A few days ago I noticed some sticks rather randomly placed under the fig tree. This is a pretty protected spot and the wind hasn’t been blowing much lately. The next day there were more sticks. Then I realized it must be a nest. For the past week to two I’ve noticed a couple of pigeons who seemed to be shopping around for a place to live. Apparently, my patio looks like a good place to race chicks. Friday, I actually discovered the female on the nest and the male hanging around. They flew off and I started making some adjustments to be able to water the plants without bothering the nest. Saturday, I watched the male flying off and bringing sticks to the female. She would place them. Last night they were both gone and I went out there and saw one egg in the nest. This morning she was back. I don’t want to scare them away, but the plants will have to be watered, it was 100+ 3 times this week. I threw a few breadcrumbs out and they were gone later, so I threw out a piece of corn on the cob, uncooked. Hopefully, I can tame them enough to work around them.
I read about pigeons on the Internet. These are rock pigeons which used to live on cliffs. Unlike most birds who drink by putting water in their mouth and raising their head to swallow. Pigeons can create suction like humans do. They lay two eggs which take about 18 days to hatch. The chicks are fed for another two weeks. The chicks are about the size of the adults when they leave the nest. If things are going well, the couple will start a second nest while still feeding the chicks. Couples mate for life, about 3-5 years, unless one mate is killed.
Update 1 (12/29/2006)
I still see the pigeons about 1 every week or so. I think it’s the same family, unless all the pigeons like hanging around my patio. There are three. Two with similar colors and one with different coloring. I figured the baby was a male, so that makes sense to me. They’re response is also somewhat expected. One male always runs immediately (I accidentally scared the male off the nest too much). But the other male and female sit there or walk away. The female had the morning and evening shift and saw me watering the plants and I talked to her the most. Though it’s hard to say, because at that time both parents looked very similar.
I leave food for them sometimes, especially when I know the weather is bad. It’s usually gone in a day. And I’ve seen them, specifically, eating it. I’ll miss them when I move.
Here is the MySpace video of the “baby” eating God knows what out of a resting flowerbox.
By my count the eggs were laid about 7/5-7/10. Counting from there I get the age of the baby. These pictures are from 7 weeks to 11 weeks when he moved out.