What Happened to the Christmas Dove? A Tale of Survival and Compassion

[OmCheeto]

How did you get a wild bird to sit on your knee? super glue? wow, you have a pet. Can a dove get to know a person an feel affection for them? I've never had a bird. I knew a guy who had a parrot and that parrot was super attached to the guy.

Sit on my knee? Just move real slow and don't be a tweaker.

I would have taken her to the river yesterday, but I didn't have a bird cage.
It was a beautiful day on the river.

I wish she could have gone. There were cormorants and winter type chickadee's everywhere. I suppose she's still not well enough for the cold, although she did nip at me for the first time today. I suppose that's a good sign.

She does remind me of my goldfish of old. Today, when I came home from work, she was sitting in the same spot I left her this morning. Not hard for a goldfish, but it must be really hard for a bird to not go anywhere, when there is a whole house to explore.

But I'm pretty sure she was just teasing me. There was quite a bit of food missing from the top of the fish tank.

 

[binzing]

Willamette?

 

[OmCheeto]

Willamette?

Columbia.

Odd. That's almost the same as the family name of the dove: Columbidae.

Actually, everything's been a bit odd. I had a vague recollection of a story my younger brother told me about a white bird a few years back. I called him on Saturday, but he didn't answer. He called me back on Sunday and re-explained the details.

He'd seen the white bird the day of our mothers funeral, which was about 15 years ago. So I imagined that someone I knew was dead somewhere, though if it were someone close, I'm pretty sure I'd have heard about it.

Today when I got to work, the first thing they told me was that a co-worker I'd know for the last 20 years had passed away on Friday.

The bird is apparently a reincarnation of the lady. A pretty good characterization also. A month before she quit, she had all of her teeth pulled out. Birds have no teeth. She had blond hair. The bird has a dirty blond tail. The woman was always giving people crap. My bird craps everywhere.

I'm pretty sure it's her.

 

[OmCheeto]

Since she seems to like the view from the wall mounted lamps so much, I decided to build her a bathroom.

I suppose without the ceiling fans on, it's the warmest place in the house.

I've had to make a few lifestyle changes. No fires in the woodstove, no halogen lamps on except for photo-ops, all ceiling fans permanently off, and the removal of all breakable trinkets from all potential landing sites.

Someone from pigeon 911 contacted me and said that if I can't take care of the bird, they might have someone to take her off my hands.

They said they couldn't tell what she was though because my images were a bit fuzzy.

I guess I'm leaning towards young white pigeon.

 

[Evo]

She's so pretty. Can you tell if the wound is healing ok?

 

[Borek]

If she made it up to today, she probably wasn't hurt very badly.

 

[physics girl phd]

This is so amazing. I can't believe she's adapting so well to inside life.

 

[Evo]

Perhaps OmCheeto is "the pigeon whisperer".

 

[Borek]

This is so amazing. I can't believe she's adapting so well to inside life.

That can be effect of the shock and wound. Few years ago Junior brought home young cat, that was so weak and skinny that it wasn't able to run away. So - while it was afraid of the situation - it was just closing eyes and pretending whatever happens is not really happening. Before it got stronger it also got accustomed to us.

 

[hypatia]

The bird is beautiful. I think its really happy to be there.

 

[binzing]

Looks like you've got a buddy now Om.

 

[lisab]

So what are you going to name her, Om?

 

[BobG]

She's so pretty. Can you tell if the wound is healing ok?

The wound obviously hasn't been debilitating, but I'd be worried about infection. A visit to a vet that handles birds could take care of that. They can give the bird a simple antibiotic to help it fight off any infection that sets in.

 

[Danger]

So what are you going to name her, Om?

Homer?

 

[~christina~]

Very pretty birdie. From that close up, it looks like a pigeon. (thick neck)

If your going to take care of it in the long run, I would get it a cage. I can't comment on the size it should be though, because my dad raised a few pigeons at a time and the cage was rather large, since they need some flight space. If it isn't a homer pigeon but a normal one I wouldn't trust that it wouldn't fly off and never come back. The homers that we raised were allowed to fly out and come back at night.

If I were you I'd probably wash the feathers around the wound and check the extent of the damage.

 

[binzing]

By the eye, beak, and large neck I'd go with pigeon.

 

[OmCheeto]

By the eye, beak, and large neck I'd go with pigeon.

ditto.

I'll let you know in the morning what pigeon 911 says about the situation.

They've found my little pigeon dove a home.

although...

 

[BobG]

You could name her Bianca.

 

[OmCheeto]

I'm pretty sure I can't keep her. I've already started making little birdy habitrails through my living room.

I'm going to turn into one of those crazy people with a pigeon living uncaged in their house with bird poop everywhere.

And she's flying around spontaneously now, just for the fun of it apparently.

Oh! And she must be a girl, she just remodeled the bathroom.

 

[hypatia]

Ahahahah@ habitrails. Thats so cool, you would make a great pigeon Pappa.

 

[Evo]

Aw, that so cute! How about diapers?

The blood all over her breast is a bit unnerving though.

 

[OmCheeto]

Aw, that so cute! How about diapers?

The blood all over her breast is a bit unnerving though.

I've been trying to keep the bloody pic's down to a minimum. The pictures of the blood in the snow and in the bath look like something out of a Hitchcock movie, only in color.

Today, a lady I've known for 20 years came and asked about our dead co-worker. I told her I knew nothing of the circumstances. I did though tell her about her reincarnation, and how she was sitting in my living room. I showed her the thread with all of the pretty pictures.

After she left, I noticed the Google advertisements at the top of the page. I would have fallen down laughing if we hadn't been so busy at work today.

She's not a pest..., yet.

 

[binzing]

Yeah these ads are pretty entertaining at times.

 

[OmCheeto]

Yeah these ads are pretty entertaining at times.

As a general rule, I only peruse the forum on my time, and am therefore always logged in, so I seldom get to see the ads.

Is there a thread devoted to their untimeliness?

 

[lisab]

So, Om, what's the story now with your bird buddy?

 

[hypatia]

Please yes, a update?

 

[OmCheeto]

Please yes, a update?

Are you serious? You really don't want to get me started...

Ok. Last week I decided that I had turned into my father. My sisters visited him about 6 years ago in his two bedroom shack. One room was for him, another room, with wall to wall carpeting, was for his chickens.

The other day, I noticed another coincidence between the dead lady and Birdie(I think I've named her Birdie btw), they had both recently been mugged.

Anyways, Birdies doing so well that I tried to direct her out of the house. No luck.

Here are some pictures from this weekend.

Healing Nicely:

She's gotten quite comfortable perching anywhere she wants.

On the ceiling fan:

On the dining room lamp:

On the time-out baby in plush toy heaven:

On the torchiere lamp:

(It's not on. That's the dining room lamp in the background. This lamp can toast a moth in about 3 seconds.)

So I put up little clothes pin birdie spikes to keep her out. Just in case I had a brain fart and needed more light while she was snoozing.

Clothes pins do not make effective pigeon deterrents. I had to unplug the lamp.

Today she teased me when I came in from the garden. She wasn't in any of her usual spots. I looked through the entire house. Every room!

I finally found her next to the wood stove sitting quietly, giving me a "so what's your problem" look.

I think she's going to stay at least another week.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Thanks for the update, Om. I enjoyed your pictures.

 

[Evo]

Om, she's adorable! You are so wonderful for taking care of her!

 

[OmCheeto]

Om, she's adorable! You are so wonderful for taking care of her!

She's certainly given me an appreciation for the difficulty in photographing pure white subjects. Everyone keeps telling me she's a sign. Perhaps I'm supposed to paint my living room green or something.