# One of my pigeons was killed today



## SerendipityCA (May 2, 2008)

Kinda sad. I've been feeding the feral pigeons around my apartment building for a few years now. This has had quite an impact on my neighbors as the pigeons began nesting on ledges in the carport and pooping all over the cars, the fire escape, etc. Eventually this was mitigated by management. Netting was placed over the lightwell so they couldn't get down to the fire escape, they steam cleaned, they blocked off all the spaces in the carports where they could hang out.

Well, except for one! The two who used to nest on a nice private ledge under my fire escape were DETERMINED to stay close, so they ended up hanging out on a pipe in my own carport space, just outside the lightwell. There's no way they can actually build a nest, but they stay there every night. And they poop all over the pipe and the ground below it, but it's my space, and it's a single stall at the end of the row, and nobody ever goes in there.

Late at night I used to throw seed up on the top of the free-standing carport roof which is covered with tar paper, but there are literally 12 apartments looking directly over the carport, and plenty of neighboring buildings have line of sight, and the seed made a "whoosh" sound. I know one guy who hates pigeons who is down on the end of the row and is an extreme night owl, was starting to get wise to me. And I can't go up onto the roof because the landlord won't allow any of us up there (although, we don't have a resident manager, but one guy who lives at the bottom of the stairs leading to the roof is obsessed with pigeons (as in, he really doesn't want them around), and it would only be a matter of time before he saw me going up to the roof and he's no dummy. If he saw me twice he'd definitely figure it out.

So, I've been putting out the seed in my carport stall, throwing it under my car and behind my car. 

This is working really well.

But unfortunately sometimes I fall asleep before I go down there, so I will go down during the day. I can do it with no one seeing me, but I prefer to do it at night so the pigeons don't recognize me.

The effect of this is that they hang around waiting, and now they do recognize me. It only takes a few times before they remember a face apparently!

Anyway, I think there was a pair that liked to hang out on the railing of the fire escape ladder over the driveway where the cars come and go (I can always tell where they roost because of the poop on the ground below it). I think one of them might have been waiting for me because when I came out this morning I saw its little body lying right there. It had obviously been hit by a car. Rigor mortis had already set in. As far as I could tell, the damage was to the belly area - the viscera were falling out - so I think it must have attempted to fly up when a car came along but it didn't get high enough and was struck and killed.

Of course, whoever did it, didn't bother to remove the body. I imagine if I had not bagged it up and put it in the garbage bin, it would still be out there, only completely flattened by cars coming and going.

I'm very sad that one of my babies is dead, but he had a nice life with lots of good nourishing food while he was alive.

I do worry that he might be part of a bonded pair, but I hope if he is (was), his mate will find somebody new.

I deliberately do not spend time with the pidgies, do not photograph them or try to identify them by their markings, so that I don't get attached. I don't coo at them, or talk to them when I put the seed out.

I felt bad putting his little body in the garbage, but I don't really have a place to bury him. Well, I could walk him over to the community garden and put him there but I think his little spirit has flown off, it doesn't matter to him what happens to his body.

I hope if he had a mate, that his mate saw his body and knows he's dead, so the mate won't be confused.


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## November-X-Scourge (May 12, 2011)

poor little guy


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## Bella_F (Nov 29, 2008)

That was so nice of you to keep doing something small to help them, it shows what a decent person you are compared to some of your neighbours. I'm really sorry that your little friend was hit by a car. 

You made a big difference to his life with providing regular food . Living in a state of constant malnourishment and dying slowly of starvation are both horrible for any living creature, compared to being fed good food regularly and killed instantly by a car. You really did something special there, well done.


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## SerendipityCA (May 2, 2008)

Thank you Bella. I don't know why I'm so taken with pigeons, but I am! And my neighbors are all self-absorbed yuppies who never notice the little live things all around them. They don't even pick up after themselves when they open their mail in the lobby and leave empty envelopes on the floor - heaven forbid they should pick up a pigeon THEY KILLED.

Last time this happened (that I know of) was in July of 2008. I drove in and saw the body, and since I didn't want to drive over it I put my hazard lights on in the driveway and ran upstairs to get a bag. When I came out, another neighbor was coming down the driveway from having just parked his car (there's a second entry driveway) and he wouldn't make eye contact with me. I checked his bumper and it had blood on it. and it was directly parked in line with the body (he backed into his space so he could drive out down the alley). So I wiped the blood off his bumper and left a pointed note on his windshield to the effect of "dear neighbor, it was bothering me to see the blood on your bumper from the pigeon you hit and killed, so I wiped it off." Ever after that when he passed me on the stairs he would never have any expression on his face. One time my dog, who is shy, kind of shied back behind me as he was approaching on the stairs and I said to her in a loud voice "Dont' worry Cassidy, he won't hurt YOU" and that got a reaction out of him, he turned around, startled, but quickly composed himself. He moved out a year later - good riddance.


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## SerendipityCA (May 2, 2008)

PS I'm dreading going down tonight to put the seed out. As I round the corner of my carport and look up at the pipe in the back, I don't know whether I'm going to see one bird up there, or two. This pair has been living outside my window, and now in my carport, for YEARS, having babies, being good parents. I know *one* of my birds was killed today, but I hope it's not one of this pair.

Oddly, my dog came out with me last week and one of the birds was on the ground and my dog ran into the carport (which is narrow) and scared it, and it panicked and flew up and into the wall, then into a tree. I was worried it had been injured and the birds were gone for two nights, but then they came back.


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## thepigeonkey (Oct 12, 2011)

you need to move out of the city and have a nice little coop with a few of your own pigeons. or a building where you can use the roof. I have about 100 pigeons, not many compared to some.


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## SerendipityCA (May 2, 2008)

It was one of the bonded pair who have been here forever. The remaining pigeon has been up on the pipe every night since the other one was killed, but always alone. I am starting to talk to him/her and he's very interested


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## sport14692 (Jan 3, 2011)

Will you look at that, jsut look at it !!!!!!!!


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## Bella_F (Nov 29, 2008)

Dear SerendipityCA,

I'm sorry that your friend was the one to get hit by the car  If only people would give wild birds and animals a little bit more leeway when they find themselves in the way of their cars. Its nice that you're talking to the remaining mate, I'm sure he or she appreciates your attention!

X bella


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## pigeonatepaperclip (Nov 20, 2011)

awwwww, maybe take the lone pigeon in as a pet? Broke my heart reading this


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## pigiesNdovies (Nov 21, 2011)

Yup, its bitterrsweet helpin feed birds that were turned into domestics then turned wild n people dont care for them. here where i live, the ones that have come to nest n rosost is cuz the person who owned them, lost his property. then the house was on fire n sum sqabies even died n i could only imagine what else died when i went 2 check cuz i even would feed the chickens but all chickens dissappeared 2. for sum reason, my neighbors been lil more tolerant with pigeons but still dont want them nestin nor roosting near their houses.. i tried feeding the feral cats 2 but it was a nonending story cuz more cats would come n eat the pigeons. Now theres a small homeless doggy that i feed n he keeps the cats well behaved but even collared doves fear 2 feed on the neighborhood streets cuz cats have attacked pigeons walkin on the sidewalks n roads n yards.. 
For now what i i can do is provide water n whatever food falls out o f the dog kennel hangin from my patents house cuz i got 3 pigeons.


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## Yo Pauly (Jan 18, 2005)

I think the pigeons are smart enough to find their own food. Though you have good intentions (and a good heart), you will only end up getting more killed by spiteful individuals if you continue to provide a "gathering place" for them.. 

I used to toss food in front of my home where the pigeons used to flock together and hang out all day. This irritated the neighbors, and when a dead pigeon ended up in my driveway, I stopped tossing them bread.

Now, three years after the horrible incident, I see the same pigeons scattered about the development, and nobody is bothering them. I'm not saying you should do "this or that," but perhaps you might make things a bit more easier for the pigeons by not feeding them. Trust me, they will survive.

Some folks have a legitimate argument--pigeon poop all over their houses. Though the right thing to do would be asking you kindly to stop feeding them because they are messing the area, most people will resort to stupid ways to solve the problem, ways involving killing the pigeons. Rethink your situation with the pigeons' lives in mind.

Good luck.


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