# Dying pigeon



## Fred Smith (Apr 19, 2007)

Last night I spotted a pigeon in the street trying desparately to move and/or fly. It seemed to be favoring its left side. I carried it to the sidewalk and did not notice any exterior problems with its legs. It continued to move in circles with its right leg and struggled to flap its wings. At one point it extended both of its wings as I tried to cheer it on but to no avail. Some clear substance was exiting its mouth but not profusely. Soon it had flipped over on its back and immediately stopped struggling, lying in a completely peaceful state. A few breaths were taken and then the pigeon was deceased. What was going on here?


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## naturegirl (Nov 7, 2005)

ya know Fred seeing as you found it in the street it probably got hit by a car. I couldn't handle seeing something like that, that would be a image stuck in my mind for the rest of my life. I am glad you at least took it off the road and onto the sidewalk. Thank You. 

Cindy


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

little bird said:


> POISON??? Do you know if someone is trying to ""control"" the pigeons in your area???


I thought poison too, but he found it in the street so it could be either one I guess.


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## Whitefeather (Sep 2, 2002)

Hi Fred,
Welcome to Pigeon-Talk. I'm sorry to hear of your sad situation.

Thank you so much for thinking enough of this pigeon to move him to safety.
There are many who wouldn't have given him a second look.  

There could be a number of things that caused his early demise. 
He could have been ill, thereby hindering his flying ability, causing him to come into contact with a car. He could have been young & didn't have his 'bigbird' wings just yet & poison is a thought.

The bottom line is, you helped to make his passing a little easier & for that, we 'Thank You'.  

Cindy


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## Fred Smith (Apr 19, 2007)

Thank you for the great replies. This is actually my first thread posting anywhere on the internet so you can see how grateful I am to anyone taking the time to reply and how much this affected me. I'm 30 years old and I found the pigeon outside the hotel where I work at in San Jose, CA around 2:30am. I am not aware of any "controlling" in our area. There was not much traffic out, if any, and I found the bird next to the curb of our valet and not in the main street area, although it could have fluttered its way there from the street. The pigeon did not look young and actually was pretty robust (I had even said to myself that it probably did not miss too many meals and had lived a good life). I guess what struck me most of all was the moment it had flipped on its back and all struggle simultaneously ceased as it lay there still breathing for about 15-20 seconds longer. Instead of wanting to return to flight, this incident led one to believe that the pigeon had longed to be in this position the entire time. Images of the movie "American Beauty" came to me and I have been wondering if there was any precedence for this type of occurrence in birds.


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## flitsnowzoom (Mar 20, 2007)

Hi Fred,
Bless your heart! 

I can't answer if that is how pigeons die, but I do know that having you there as a tender witness and protector must have made it easier for the two of you. Regardless of how it died, you took the time to make sure that bird suffered no more harm.

I'd be on the lookout for bait since you work in an light industrial area and no visiting guests in restaurants or hotels would return if they spotted "vermin". Animals are often poisoned by accident by sampling bait left for other animals or drinking from a pool of water (street, gutter, ponds) that has been contaminated with fluids leaking from motor traffic or run-off from sprayed or fertilized yards. I don't know, but it sounds like it could have taken some poisoned bait or ingested something toxic.

Since clean water is hard to come by in some parts of a city, you might get a large flat dish a couple of inches deep (something like an oversized saucer that you'd place under a plant) , place it on the ground in a protected area away from guest traffic, fill it with water, and watch to see who and what all shows up to drink and bathe. Too deep and you risk drowning the birds and too shallow, the doves and pidges can't slurp up the water. Pidgies, like doves, bathe and drink from a ground based bird bath rather than one up in the air.


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## alvin (May 10, 2006)

Poison. 
If it were hit by a car, it wouldn't be favouring it's right side. There would most likely be visible damage.


Damn! I HATE poison.


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

*Cause of death of pigeon*

Hello Fred,

I would suspect poison, then perhaps car accident.

I have never seen a pigeon want to be upside down. if they are upside down, contents of crop can shift towards tracheal opening at base of tongue, and bird can aspirate food and liquids and asphixiate. (Just as happens with alcoholics who pass out, aapirate vomit or stomach contents, and develop fatal pneumonia (I forget the technical term for this particular type of pneumonia). 

Only pigeons I have observed even comfortable or resigned in a partially-upside-down position are those being held by pigeon fanciers, and those are still right-side-up, with feet held between fingers of fancier, and head still held higher than crop. (Of course, another exception is when pigeons are flying and diving, or while pecking and eating, but that's anoother matter entirely). Can't think of any other situations. Perhaps our experienced pigeon re-habbers can. 

Several pigeons I have observed succumbing to an illness of at least several days' duration died standing up, withdrawn, quiet. Most want to die in solitude (without someone or something harrassing them), much like humans. Some want to die with other pigeons in the vicinity, as a form of look-out, so they can concentrate on themselves, or at least not have to focus on outside events. 

This pigeon spent some of his last time in agony, thrashing about.

I saw a pigeon carcass at a park playground several days ago, wings attached to spine and keel, rest missing. A few yards away was a red sticker on a lamp post, posted by the city, warning of difenacoum rodenticide nearby, with advice to take vitamin K1 (phytomanadium) as an antidote, a coagulant. This pigeon carcass was not in a secluded place, suggesting that it died suddenly, or that it had been removed from where it died and then eaten. 

A fresher pigeon carcass I saw a couple of years ago near recycling containers, where I suspected rat poison, had hemorrhaged blood from its mouth before death. (I think a neighborl with an adjacent hedged-in garden had put out rat poison). 

Last year, in the same place, the mayor's office (_Bürgermeister,_ and the _Rathaus_) of the city of Cologne authorized posoning rats who came to the recycling containers from a labyrinth at the adjacent underground parking garage, to eat food residue from the food packaging to be recycled. The red sticker warning of difenacoum was nearby, and five dead rats and a baby rat were laid out on the pavement. They had crawled into nearby bushes to die. No blood or outward evidence of hemorrhaging was to be seen. (Blocking a couple of holes on each container would have accomplished the same goal, without poison. The containers are designed to be hook-lifted by a truck crane, swivel open on a hinge much like the scoop on a steam shovel, to empty contents).



For those interested, info on vitamin K1: 

http://www.sportsgeezer.com/sportsgeezer/2006/09/what_is_vitamin.html



> Then on to Vitamin K, named, according to this piece in the New York Times,
> 
> http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60816FB34550C758EDDA00894DE404482
> 
> for the German word “koagulation,” meaning “clotting,” has a well-known role in blood clotting. The Times reports that recent evidence suggests that it may also be important for bone formation, preventing osteoporosis and keeping the circulatory and nervous systems healthy. Vitamin K is actually group of related fat-soluble compounds, which two natural forms: vitamin K1, or phylloquinone, which comes from plants, and vitamin K2, or menaquinone-n, a group of related substances mainly produced by bacteria, including those in the intestines. The best natural source of vitamin K is green leafy vegetables, including kale, leaf lettuce, Swiss chard and watercress.


Larry


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## Fancyfowl4ever (Oct 6, 2006)

... rolling on the back is usually a sure sign of a heart attack in a bird, at least from what my vet tells me and I have read in one of my bird diseases books....
If it was hit by a car there doesn't have to be any visible damage, it just needs one broken rip that punctures a vital organ and it dies. 

This is just my take on it, since the bird has been found on a road.


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