Nearly lost one of my ring necks today! And bought a new pigeon.

[chinbunny]

Boy did I have one heck of a scare today. Went to move the ring neck doves to another cage, and one of them got loose on me. It flew out the barn doors, and into the neighbors tree/backyard. I finally found it after looking around, and panicking, thinking I had killed my bird. I set up a cage with its mate caged in a carrier inside it to try and lure it down. Didn't work that well. It saw, and heard the other bird calling for it. It would take off and circle the barn, go back into the tree, or onto the stuff stored near the one side of the building.

A hawk showed up after a couple of hours of that. Luckily I had decided to stay and home and try to catch it, instead of going to get feed like I had planned. Dove went about twenty feet up into a tree. I just happened to see the red tail swoop down to go after it, when I was looking to see where my bird was at. I panicked, yelled at it, and waved my arms at it to try and chase it off. It missed when I scared it, flew off in another direction, and landed in a tree next to it. I shouted at it again, waved my hands, and made a bunch of noises to try and run it off. It took off, circled the property, and went up in the tree next to the church parking lot. It probably sat there for a good half an hour waiting for me to leave so it could take another swing at my bird. I stood there under the one the dove was hiding in, and watched him. Ring neck was on a limb right directly above my head, staying still. I stayed under him/her to try and protect it.

The hawk took off again, and made another go for it. He got within about 15 feet of us, and I was able to scare it off again. This time it took off towards the house, and landed in the tree next to it. Moms BF accidentally scared it. So it went back to the same tree near the parking lot, and sat there watching me. I had to chase it off when it tried attacking again, and then it finally gave up and flew off.

The dove came out of the tree when it was time to roost. Kept circling around its mate for a good hour or so, trying to get in the cage with it. Which was still unsucessful. It ended up going back to the tree, and landed on a branch that was on my level. So I snuck up on it, hid behind the trunk, and extended my hand out to it. Called to it, and started baby talking to it, and if it walked up close enough to me where I was able to grab a hold of it.


Both birds are back in the barn. Lesson learned. Wings are clipped on both of them.

Dealing with the hawk during this scared me. I assuming that was a young bird. I would think an older one, would have ignored me, and picked off the dove.

As of now nothing is going outside my barn unless its in a covered cage of some sort. no bunnies or pigeons. Its a good thing I decided not to let my archangels fly today. I am sure it would have gotten one of them.

In other news, I won the pretty archangel cock bird I had posted about in the vaccinations thread. Can't wait to get him.

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

Wow, what a scare! I'm always nervous when I move my ringnecks around since I know if they get out, there's pretty much no hope unless they land in a short bush or tree that I can reach. Also about the hawk, most young ones are actually the most brave (or stupid

) and will attack even when you're right there. The older ones are usually more wary of us since they've learned we're something to be afraid of...or at least around here, since once I see one after my birds, I do my best to scare the crap out of the hawk so it'll let go

 

[chinbunny]

ahh so a more experienced bird stays away then huh? I thought there was something weird about it coming that close! I was not expecting the hawk. I think it came because it heard them calling to each other. Good thing my bird had enough sense to stay still on the limb. I took its mate, and set it in a small cage on top of a wood rabbit hutch I had, and waited till it was time to roost. Thats when it came down out of the tree, and tried to get in with it. I thought it was unusual that it walked right up to me when I started talking to it. It wouldn't come near me earlier.

I hate to think what would have happened if my rabbits or pigeons were out there were it could have gotten ahold of them. He was pretty, but I don't want him coming back. LOL!