Mr and Mrs Pigeon

Don't you think that pigeons are sort of stereotyped? Just these birds that hang out in crowds on statues and poop all over them? Of course, there was the pigeon lady in Home Alone 2. She didn't give the pigeons a bad name at all. She was their friend and they even helped Kevin. But for the most part, I don't think people have much of an affinity towards pigeons. I was pretty much part of that group, too. Until Mr. & Mrs. Pigeon decided that living on our miniature tree farm (just kidding - we just have a LOT of trees on our property) was a good idea.

I saw them around, hanging out in one of the pine trees most of the time. You'd think I'd know what kind of trees I have and I do for some of them. But we have 22 trees and without knowing how to identify them to begin with, what's a girl to do? So there are a variety of evergreens, but I mostly call them all pine trees. Until I know better, anyway.

So back to Mr. & Mrs. P. I'd see them hanging around and since they're the only two pigeons I've ever seen here, I figured it had to be the same couple. That was all fine and well, as we have numerous birds here (see first paragraph - a LOT of trees). But a couple of weeks ago, I saw something going on outside my window. The view is fairly well-blocked by pine tree branches and needles, but I finally figured out what was up.

Nest building. Mr. & Mrs. are preparing for an addition to the family. Or maybe additionS. I don't really know. Do pigeons hatch one baby at a time or multiples? Anyone know about that? I suppose Google might send me in the right direction. I'll have to get back to you on that one.

So I grabbed the camera (of course) and watched as Mr. P would go find a proper twig or other piece of nest building material and fly up to their branch, walk/hop out to the nest location, and hand it off to Mrs P. Then he'd turn around and walk/hop back to the inner portion of the branch. Flit down to one of two lower branches, then fly down to the ground to retrieve the next piece of nest building material. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Yes, it's true. I stood there watching a pigeon get one piece of material at a time and repeat the same sequence over and over and over again. And then I wonder where my day has gone and why I didn't accomplish more.

I wish I could see their nest a little better. But I also don't want to give away their special location to any possible predators. Like ravens. Or squirrels. Do ravens or squirrels bother pigeons? I guess that's another thing to Google.

Maybe if I stand on a chair where I can look out from the top of the window, I can see their nest. I'll try that later. In the meantime, here are some shots I got that day.

Hi, there, Mr Pigeon!

That one looks pretty good.

Here you go, Mrs. P.

Time for a little break.

Back to work.