I just cancelled my non-essential dog walking customers. What I mean by "non-essential" is that the owners are at home and not away on a trip. We are getting bonked with yet another massive snow storm so I got finally got smart and decided to call in -"a snow day". There is a 4 foot ridge of snow and ice in front of my driveway so I can't get out anyways. If I can't get out to get the newspaper and or go running then you know it is bad out.
I have been seeing less and less of the pigeon population out at the beach. I've left food out for them thinking that they probably come out later in the morning but the next day it remains uneaten. This is odd because I've feeding the pigeons for years now and I have not had this issue even in the winter. I saw "Craow Dum" up at his nest but he refuses to leave it even though he sees me (and recognizes me) holding the white food container. Ocassionally I saw "Brownie" a few times appearing from a long haitus around Thanksgiving but I have not seen any of the "regulars" since Christmas. And "Brownie" has disappeared again.
Sadly, I found a few remains of pigeons on the sidewalk either from hawk attacks or causalities from storms.
Oddly, just recently, there has been this one solitary pigeon who has been hanging around on my back deck.
My arms and shoulders are sore from, it seems, non-stop shoveling. I shovel off the walkway and back deck. I keep the back deck clear so that the heavy snow accumulating (along with ice) will not weigh the deck down causing a collapse of structure. I also like to keep the deck clear so I can get on it to refill the bird feeders. We have this huge population of goldfinches that live in the pines that feast at our feeders. I have to refill the feeders twice a day. I just started to leave left over seed on the deck for the lone pigeon. I do not know where the pigeons go and where they can find food in the snow.
Poor pigeons.
* here is photo I took of "Brownie" last fall.
I wonder if pigeons fly south for warmer weather, but no one knows about it because no one cares enough to track them. You do, obviously. It will be interesting to know if they return in the spring to their beachfront property.
ReplyDeleteI went out a little later for a run this morning. I saw a few of the "gang" up on the phone lines but they did not come down.
ReplyDeleteIt is "eagle" season right now. It is cold and icy so they might be in hiding from hawks and other assorted birds of prey.
Sorry that you guys are getting so pounded out there. We haven't had a single flake (fingers crossed) :o)
ReplyDeleteI went out into my neighborhood the other day to see if we had any flocks of pigeons or other bird colonies that I could start watching... I found chickens. White ones. They live in a tree down the street. Joe says they've been there for a few years, abandoned by their owners. It's weird to see a tree full of chickens. They come down at dawn, and dusk to eat.
Wild chickens!?! WOW!
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