let them raise one more clutch just to see what we get this time (that's assuming all goes well and we do get babies). Ebony and Ivory are going to go live with George whenever we can find a time to make that happen.

Terry


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Congratulations on Silver and El Blanco brand new babies!


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## della (Jan 29, 2009)

I do hope Aspen and Darth Vader sit again - they are both stunning birds and make such a cute contrasting couple. Keep us posted!


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## wolfwood (Jan 26, 2009)

CONGRATULATIONS, TERRY!!

Pictures?


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Darth and Aspen are still sitting their eggs, but I'm 99.9% sure that there will be no babies for them. If they care to try again, I will certainly let them.

El Blanco and Silver are taking great care of their little ones so far. I'd love to get some pics, but it's been cold and rainy, and I don't want to take the chance of "spooking" the parents off the babies just yet. Maybe next week.

Terry


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Darth and Aspen finally abandoned their eggs. I did check to see if there had been anything developing .. one egg was clear and the other showed signs of a baby starting to develop but said development had obviously stopped some time ago. Perhaps they will try again.

El Blanco and Silver's babies seem to be thriving, and the parents are doing a very good job of keeping them warm and fed. Hopefully I can get some pictures in the next few days. The babies are now six days old.

Terry


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## wolfwood (Jan 26, 2009)

Our 'kids' are the same age .... I'll be interested to compare Luna to a pro's babies (HEY! Even pediatrician's have growth & development charts!!  )

Sorry to hear about Darth & Aspen's eggs ... maybe they'll give you more.


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## FloridaLuv (Dec 19, 2008)

Well GOLLY darn Terry!  I was really hoping to see the out come of Aspen and Vaders gene pool!.... Little "Leah-Vaders"!!!! I do hope they try again! I love this thread its like... ""As The Pijiis Turns.." Sending my wishes for more Romance!


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Terry


 Now you know you can't post about newly hatched babies without pictures....so please...post the pics of Silver and El Blanco's new babies!!


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## james fillbrook (Jan 2, 2009)

Trees Gray said:


> Terry
> 
> 
> Now you know you can't post about newly hatched babies without pictures....so please...post the pics of Silver and El Blanco's new babies!!


we want pics (please) lol


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Yeah, yeah .. pictures of the babies hopefully over the weekend. The parents are very, very protective of them, and I've been busy so haven't pushed the issue of a photo op yet!

I have come to the conclusion that Darth Vader is a cad! He was preening Cameo this morning and then mated with her while little Aspen was perched all by herself. 

Terry


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Well...Darth is a hunk and he knows it. 

It's like watching a soap opera, isn't it?


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## FloridaLuv (Dec 19, 2008)

> It's like watching a soap opera, isn't it?


YES... it is;..lol

Its the Piji version of.... "The Bold and the Beautiful"

Of course Darth is THE Bold!!! What nerves he has cheating on his Misses!! tsk...tsk.....


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

*El Blanco and Silver's Babies - 8 Days Old*

Meet Cupid and Valentine:




























Terry


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## Guest (Feb 22, 2009)

you do know that El Blanco was the name of the albino grabiod in the movies tremors lol


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## LUCKYT (Jan 17, 2009)

LOL! Yes they picked the best name for them in the movie, it would have sounded like a snakes private parts, if that went with the "snakeoids" suggestion in the movie! LOL!


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

LokotaLoft said:


> you do know that El Blanco was the name of the albino grabiod in the movies tremors lol


Hmmm .. nope .. actually that little tidbit of trivia totally escaped me!  The Dad is called El Blanco simply because he is a solid white bird. Since he is huge, perhaps I should rename him El Grande Blanco (or would that be El Blanco Grande ?? so much for my Spanish!) so as to avoid any association with such a revolting creature as the albino graboid! 

Terry


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## Guest (Feb 22, 2009)

dont worry I loved that movie lol it was awesomeeeee


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

*Valentine - 18 Days Old*










There are some additional pictures here: http://www.rims.net/2009Mar03 including one of the parents.

Sadly, little Cupid didn't make it. I found him/her dead in the nest about a week ago. The crop was full and the little one had seemed to be doing well, so I am not sure what happened. I do know that I won't be naming any more pigeons Cupid or Valentine as that seems to bring very bad luck. 

Terry


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## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

TAWhatley said:


> Hmmm .. nope .. actually that little tidbit of trivia totally escaped me!  The Dad is called El Blanco simply because he is a solid white bird. Since he is huge, perhaps I should rename him El Grande Blanco (or would that be El Blanco Grande ?? so much for my Spanish!) so as to avoid any association with such a revolting creature as the albino graboid!
> 
> Terry


El Blanco Grande


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

StoN3d said:


> El Blanco Grande


Thank you! Actually I kinda knew that but had a serious brain blip at the moment 

Terry


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## wolfwood (Jan 26, 2009)

What a cutie Valentine is! Looks like she's (?) gonna be really pretty as an adult.

<sorry about Cupid>


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Valentine is a sweetie! Sorry Cupid didn't survive. Weird. Wonder what happened?


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## bluebirdsnfur (Jan 20, 2009)

*Again . . baby pics crack me up!  Just toooo cute!*


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Valentine is beautiful, can't wait to see the finished product, all growed up..that is!! 

I'm so sorry to hear about Cupid, what a shock and heartbreak that must have been for you since he/she seemed to be doing so well. May the little one R.I.P.


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