# Roller in Orange County CA



## rurounirichard (Jun 6, 2011)

This is my first experience, I'm not a bird-fancier to be honest but I feel sorry for the thing, and I've been googling trying to figure out what to do.

Sunday I found a pigeon sitting in the front yard. I was trying to water a tree and it kept coming over to drink. It seemed awfully friendly for a bird but we were always taught to beware of wild animals that were passive around humans and leave them be since they could be sick or injured and attack.

I felt sorry for it though and gave it more water, and it waddled underneath the spray for a bath. It then sat and rested on the lawn. He looks healthy on the outside (not sure if I would call him "fat", I don't know what they normally are supposed to look like), almost seems super domesticated.

Googling for more info came up with "give it water in a container and food and perhaps it will fly home after resting". I had some wild birdseed handy so I fed it a bit. He proceeded to leave little white and green lumpy presents on the driveway...

Looking for a band, I believe I found "NSRC 10 209" on his leg, but the "10" part was sideways, so maybe it was "01"?? (not sure about the 209 part but its definitely NSRC) I tried searching for "NSRC" but didn't come up with anything. He's pretty much black or dark feathered, with curious shiny green/purple markings on the neck, and a white thing across his beak.

How do I find out more info about him? I don't want to catch him if he's simply a neighbor's bird here for a visit and be accused of birdnapping or grand theft pigeon, but I also don't want him walking around in this neighborhood since there are stray neighbor cats that enjoy climbing our roof (not sure how they get up there...)

To be honest I have no clue how to catch a bird or if there's any danger in doing so (to both the bird and/or myself!) He seemed friendly yesterday, whenever I approached him he just sat there and if I got very close started making cooing sounds.

I think he's sitting on top of a neighbor's fence next to a garage overnight, should I try and catch him myself tomorrow if he shows up again in the yard? I don't have anything to hold him in except perhaps a cardboard filing box with no lid... (maybe i could put another piece of cardboard on top or a barbecue grill grate)

We're near the 405 and 22 freeway interchange (sorta)

Should I call OC animal control to let them try and catch him or is that a guaranteed death sentence? I love pets but don't keep any for various personal/practical reasons, I'd love any help to figure out what I should do if I see him again tomorrow.

We always get these pigeons that do somersaults lately, I'm not sure if they're actually lost or if they're just hanging out to say hi and later go home to their owners wherever they may be.

He's the first one to actually hang around and chill out in the yard and doesn't try to run away at all. A dog being walked sniffed at him and he started waddling towards me and away from the dog.

His friendliness worries me since I'm afraid he won't move when the car starts backing out of the driveway, etc.

As mentioned before I'm not a bird expert so I haven't the slightest clue what to do... if I see him sunbathing again tomorrow I may try and catch him if you think it's the right thing to do. (I am a total bird newbie so I'm pretty clueless about the whole thing!! Do I pour birdseed in a trail into the box and hope he just walks in there? Will he fly out of the box without a lid on it?)


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

Can you lure him close ? Poor fella/girl is probably hungry, and since you ahve successfully fed once he/she may be developing a little trust. Can you get him/her near your door, or maybe into the garage ? If you can 'corner' the Pigeon on a couple of sides, it's easier to catch. Also, they have a blind spot of about 40 degrees directly behind their head, so when feeding if the turn their back to you, that is a good time to try to grab (unless you have a net, which is even better).

You could also try teh box trick, but box upside down, propped up with a stick and attached to a string...so the Pigeon walks under the box to get the food, then you pull the string to close the box on her/him.

How did you read the band if you weren't holding him/her ? Good eyes !


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## rurounirichard (Jun 6, 2011)

I'll see if he's out and about this morning. Do pigeons bite??

He was perched on top of one of the fences during his walks so I was peering under him trying to figure out what was on his leg, then thought if he had the band on him he must belong to someone so I started googling Pigeon bands. It said to try and get numbers off it so I kept peering under him trying to get all the numbers and he thankfully rotated around on his perch instead of wandering off.

I wish there were more info on NSRC on the web besides "a lot of pet stores sell birds with NSRC bands on them"! Like a home page or secretary listing or a directory or some way to notify NSRC... if you lose your bird don't you want him back?


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## ptras (Jun 29, 2010)

rurounirichard said:


> I'll see if he's out and about this morning. Do pigeons bite??
> 
> He was perched on top of one of the fences during his walks so I was peering under him trying to figure out what was on his leg, then thought if he had the band on him he must belong to someone so I started googling Pigeon bands. It said to try and get numbers off it so I kept peering under him trying to get all the numbers and he thankfully rotated around on his perch instead of wandering off.
> 
> I wish there were more info on NSRC on the web besides "a lot of pet stores sell birds with NSRC bands on them"! Like a home page or secretary listing or a directory or some way to notify NSRC... if you lose your bird don't you want him back?


http://www.nbrconline.com/Default.aspx?sub=FOUNDPIGEON

Try this link.


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## rurounirichard (Jun 6, 2011)

Are NSRC and NBRC the same or different clubs?

The part that worried me is:

"Although you can report any banded pigeon, we are only able to locate owners of birds with NBRC bands."


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

rurounirichard said:


> I'll see if he's out and about this morning. Do pigeons bite??
> 
> He was perched on top of one of the fences during his walks so I was peering under him trying to figure out what was on his leg, then thought if he had the band on him he must belong to someone so I started googling Pigeon bands. It said to try and get numbers off it so I kept peering under him trying to get all the numbers and he thankfully rotated around on his perch instead of wandering off.
> 
> I wish there were more info on NSRC on the web besides "a lot of pet stores sell birds with NSRC bands on them"! Like a home page or secretary listing or a directory or some way to notify NSRC... if you lose your bird don't you want him back?


If he bit you, it wouldn't hurt very much, don't worry. Softbilled birds like pigeons/doves don't have much of a bite. They mostly peck a bit--which doesn't really hurt. Even then, if you're feeding him and he's hungry he'll probably be focused on that.


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## rurounirichard (Jun 6, 2011)

Thanks for the various suggestions everyone, just an update:

The next day he (?) was busy sunning himself on the roof of the house, so he apparently now has strength to fly. I tried putting out more food and water to lure him to me but he was too busy sunbathing to care. An hour or two later he swooped down next to the rose bush I had planted when I first met him, poked around a bit, saw me, then flew far away when I tried to get close again.

He had me worried the day before when we first met each other because he kept walking towards me, wanting to shower in the spray of the hose, and was extremely clingy, he wouldn't fly or run away at all when I got close to him. All he did was walk on the ground.

Yesterday apparently he had the strength to fly. He didn't come back that night, and I looked around for him today during the day and didn't see him at all. Part of me was sad because I wanted to Roller Rescue and take him somewhere nice and safe if there are any pigeon fanciers in the area who wanted to adopt him, return him to his owner if his owner wanted him back, or perhaps go to a hardware store and build a pigeon house (I want him to fly free but wouldn't mind building him a home for night-time if he gets cold)

Well, I looked outside tonight and apparently he's back, roosting on the neighbor's fence sleeping, same place he was a couple nights ago.

I put out some more food and water in case he's hungry and thirsty, but it looks like he's regained his strength, can fly instead of walk on the ground, and redeveloped a healthy fear of humans.

Attention owner of NSRC 10 209! I think he's healthier now, he seems to be doing happy pigeon things and no longer clingy to me, if you want to pick him up I can tell you where he hangs out, if not that's cool too, he seems to be happy, and has lots of little finch friends.

Admittedly this whole experience has made me want to get one of those combo bird feeder/baths for the front yard.

PS: The reason I had initially asked for advice is because on the first day, he was so out of it I probably could have easily caught him if I wanted to, he literally would have walked into a box, and I could have easily grabbed him. I was worried he was really sick or couldn't take care of himself and become a quick kitty snack. He seems to be doing much better.


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