Good to hear birdie is healing. He's a little trooper.

Ann, that's a great idea. We should have done it sooner. We put newspaper in pretty thick so he cannot feel the wires in the cage bottom, but I'll see if I can find something softer. He's doing so well, starting to coo a little but it sounds weak.

so happy to see he is improving!!

I am wondering how old is your bird? The life span of doves in the wild is about 1.5 years, however, death is most often by hazards and not old age. In captivity, life span can be up to 20 years.

We figure he's about 15 years old.

He is so darling. I am wondering about having a solo dove. No criticism intended at all, but we often have wild doves around our yard , always in pairs, and think they mate for life. Do they make their human their mate? Hope your little guy is soon all healed.

No offense taken, Martinca. I understand what you are saying, but I cannot consider a second bird. Of course it would be nice for him, but if he's 15 and another bird somewhat younger, I'll have birds until I go in the grave! Thank you for your thoughts.

Just checking back in- hoping the healing is going steadily along. Please update us when you can.

I'm so glad for the update. I've been wondering how the sweetie is doing. I'm glad to see he's doing so well and seems to be on the way to many good days!

I am so pleased to hear he is doing so well. I have wondered and did from what you wrote last want to assume he was healing. It does make my day.

He's so pretty!

I'm happy to hear this update too and amazed that he is so big seeing someone's hand there for perspective. He is a real beauty.

What a pretty bird. I'm glad he's doing well.

I am so happy also to hear and see how well he’s doing! How traumatic for both of you....you can finally breathe a sigh of relief...

Best wishes for your pretty bird's continued success in recovery! 💙💙💙

He's adorable. So glad he's well .

What a pretty guy so glad he's doing so well. Thanks for keeping us updated. Plus pictures and seeing him getting finger training, pretty cool.

he's a real beauty! so happy to know he's recovering so well!

HOORAY! If he was going to recover, I knew he'd do so for YOU!

Now...about a name...?

He has been The Bird his whole life. The grandkids have named him a couple times but it never stuck. We tried calling him "Abracadabra" for a while since he was given to us by a professional magician, but that never "took" either. The Bird never "worked" in magic shows; he was an extra when given to us. Wanna name him, Sue?

"Survivor"? Actually, "Bird" is fine, as long as he's your only one. Oh, maybe "Charlie", for the famous musician, Charlie "Bird" Parker.

I remembered this post yesterday and realized I didn't check in to see how it turned out.

I think I mentioned here before that a fancy brown and white pigeon
showed up at my barn this summer, and decided "I live here now" He's still here, and struts around and coos when people come into the barn. He'll even land on people's heads or on one of the horses backs. Or ride around on the roof of the golf cart, or once even on the back of a horse being longed in the riding ring.

Yesterday we had a scare where the bird decided to follow the golf cart from the barn toward the house, and some sort of hawk or falcon started coming after it in the air. Luckily the pigeon noticed the raptor fast approaching and took evasive maneuvers even doing a loop-de-loop, and after shaking the raptor, returned safely to the barn.

So bob - Have you named the bird yet? I'm glad he's still safe. I don't even know what pigeons eat but assume he gets enough on farm.

I can think of a person who fools around all day and rides on golf carts. I could see naming a pigeon after him.

chisue

I can think of a person who fools around all day and rides on golf carts. I could see naming a pigeon after him.

~~~~

my sympathy goes to the pigeon -- it deserves a lovelier name!

That's delightful, Bob. If there is any kind of grain around, the pigeon would probably like that. I hope he lives long and prospers.

The Bird is just fine, thank you. It took about 6 weeks to mostly full recovery. He had 3 injuries, the worst being his leg/foot. The foot would not open, so he basically tried to walk on the top of his ankle which wasn't working well. He stayed on the bottom of the cage for weeks, then graduated to being able to open the foot and stand on a perch. He didn't coo for weeks, but now he does. Who would think a hawk could do such damage from outside a cage with close wires?

Have fun with your new wild pet, Bob. Maybe a picture?

PS Must have been someone's pet to be so tame and friendly.

Bob, what a delightful story! I'm so glad he escaped the hawk.

Socks, I'm so glad your bird healed well and coos once more.

Weather is nice today so I put the bird in his outside cage since I have to work in the garden and I am available to fight off any birds of prey! It’s only his second time outside. This is not the cage he was attacked in.

I love Bird!

I am available to fight off any birds of prey!

Only if you are standing right where they go at the instant they attack and are able to bat them away before they get to the dove. Otherwise, much more likely you hear something, look over and see the hawk fly off - same as before.

Adding more finely spaced wire mesh hawks cannot possibly reach through would be a lot more reliable.

I once lived in a house where the last people had a son who kept pigeons. Some of them returned to the house. And someone in Canada just abandoned their pigeons and people kept bringing them to our house because of the previous people. The neighbor's cat took care of the situation though sad for the pigeons. We had no cages to protect them. We had one nest and make babies. I have never seen anything so ugly in all my life as a baby pigeon. It looked for all the world like a giant fat toad with spikes. Bird is a very attractive sort of bird. Are dove babies ugly?

Hawks are beautiful creatures, but they kill birds, carry off small animals (kitties and puppies). Coyotes got all our neighborhood cats. Very sad. I wish one would come back and get one or two of the 18 turkeys which were in my yard this morning. Messy things…yuck.

Judy, we have the same situation here, lots of coyotes, rarely see a cat. They are not just nocturnal either, they are out anytime. We added some extra wire fencing on top of our wall to keep coyotes out. My friend had to wait in her car at a stop sign while a coyote crossed in the crosswalk! Some look good, some don’t.

Socks, Bird is just beautiful and I'm so glad he could make a comeback. I would think this cage would be safe for him. The wire seems close enough together to keep anything out. I hope he has many more years ahead of him.

That sounds to me like a coo-l idea about naming the pigeon, chisue and bleusblue!

ole joyful

I am happy both birds survived their encounters with the bad guys. Bob, your pigeon sounds like a character and smarty.

Although the bird here is a pigeon, we have named him "Dove Bar" because he is chocolate and vanilla in color.

LOL! Dove Bar IS quite the character. And pretty!

Oh my gosh! He’s so pretty, and goes inside too. Thanks, Bob.

The last picture is the tackroom of the barn. That's where he showed up back in the summer. He waddled in through the open door, and just stayed.

Nice to meet you, Dove Bar. You're pretty smart for a pigeon. There has to be plenty to eat where there are animals, front or back ends.

The pigeon on the horse reminds me of Perastroika In Paris, a recent good read (fairytale for adults).

Dove Bar is beautiful. I'd get a huge cage and keep her.

Parental species is called rock dove. So Dove Bar isn't completely inapt. And if it were brown with white spots it could even be called Rocky Road.

Now I have to keep up with the lives and times of Bird AND Dovebar! Keep living the good life birds :^)

Many here are content to have Dove Bar land on them, and even seem to enjoy it.

Here a horse vet who was visiting to examine one of the horses that boards here had help from Dove Bar.

For me it gets right into my phobia of flying things getting too close to me. Almost inevitably Dove Bar will come flying up behind me, intending to land on my head, and I will shriek in terror and drop to the ground, causing the bird to abort the landing attempt.

Oh Bob, you're no help!! That's so funny. Maybe you watched that Hitchcock bird movie at an impressionable age.

I think Dove Bar was sent to brighten your spirits.

I enjoyed seeing pictures of Bird and Dove Bar. I rehabbed several pigeons and wrote about them in my Bayou Tales stories. One of them, named Hue, used to follow me all over the place. I had another one named Checkers that I found in a trash can at Lowe's. They had a trash can sitting out in the nursery section, and were cleaning up and dumping the sweepings into it. I glanced in and saw a live pigeon in it. She was covered in tar. Of course I took her home. I got most of it off of her, but her white, speckled black feathers were stained brown after that. A hawk got her.

Dove Bar is so pretty. And what a character! He must be a delight to have around.

Just this week our friend was watching a pigeon eating fallen olives on the ground, and as he watched, a hawk swooped down and picked up the pigeon. Pigeons must be easy prey.