Pigeon Love?

Yesterday I was so excited to have a decent steak and baked potato for dinner. I went out to start my grill and I saw the back end of a bird under there. It scared the crap right out of me. We have had several dead birds in our yard this past year and I was so upset that I was going to have to deal with the third one since James left last month. Much to my surprise this pigeon was alive! Alive I say! I was filled with relief and dread at the same time. I was relieved because this one was sucking air, dread because I knew I had to do something because there is no way this little guy was going to survive a night on the ground. My solution was putting him in a box and setting it where mommy and daddy could get in to take care of him. Not a great solution, by any means, but the best I could think of under such stress.

I say stressed because I dislike birds...really, I am afraid of birds. Yeah, I said it. I. Am. Afraid. Of. Birds. Long story about a silly traumatic event back when I was a child. I have a hard time going into aviaries at zoos. Birds that can't fly are ok...penguins, ostriches, emus but not chickens. I am afraid of chickens too. Even though they don't fly I still don't like 'em.

I worried about that baby pigeon all night! Every time I rolled over to look at the clock I hoped the bird was ok. The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was check on the baby and was so happy to see he was ok and a few minutes later his momma (maybe it was daddy) swooped down to feed it. I knew I couldn't leave him so low on the ground for another night so I thought about it for a bit and decided to use one of my hanging flower pots. It is deep enough the bird shouldn't fall out again and I can hang it about 5 feet off the ground. Then I had to slide the little bird from the box he was hiding in into the basket. Not easy. And I was afraid I was going to lose an eye from an upset momma pigeon.

I am happy to report I put that baby into the basket and hung it up. I tied a piece of rope around the pole and around part of the basket to help cut down on the sway because it is fairly breezy today. I think the baby is pretty happy too! He hasn't stopped chirping since his momma (maybe daddy) found him and is now chilling with him in his new make shift home. I guess we won't be using the patio door for the next couple of weeks until this baby flies the coup (or basket ).

*On a side note I took the pictures through my window so they are not super clear but I felt safer behind the glass!