the wild pigeons of salisbury beach part 94

*I spoke too soon about the white pigeon in Seabrook. There he is sitting on the roof of a house right across the street from where Mattie the dog lives! (I took this photo with my cell phone)
It appears the lady around the corner still feeds him.
So far, this pigeon has been lucky.
Some are not so lucky.
I noticed a opening on one of the fried food places at the beach where pigeons come and go, and have babies. I saw a wing sticking out. Sadly a pigeon got stuck and couldn't get out. I think he died awhile back.
The youngsters milling around seem to be doing OK.Although the "little one" still seems to be thin to me. Young pigeons are suppose to be chubby.
Yesterday, I heard my husband yelling to me to 'come upstairs right now and see what your pigeon has done!" I had no idea what my pigeon has done.I thought perhaps he got on the desk and tossed the papers around. He's done that a few times.
I walked upstairs and saw my husband standing next to his closet pointing to his clothes hanging up. I was confused. What was the problem?
And then I saw bird shit all over his pants, hangers and a few shirts. What the ......(!?)
Oops..now, I remember. One day the pigeon decided to play "hide and seek" in the art room closet. I saw him poke his head out the closet on the top shelf as if to check to see if was looking for him.
 I am guessing he was waiting a long time for me. oooohhh naughty bird!

the wild pigeons of Salisbury beach part 93

* I took this photo a week ago of the two young pigeons that I was worried about. You can see the "little one" sitting on the milk crate. I had placed them up on the pizza loft so that cats or dogs wouldn't get at them..

The larger brother seemed to melded his way into the flock-eating and carrying on.
The "little one" just sat on the loft, to me, looking rejected.
Thankfully, I do believe, despite my worries, the father had been feeding him after he had his fill of morning seed. The "little one' remained on the loft for a good week longer than expected but today, he flew down to join the flock to eat seed!
In the meantime, the white pigeon up in Seabrook seemed to have disappeared. Food and water had be left out daily but no one has seen him since the weekend.
On other news regarding my 'birds".
My pigeon, Craow Dum, seems more boogery than ever. I think he is affected by this year's pollen season. I know one of my cockatiel chat-line members has a lovebird that has issues with allergies this time of year.
So even our pets are affected by seasonal allergies.
"Charlie" hopped out of his cage today. He was nervous but I  calmly and gently lifted him on my hand back in the cage.That was a big step for him. He is afraid of hands. Everyday I sit with him and offer him a delicious sprig of millet. He really enjoys it. "Patches' will invite himself in his cage. Charlie doesn't mind. I think he has a bit of a"bromance" going on with Patches.All I can think of is (movie stars) Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosselin hanging out together.
Today is "Button's" birthday (hatch date). She is eleven years old. To celebrate, I gave her a big bowl of rice. It is like chocolate cake for her. She gobbles it up and makes a mess of it.
Well, that is all the "bird news" here for now.

the wild pigeons of Salisbury beach part 92

* I did not take this photo of a 4-5 week old pigeon. I found this pic on the internet just to show you what a 4 week old pigeon looks like. They look like adults except their beak and cere are not as defined as an adult and their eyes are bigger. There may be some remnants of fuzz through their feathers.They are fledglings.
Yesterday, I saw the youngster (again)sitting on milk crates positioned under the pizza sign loft. He was with another youngster who looked a bit more developed. They were sitting ducks for any wandering cats or busy dogs.
 I brought my ladder with me and put him and his brother back on the lofts. A supervising adult up on the loft (I presume the father) charged over and inspected the bird and then went about his business. This seemed like a good sign.Although the adult didn't feed him.
I went for my jog and came back to inspect the birds. The older one was on the ground again along with the other foraging adults.The smaller one paced nervously.
This was a bit disconcerting.I made up my mind, the next morning if he was there, and if he looked like he was not being cared for I would take him home.
The next day while all the other pigeons raced over for their morning seed I saw the little one wandering around. I thought to myself. "oh shit.." I went to pick him up and he flew up to the loft!
Hooray!
The father pigeon came down and started to "bust-a-move". This was a very good sign. I could see the older brother mixing with the other birds which was also a good sign.
Meanwhile, I haven't seen the white pigeon over in Seabrook. He must be still around because the lady who has had the pigeon visit her had set up a shelter with food and water for him.
I am still hoping he finds his way back home-where ever that is.

the wild pigeons of Salisbury beach part 91

Here is Craow Dum basking in the sun by the french doors.
Never a dull moment with these darn birds.
And yes, the white homer is still hanging around at the end of "A" street by Mattie's. It seems he has grown attached to the roof where he now resides. However, he has not linked up to the group of six resident feral pigeons that roost on the telephone wire nearby. The lady who lives in the house has left food and water out for him. daily.
 I'm not sure if this is a good thing or bad thing.
The good thing is that he has food and water daily.
 The bad thing is he might think this is home-and God knows where "home" is for this  hand raised lost athlete.
 The scary part is there are lots of hawks and cats that live on this street as well.
This morning I noticed as I was jogging on the beach there was a tiny baby pigeon chick dead on the sidewalk along with bits of egg shells.. I see lots of nesting pigeons right now tucked in around the pizza signs along with some of their sad failures .
I found a young fledgling under a nesting area. I wasn't sure if his parents were around or if he could fly back up where ever his nest was or if he was well. He was a youngster at perhaps 4 weeks or 5 weeks old. However his beak and nares were wet and dark. I'm not sure if he had some respiratory infection or it was just wet from drinking water. I was very very tempted to take him home to rehab him but I worry he could have something infectious to my other birds.
Sigh...I'm not sure what to do.
Hopefully, he is OK and safely back with his parents. Maybe I am worrying about nothing.

the Wild Pigeons of Salisbury beach part 90

Never a dull moment when it comes to dealing with my birds -inside the house and outside.
For about a week or so I noticed one pigeon in the mix of other pigeons on the beach that was particularly filthy. At first I thought this pigeon must be a nesting mother. They are usually hunkered down on a nest sometimes getting their poop and the the babies poop stuck to their tail feathers. However, this one was really filthy.
This one looked as through she had been stuck in tar or oil.I also noticed that this one didn't fly over to the food but ran. I was hoping in a day or two she would clean herself up in a puddle but instead this poor creature was getting weighted down by it's own dirt. I had finally decided that the next day I would capture her, take her home, wash the goo off with orange solvent and "Dawn" detergent and then release her back on the beach. Sadly, she the next day, she was no where to be found. Either a predator got her or she died from ingesting whatever was on the feathers.
Meanwhile, I got a call from somebody who lives on "Mattie" (the dog)'s street about a white dove huddled under her truck. She saw my pic in the newspaper and called me. Apparently people have mistakenly thought I "rescue" birds. Regardless, I drove back up there late afternoon with a ladder, a carrier and net.
All the neighbors were huddled around as I arrived.A big hawk kept swooping down trying to get this bird.
The bird was not a dove but a homing pigeon with two leg bands. I tried to get him but he flew off. I sat in the driveway with a sprinkling of seeds on the ground holding still for an hour. The pigeon came down and started to peck at the seed but very cautiously. He got really close and I tried again to grab him with no avail.
I spent close to two hours trying to get him until it started to rain, the wind picking up, darkness falling and my back and knees were aching  badly AND I really REALLY had to use the toilet.
This was all of great entertainment to the neighbors watching me. The pigeon obviously was lost and had no idea what to do.Sadly, I left empty handed.
I am hoping he hunkered down for the night and perhaps, is on his way back home.
I'll be back up there to walk Mattie again today so I will keep you posted.

the secret language of shoes

OK this will be the last time I mention those two dirt-bag marathon bombers "flashbang' and "speedbump" (as named by radio personality Howie Carr).
 In the initial investigation of tracking down these two low-life maggots what stood out on the surveillance camera was the fact they were not only carrying back-packs but also, their choice of clothing-especially their foot-wear  was odd.
Nobody wears shoes to a marathon-even as a onlooker. 
Normal people wear sneakers.
Period.
Another thing that poses an interesting fact in regard to their choice of foot-wear is that they are Louie Vuitton shoes. They are Very VERY expensive shoes.
So where did these two free-loader parasites on the dole get to money to buy thousand dollar shoes? Hmmmmm...it came from somewhere else other than their welfare checks.
Welcome to the secret life of shoes.
After my dog walking rounds I stopped at DSW.
 DSW is a giant shoe store in which I just wanted to 'just look". OK, I confess I bought those shoes( in the first photo). As you can see, I could not resist.
They have little BIRDS on them!!!!  
Of course, I chatted with the saleslady who confessed 90% of her paycheck goes to buying shoes that she can  not resist. I kind of felt like a priest in a confessional booth hearing her "sins" except I was just as guilty.
Last week as I was strolling to my fav restaurant in Newburyport I wore the blue shoes (as pictured in the second photo).I can not begin to tell you how many times I get the "look-over" at my shoes.
Many times I get stopped by ladies admiring and commenting on my gorgeous shoes. Even my husband will notice ladies glancing admiringly at my shoes kind of the same way  guys check out a well endowed lady. He can't understand "the fascination" but he finds it rather funny . He says, it's almost like a secret language between ladies.
When I was wearing the blue shoes I walked by this outdoor school fundraiser. A couple of ladies ran out to me saying, "oh my God! those shoes!" We have a pair of shoes for you!" And then they ran out to me with clutching these perfect glittery brand new pink heels in a size 8.5(see photo number three)
They were very excited and proceeded to say, "please just take them! You obviously can wear them and they need a home!"
I gave them a small donation and took them home with me.
My husband found the whole thing hilarious . It was like they were looking for the perfect adoptee that would care for those beautiful shoes.
They were happy, and I was thrilled!
Like I said shoes tell a story.