Pigeon Talk

[Misfits Farm 92]

So is your friend giving you the modenas?

Not giving, but I got a 10 dollar discount.

 

[biophiliac]

Not giving, but I got a 10 dollar discount.
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Ahhh, very impressive birdies! Hilarious they were hiding amongst they rollers. Lol

 

[backyard pigeons]

Ahhh, very impressive birdies! Hilarious they were hiding amongst they rollers. Lol

Like, how can they "hide" in a roller coop?

 

[Kessel23]

Unrelated to the picture but I had some weird tiny hawk chase down one of my white homer pigeons yesterday. I let them out of the loft and the white homer came out first and did a few laps around the property alone. Then as it was coming in for a landing and fluttering slowly to a branch in my yard and then this little hawk or maybe falcon came flying over the top of the house very fast and tried to grab her. The pigeon dodged it then started trying to speed up and the hawk was right behind her. She was doing a bunch of twists and flew right at me then dove down almost hitting the ground in front of me. The hawk stopped and turned away once it saw me and the pigeon started flying back to the loft but as soon as it was away from me the hawk came right back after it. The pigeon went through the woods with this thing a foot behind it and then went around through the fields behind our house and was about 5 feet in the lead by then. They came zooming back around over the house and the pigeon had a 20 foot lead but the hawk was still chasing it. They went off into the distance heading over the lake across the street. The pigeon returned several hours later. Do you think the hawk really chased it for that long or do pigeons just not look back to see they are done being chased? I'm not sure what species of hawk or falcon it was but it was not much bigger than the pigeon, had yellow eyes, and was light gray.

 

[Qwerty3159]

Probably a sharp shinned hawk, they have the yellow eyes you described and the adults are small and grey.

I think usually the hawks don’t chase them the entire way because in the open sky most can’t beat a pigeon in a straight chase and they need to catch them by surprise to be most successful. I think panic mostly drives them to fly until they think they’re safe.

 

[Kessel23]

Probably a sharp shinned hawk, they have the yellow eyes you described and the adults are small and grey.

I think usually the hawks don’t chase them the entire way because in the open sky most can’t beat a pigeon in a straight chase and they need to catch them by surprise to be most successful. I think panic mostly drives them to fly until they think they’re safe.

Yeah in the open sky I dont think any falcon or hawk can fly faster or even close to a racing pigeon at top speed. Unless they are diving on them. I was wondering because last year I had 2 pigeons out for several days that couldnt find their way back into the loft and a similar looking hawk or falcon to this one would chase them and one would be gone all day then return and the other would be gone. They were both still squeakers and both lived, they are actually my best birds rn. You can really tell the hawks had an effect on them though when they go for loft flights they make weird slanted dives and cuts through the air like they are practicing for the next time they are getting chased. Super nice birds, make my others look lazy. Another theory I had was maybe another hawk or falcon tries to grab them on their way back from the first chase and they get pushed away even further.

 

[Qwerty3159]

Another theory I had was maybe another hawk or falcon tries to grab them on their way back from the first chase and they get pushed away even further.

That’s a good theory. I wasn’t able to find much information on the size of the territory that the hawks will claim but it’s probably much smaller than the distance a pigeon could fly in a short amount of time. One of my old cockbirds got chased out of the yard by a Cooper’s hawk and then a peregrine falcon tried to dive him maybe thirty seconds later, poor thing.

I only have three pigeons ATM so it’s easy for me to scrape the loft and most of the aviary daily but even with this regular cleaning I still notice white mold/fungus spores growing on the feces pretty often. Not so much in the loft itself, but definitely on the wood and cement in the aviary. It has been damp outside the past few days but even when it is more or less dry I’ve been having this issue. The droppings themselves seem fine and I haven’t seen any ill health effects but I’m not keen on breathing the mold in myself. Any ways to prevent this?

 

[Kessel23]

I had another hawk try to grab one today. This one was very dark colored and bigger. It did not get any but almost had one of my black homers. It was able to catch up to it but as it was about to grab it the pigeon flipped upside down with its feet facing the hawks talons. They didn't touch but the hawk jolted back like it was surprised. I see hawks do it when they are fighting with eachother maybe it got confused for a second lol. The pigeon got into the loft really quickly and the hawk did not follow.

They all gather on top of the loft after one tries to attack. I'm surprised so many are trying to get them, I have a bunch of bantams and ducks free ranging all day and never seen a hawk try to grab one. They are also out with geese though so maybe that's why.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Splash splash, It’s bath time!

 

[Pigeon28]

Finally got the pigeon loft moved to its forever home! Excited to hopefully get a round of youngsters to loft fly this summer. Planning on putting a little deck on it this summer!
Also anyone have any idea why I can’t like anyone’s posts? Or post pictures? Wanted to share a few! Was there an update that I missed... haha