# Young pigeon found in San Fernando, CA at Whiteman Airport



## Falco64 (Mar 13, 2011)

A young all white banded pigeon dropped in on us today at the airport. It is capable of flight but only of short duration and had little trouble of flying up to the hanger trusses hanging out just out of reach. We noticed it had a band and manage to catch it to take a closer look. It was a blue colored band that had only the number '3' and did not appear to be metallic. We let the bird loose and he immediately flew up into the hanger trusses where he perched for most of the remaining day. He hopped down once, on to the opened door of the airplane where I offered a cup of water which he took two drinks from and then once more kept a safe distance, eventually flying back up to the truss where he remained perched till we left.

Aside from not flying for longer durations, the bird seemed healthy perching on one leg and pruning himself. We locked up leaving the bird with some popcorn (all we had to give it at the time) and some water. We'll be back to the hanger early tomorrow morning. I'm hoping the bird was just in need of rest after a long day flying and will happily fly off when we open the doors tomorrow. If he doesn't though, how do I find out what the band means? The bands I was looking at after a google search included lengthy alpha-numeric codes and phone numbers, this band was simply a '3'. Who could we call in the SF area who might claim this pigeon should he be unable fly?

I'll have an update tomorrow.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

As you have discovered with only the number 3 on the band, we can't locate the owner from the band information. Hopefully the bird just needs to rest and recuperate for a bit and can then head on home. If that doesn't happen, we have a couple of members in the SF Valley area, and there is also a pigeon rescuer/rehabber in the Burbank/Glendale area. 

Thank you for being concerned and for helping this bird. Please post back tomorrow and let us know how the bird is doing. 

If the opportunity presents itself it would probably be best to catch and safely confine the bird until we can figure out what's going on. If you didn't have a chance to carefully examine the bird, that should be done if you catch it again. Especially look under the wings to see if there are puncture wounds from a hawk or another predator.

You can offer the bird a container of fresh drinking water and some wild bird seed mix or dove mix tomorrow.

Terry


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## Falco64 (Mar 13, 2011)

Pigeon seemed to be doing well today. Drinking and eating some. Need to get him some proper seed tomorrow. He was moving around more today, eventually joining us as we worked under the plane and just wandering around. He let us get close enough to hold him and get a closer look at his wings. His secondary feathers (pardon I don't know the proper terminology), the shorter feathers closer to the body on the inside of the wings, are clipped to about 2/3 of their length. So he's certainly someone's pet and I can't see him having gotten too far from his home, seeing as he's not flying far due to the clipped wing. He also showed no interest in leaving the hanger while we had the doors wide open all day.

I was looking at some of the pet classifieds on craigslist and didn't notice any missing bird reports over the last few days. I'd like to get in touch with one of the club members in the SF area you mentioned. Thanks.


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## Falco64 (Mar 13, 2011)

We brought the bird home friday last week. Though we think it might actually be a dove. It's eating and drinking fine and beginning to be more vocal. He's also very feisty whenever I reach into his cage. Harmlessly pecking at my hand and whacking me with his wing. I'd rather not keep him long in the cage though, and we don't have a suitable outdoor enclosure we might let him move around safely in.

If there's anyone in the Santa Clarita/San Fernando area who'd be interested in taking this guy, please reply here. I can PM you my phone number and e-mail address.

Do you think it would be safe for this bird to eventually release it if/when its clipped feathers grew in?


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## Quazar (Jul 27, 2010)

Hi Falco, 
If the birds wings are clipped, the feathers wont actually grow back in until the bird moults naturally and loses the clipped ones, or the clipped feathers are removed by you.
If you remove the clipped feathers, then it may not be able to fly very far at all to avoid predators etc, so would not be releasable till they are fully grown back.
Once the clipped feathers are gone, it normally takes between 3 to 6 weeks for the new feathers to come in, depending on the health of the bird and its feeding.
I had one rescue that I removed clipped feathers from & it was back flying better after 2 1/2 weeks and released in the 4th week.

If you do decide you want to remove the feathers to facilitate faster growth, then it is easy and painless for the bird if done correctly. (just like someone pulling a hair.)
What I did was wrapped the bird in a towel with the wing I was working on free, so that it couldnt struggle and get hurt (also made sure its head was covered as this kept it calmer).
Extend the wing slightly and support and hold the leading edge with one hand. 
Grip the cut end of the clipped feather between the thumb and forefinger of the other hand (I used my thumb nail to give better grip).
Then a short sharp pull in the direction of the line of the feather and it should come out easily.
If you dont pull it straight, you may find it wont come, or it may bleed slightly when pulled.
Normally any bleeding can be dabbed with a paper towel & some warm water or some antiseptic cream & it will stop.

I'm sure however there will be someone along here soon from your area willing to take the bird.
If it has been someones pet, I would strongly suggest not releasing it as it will more likely not know how to forage for food on its own, so chances of survival are limited. (Probably one of the reasons he took refuge in the hangar, around people who he thought would provide him with food and water) 

Thanks for taking this guy in, he found the right place with the help youve given him so far


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## Pigeon Dude (Mar 23, 2011)

*Maybe I Can Help?*

I live in Sun Valley and can put this little guy up in my barn. Have you pulled out the clipped feathers yet?

There is a really good supliment for finches called "Feather Up" for helping them through the molt. We could give him some of tat in his water to help with growing the feathers back in a little more quickly.

There is a ferral flock that I fee behind our property line. I've re-habbed to birds into that flock last year. Maybe he could join them this summer after he starts flying agin?

Shoot me a PM?


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Can we see some pictures of this bird? If it is a white dove it absolutely cannot be released to fend for itself, and that's also my opinion for a white pigeon. A white pigeon would have a slightly better chance of survival than a dove, but neither one should be out there on their own, in my opinion.

Terry


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## Falco64 (Mar 13, 2011)

Hi Pigeon dude, I'll shoot you a PM with my phone number and we can talk. No I haven't pulled any of the broken feathers. If we can arrange something and you'd rather do it yourself I'm sure that'd be fine. Thanks for the advice Quazar, If I ever need to remove a damaged feather I'll do it just as described.

Unfortunately he doesn't seem to like the perches we have in the cage and prefers to pace around on the floor of the cage with all his poop. He did enjoy a large cookie pan filled about half an inch with warm water and got himself nice and clean while I cleaned out the cage.

And here's some pictures for ya TAWhatley. Thanks for all the help all.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Thank you, Falco64! Seriously handsome white pigeon you have there!

Hope it works out with Pigeon Dude, and I imagine that it will! Thank you so much for all your efforts on behalf of this pigeon. They are greatly appreciated.

Yes, definitely, the wings have been clipped.

I can't really tell from the pics if this is a racing pigeon or a King. If it's a King, then Pigeon Dude is your man .. he has Esther as a mate for your bird!

Terry


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## Falco64 (Mar 13, 2011)

You're very welcome, and thank you TAW. Could I ask how you tell if it's a pigeon or a dove though? I googled "young pigeon" last week when I posted and found pictures that looked convincingly like this little fella. It's very possible that said pictures were misidentified as well. Just curious what the distinguishing features are.


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## Quazar (Jul 27, 2010)

Falco, from the looks of the pic the perch is round, but they tend to like flat surfaces, even a half brick in the bottom of the cage, you'll prob find he'll perch and rest on that, then just poop over the edge of it so hes not continually walking in it.


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## Pigeon Dude (Mar 23, 2011)

*Looks Like A White Birmingham Roller. =)*

Hey Falco.
Just read your Pm. I'll give you a call a little later on. (At home with a cold, so I will sound like a frog when I call you.) 

Based on the relative size to the box of aluminum foil, that guy looks to be a Birmingham Roller pigeon. If you Google White Birmingham Roller Pigeon and click images, you will probably see his twins all over the place. 

I can certainly house him and deal with the secondary flight feathers.

(His secondaries were probably clipped, because someone was trying to allow him to learn how to use their trap door in their coop. But often times, if a bird has raised young in a coop and is transferred to another, they try to "rooftop hop" all the way back to their original coop. It's a good thing he stumbled across you guys at the airport. ) 

If you happen to see a flock of pigeons flying around someone's house when you are driving to or from work, it is a very good chance that this little guy came from there.

If you do see a flock of pigeons flying "laps", over someone's house or yard, if it is safe to pull over, check out the details of the birds in the air. 

If some of them have some splashes of white or mixed colors, solid black or redish brown and individual birds seem to randomly drop out of the group into a tumble as if they just got shot out of the sky and then , re-join the group... that person is flying a flock of roller pigeons.

And that could be the place where we or I could return this little guy. 

Also, that purple band on his leg is probably a pigeon club band. So I can dig around to find out what club that is and contact them with the band number. 
(Please pardon the utter pigeon geekiness of it all!! )

We'll talk more when I give you a call.


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## Falco64 (Mar 13, 2011)

*Update*

Met up with Pigeon Dude Sunday with our Roller Pigeon friend. Dave has a beautiful collection of birds and I'm happy he had a place for this one. As soon as our Roller was in next to Dave's King they both started cooing and strutting back and forth, it was great to see. Thanks again Dave!











Don't let his size get you down!


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## Falco64 (Mar 13, 2011)

Smile for the bir... human?


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## Revolution Lofts (Aug 7, 2008)

Looks a lot like a roller to me too! Although king pigeons are big, homer's are pretty big too, but the size difference between our friend the roller and the king pigeon is too great for it to be a homer. So to conclude, we have a roller on our hands. Falco, this pigeons home is probably near the airport because rollers don't have a very good homing instinct, plus with the feathers clipped it shouldn't have gone too far away from its home  Good luck with this pigeon, hes a beauty


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## Falco64 (Mar 13, 2011)

Well the roller is in the very capable hands of pigeon dude now. We're going to keep our eyes out for any roller pigeon flocks around the airport so we might find the owner. We'll see how it turns out.


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