Why So Serious?: Pigeon Progress

After forcing Lee to remove the broken-necked pigeon from our balcony we realised that there was a nest, hidden away, in a crevice beneath the balcony wall that leads to the gutter. The nest held an egg, which I presumed dead as it wasn't being kept warm. I destroyed the egg and nest as it was attracting the unwelcome attention of flies. Thinking no more of it, we were surprised, the following week, when we discovered two newly laid eggs in a loosely constructed nest, where the old one had previously sheltered. We allowed the pigeons to stay, as they expressed nothing other than a small amount of shit and a great deal of paranoia.

I became interested in the progress of the pigeons’ striving for self-preservation. Several pigeons, both male and female birds, took turns in sitting on the eggs, but at the slightest hint of a predator (the opening of a window, the watering of the pot plants) they would scatter and observe their delicate habitat from the safety of the neighbours’ soffits. After several weeks and little action I consulted my good friend, Pete (a keen amateur ornithologist), who promised that the eggs would soon hatch. We waited and, on inspection one day, I found a chick, twice the size of its shell and shivering under the maternal weight of the larger bird. The other egg never hatched.

We never expected that the new-born bird would grow at such speed, and this weekend we were able to see it fly for the first time. Below are some photos of the chick, and then of the pigeon now, treading the balcony wall, nervous to spread its wings.