Autistic pigeon?

[featherdust]

I found this bird thrown away purposely, together with her brother/sister. They were just a few DAYS old, lying in grass near the pigeon coop. I came in the last moment - if I had found them 15 minutes later, they would have been dead. I placed them under foster parents sitting on fake eggs at that time. They accepted them like their own babies and everything was fine until their second week. One baby always was a little bit underdeveloped but differences started to become more and more visible every day. Finally she was totally rejected by foster parents so I gave both birds to a pigeon rehabilitation center. Not only for hand feeding, but also for diagnosis why Melon develops slower than a normal bird. It turned out she was healthy but just needed more time to grow. I took them back and placed Watermelon, a normal one, in my aviary with other birds. She’s doing great and learns a lot from them. But Melon is still at home with me…
Because she’s different. She’s about 4 months old and still doesn’t eat on her own. I must hand feed her every single day. If I don’t do this, she starves. And it’s not because she’s lazy and prefers to wait for an easy meal rather than trying on her own. She tries, but she’s unable to swallow any food. I tried large and small seeds, greens, fruits, just ANYTHING edible to left her with any food she can eat. All for nothing. She picks up a piece of food, turns it in her beak and drops it. Also, she constantly pecks random things. It’s not like she sees something different from the background and tries to figure out what it is. She pecks totally plain surfaces like she imagines a food that doesn’t exist, even with moving her beak left or right like she tries to dig into seeds. She does this repeatedly, no matter how hungry she is.
She hates other birds. Even a small canary can scare her. When other pigeons try to play courtship dance in front of her, she’s like ‘wtf are you doin’. She totally doesn’t understand pigeon language. Only living things she understands are people. She loves petting and hugging. You can lay her on her back and she would coo for you with joy. She flies to me like a dog on command.
As I mentioned flying, I must say she can’t even fly normally! Normal pigeons fly straight in one line but not Melon. Remember Flappy Bird game? That’s her way of flying. A few wingbeats to fly up, a few wingbeats to fly down, repeat. While flying, her legs are constantly outstretched for landing even if she doesn’t want to land now.
Anyone has a similar situation? She’s fine and healthy with no PMV or other stuff, just… different

 

[cavemanrich]

Pigeons are likely able to see problem/unhealthy offspring's, that would not make it on their own. That may be the reason for abandonment.
I know you are trying everything you can,,,, to save a pet.
I do not have any suggestions to offer you.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

 

[Juniper2]

I found this bird thrown away purposely, together with her brother/sister. They were just a few DAYS old, lying in grass near the pigeon coop. I came in the last moment - if I had found them 15 minutes later, they would have been dead. I placed them under foster parents sitting on fake eggs at that time. They accepted them like their own babies and everything was fine until their second week. One baby always was a little bit underdeveloped but differences started to become more and more visible every day. Finally she was totally rejected by foster parents so I gave both birds to a pigeon rehabilitation center. Not only for hand feeding, but also for diagnosis why Melon develops slower than a normal bird. It turned out she was healthy but just needed more time to grow. I took them back and placed Watermelon, a normal one, in my aviary with other birds. She’s doing great and learns a lot from them. But Melon is still at home with me…
Because she’s different. She’s about 4 months old and still doesn’t eat on her own. I must hand feed her every single day. If I don’t do this, she starves. And it’s not because she’s lazy and prefers to wait for an easy meal rather than trying on her own. She tries, but she’s unable to swallow any food. I tried large and small seeds, greens, fruits, just ANYTHING edible to left her with any food she can eat. All for nothing. She picks up a piece of food, turns it in her beak and drops it. Also, she constantly pecks random things. It’s not like she sees something different from the background and tries to figure out what it is. She pecks totally plain surfaces like she imagines a food that doesn’t exist, even with moving her beak left or right like she tries to dig into seeds. She does this repeatedly, no matter how hungry she is.
She hates other birds. Even a small canary can scare her. When other pigeons try to play courtship dance in front of her, she’s like ‘wtf are you doin’. She totally doesn’t understand pigeon language. Only living things she understands are people. She loves petting and hugging. You can lay her on her back and she would coo for you with joy. She flies to me like a dog on command.
As I mentioned flying, I must say she can’t even fly normally! Normal pigeons fly straight in one line but not Melon. Remember Flappy Bird game? That’s her way of flying. A few wingbeats to fly up, a few wingbeats to fly down, repeat. While flying, her legs are constantly outstretched for landing even if she doesn’t want to land now.
Anyone has a similar situation? She’s fine and healthy with no PMV or other stuff, just… different

She looks like a beautiful pigeon! Best of luck to you!

 

[Silvermist]

I know this is an old post but, honestly this pigeon just sounds like it has failure to thrive or a neurological condition. What drew my attention was that the title infers you think the pigeon is Autistic. ASD is only seen in humans and its a little offensive to equate the pigeon to neurodivergent people.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

I had a pigeon like that. He had unique personality as well. Quite fearless, so I had to keep an eye on him, as he would certainly be willing to stand up for himself, if pecked at, but he often overshot or missed what he was pecking back at. So I moved him into a smaller section of the coop that just had senior pigeons & some gentle fancy breed pigeons. So there were only twenty pigeons total in that entire section...No pecking whatsoever and no problem eating. He ate at a much slower pace than everyone else too... Mainly because he only actually grabbed food about every third peck. We thought he might be a touch mental. So his name was Looney Tune, and he lived a nice life for many years. Every so often he would have a seizure, but they were very mild. I think birds are a lot like people, as far as what ailments they can have. I had a Cockatiel with an enlarged heart, another had liver disease, a chicken had 2 strokes & some have had tumors. I honestly don't know if he had epilepsy, a depth perception issue, a neurological issue or was just missing a few brain cells, but he still managed to live a nice life, overall. I had one hen that had arthritis in her wings, so she could not fly well, as she got older she had less range of motion with her wings. She ended up being his mate. When I moved her to his section, they immediately snuggled up, cooing together. She would even squat down for him to mate. But when he jumped on top of her, he would always lose his balance & roll off. Nevertheless, afterwards, they would coo, snuggle, and preen each other.