Baby wood pigeons, please help me

[dsharps]

Hi all,

Please can you help...

Today is thursday... we have had a nest of wood pigeons in the tree in the front garden all summer.

On tuesday night the weather was really bad and blew the nest out of the tree leaving the 2 chicks on the floor. These chicks look quite big.

Over the past 2 days we have been monitoring them and watching their mum comeback to feed them on the floor.

The biggest problem being is one of them has now took shelter at the bottom of our drive, behind one of our cars, 2 wheely bins and a slab of concrete. The other has just found a corner in the front garden and is staying there.

When the mother comes back to feed them i am sure she can only find the one in the front garden and not the one down my drive.

Should i move the one down the drive back into the front garden where the mother can easily see it???? I am scared to death of doing this and then a cat mauls it, but i cant just leave it to starve.

When the mother comes and makes the coo noise, you can hear the drive baby calling to her, but she looks confused and not sure where its coming from.

Also the weather is shocking, driving rain and winds here, will they be ok outside on there own?

I am a big animal lover and would be horrified if something bad happened to any of the 2 chicks.

Any advice would be great.

Please reply asap thank you

[Picidae]

Originally Posted by dsharps

Hi all,

When the mother comes and makes the coo noise, you can hear the drive baby calling to her, but she looks confused and not sure where its coming from.

Unless the pigeon is trapped or injured in some way, I'd leave well alone. If the mother can hear it calling, she will find it - she'll only feed a couple of times a day anyway, so I wouldn't assume she doesn't know where it is (it's only your 'projection' of 'confusion' I'd imagine). If you interfere, it could make things worse - it's obviously found a place of shelter from the bad weather.

It's tough, but unless baby birds are injured, it really is better just to leave the parents to do their job and not worry too much. If you hang around where the baby is too much or keep going to check the area you could deter the parent from feeding it.

(If you are absolutely sure the chick is actually the offspring of the adult you see in the front and it's definitely from the nest that's blown down, the only thing I might try is to replace the nest in the same tree and put the pigeon back in it but definitely don't bring it indoors or move it to somewhere else on the ground but be aware there could be other families of fledgling pigeons in the area and another parent is in the vicinity so it's a risk that you wouldn't be actually putting the right chick back in the correct nest site - they all look rather similar!!!)

[dsharps]

Thank you for your reply,

I find it so hard not to try and help them.... christ i have even been out at 3:30am to try and see if there are any cats around ( Our area is littered with them ).

I shall see how things are tomorrow then... thanks for putting my mind at ease.

I tell you we have had bloody everything in this house stray cats, dogs etc etc they must know we love animals.

Cheers again...

[Picidae]

Originally Posted by dsharps

I tell you we have had bloody everything in this house stray cats, dogs etc etc they must know we love animals.

Cheers again...

What I would strongly advise if at all possible is to try and keep the cats indoors for a few days (even if they don't normally 'chase birds'!) and not let the dogs run around loose - that would not only prevent the unfledged youngsters from being predated but also help prevent the parents from deserting the chicks or being predated themselves.

[Picidae]

Originally Posted by dsharps

Thank you for your reply,

I find it so hard not to try and help them.... christ i have even been out at 3:30am to try and see if there are any cats around ( Our area is littered with them ).

Given what you just said (I missed it on the first reading!) I think I probably would try and get both pigeon chicks back into a tree/nest or at least on a roof extension of the house. You can only try and protect them but unfortunately you can't control other people's cats in the neighbourhood.

I was out in the garden at 3.30am this morning, throwing jugs of water at two cats that were trying to predate small night creatures and scaring the hell out of a young fox cub who'd come to eat some scraps I left out!! (believe it or not it was the sound of one of the cat's tail banging against the wooden fence as it was preparing to pounce that woke me up and the jingle of bells from the other cat's collar!)

[valleyforge]

Hi dsharps, and welcome to the WAB forum.

Sorry I wasn't around late last night to see your post, but in any case my advice would not be any different to that which Picidae has has ready given.

It is always very difficult to know just what to do for the best in a situation such as this, and practically impossible to provide remote support without seeing the 'lie of the land' and the condition and stage of development of the birds.

In general terms though, it is always best to leave displaced fledglings where they are, for the parents to attend to, if it appears that they are not obviously injured, or in immediate danger of predation.

Whilst it might appear that you'd be assisting the parent birds by relocating the youngsters so that they are together again, that could probably put them both at greater risk from a predator than when they are apart. If the parents can hear the youngster they will be able to locate it.

With pigeons it is very easy to assume that they are not being fed, because the parents certainly don't attend as regularly as for instance a finch, tit or blackbird would to its offspring ... crop milk is very rich in nutrients and perhaps only two feeds per day is sufficient for the youngsters to prosper.