Caren Knox-Hundley

Hi -

We were visited yesterday by a homing pigeon! She (or he?) showed up
on our windowsill and was just hanging out. Since it was 100 degrees
yesterday, I thought I'd take it some water, even if that scared it
away. It didn't scare! As I poured the water into the dish, the
bird hopped right up to it - very close to me - and had a drink.
That's when I saw the bands on its legs. I googled "I found a
pigeon" and through various sites, I learned that the bird was
probably tired, and if I could, we should keep it comfy for a day or
two, then release it. We settled the bird into a kitty carrier, and
she spent the night. I found the originating club that released the
pigeon - but the person who can look up the owner of the bird is on
vacation 'til September 5th! I'm really not sure what to do, now.

It seems like it's too hot to release the bird. I was writing to see
if someone on the list kept homing pigeons, and what you might
suggest I do. I have a dog and three cats, so the bird is tucked
away in my room with the door closed - if they're social birds, it
seems like that would be stressful for it. It is eating the seed I
put in.

Any advice appreciated!

Caren



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sarah

Hi Caren,

I do not keep homing pigeons but we had the exact same experience
last summer! We live near Seattle and our bird visitor was from
Canada. It had been a really hot week and this little guy was just
exhausted. We kept him for over a week in a large dog crate outside
and kept him fed,watered and safe from other animals.

When I finally contacted the owner, she said that if I could get him
as close to his home as possible, I could just release him and he'd
come home. She asked me not to release him from my home since he had
been staying there awhile and was being fed so he might not want to
leave. We ended up driving the bird near the border and released
him.

How far away is his home from you? From our experience and talking
with the owner, I think if you just continue keeping it safe, fed and
watered for a few days it should be able to continue on home. The
owner also asked us to release him either in the early morning or
evening to keep him from flying during the heat of the day.

HTH,
Sarah

--- In [email protected], Caren Knox-Hundley
<carenkh@...> wrote:
>
> Hi -
>
> We were visited yesterday by a homing pigeon!

[email protected]

Wow, Caren! We had that happen too, just a few months ago, lol! But it flew
off after it rested a bit, or we would have attempted the same. How neat!

Karen



************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at
http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Ren Allen

~~It seems like it's too hot to release the bird. I was writing to see
if someone on the list kept homing pigeons, and what you might
suggest I do. ~~

Let it get hydrated, eat some food and let it go. It will find it's
way home! It will be ok.

Ren
learninginfreedom.com