Please help us find our pet pigeon Peter! We’re located in the Sterling, VA - Countryside/Potomac Falls area. Peter was a feral pigeon found without his parents when he was a few days old. We took him in to raise him and released once he was old enough, he ended up coming back 3 days later and has been with us since, a bit over a year. Over the weekend he bathed and was sitting outside drying himself, as he liked to do. We were all sitting outside with him, all was as usual and after a while he decided to take flight around the neighborhood and eventually flew out and didn’t return. Have not been able to locate him, will not give up looking for him/holding he comes home.

He is currently missing his middle tail feather and a few feathers around his beak as he is molting. He responds to his name but will not approach strangers. He loves raw unshelled sunflower seeds and looking at his reflection.

There are a lot of pigeons in the area, I haven’t been able to locate the local flock to check if he’s with them but I do see glimpses of them here and there, the area has plenty of wooded spaces for them to wander around. I really hope he’s found a pigeon family and is happy if he decides not to return home. I would just like to know and ensure he’s ok for my peace of mind.

Hello all! Its been a while. Sadly I haven't been able to visit my local flock who reside by my shop as back in June I sufferered a brain bleed and currently recovering from brain surgery. It really sucks not being able to see them each day and I miss them so!! I know they are being checked over and fed by others which is comforting.

However, I have started going for short walks the past couple of weeks and discovered a new mini flock in the local (super beautiful and old) cemetery a minute away from my house!

I spotted this handsome little one looking rather proud of its digs (the Chapel tower). I believe there's around 12 who have made this their home and I can hear squeakers! The seeb and unsalted peanuts tax will be paid twice daily and motivates me to get out the house again, will update as I gain their trust 🕊

What do you think of this cutie?

I live in a top floor apartment, I have a large balcony I don’t use. Pigeon’s have slowly taken over nesting on my balcony. Theres currently 3 nests, one with 4 week old pigeons, another with week old pigeons and another with 2 eggs waiting to hatch (same parents as the 4 week old pigeons)
This has been going on since April there’s been several babies that have now flown the nest. I really love watching them, and they are comfortable with me on some level now.
But it’s getting to the point where it’s getting a bit much, it is starting to be smelly out there and they are standing on my balcony rail and pooping on the below neighbours balcony, I feel like it’s not going to be long before I get complaints 😬 but they are not my pets anyway, and it’s illegal where I live to remove active nests. They are laying new eggs before their other chicks have even flown the nest so I’m stuck. Any advice on what I can do?

Hi there, I have 2 orphaned pigeons that are currently in my care that are nestlings. One of them is twice the size of the other (approximately) at this point. They are about ~2 weeks old.

The smaller sibling pigeon, has trouble emptying the crop and is not standing as much as the sibling who is beginning to stand and empties the crop well each time.

Any suggestions? Not sure how to proceed with their care.

Hi! I've recently started feeding wild pigeons. I go to parks and give them seeds, they sit on me, eat from my hand etc. In short - I love it. On my last trip, I noticed one of the pigeons was limping. I caught it, and saw a piece of string around its foot. I tried removing it, but unfortunately I didn't succeed. I've since purchased tweezers and baby scissors (with rounded ends instead of pointy, so I don't stab anyone) in case I ever notice one like this again. However, I've read somewhere that you have to be careful, because if you hold a pigeon a certain way, it might stop breathing. How can I secure the bird in a way that's safe for it, and gives me access to its feet? Whenever I encouter a sick pigeon, or one without a foot I always feel guilty for the rest of the day, because I wasn't able to help, so I'd like to at least try to help the ones I can.

Couple photos of his feathers close up and his feet, he sure is gorgeous. What is this color called? Is he some sort of fancy pigeon?

ETA: maybe “capture” was the wrong verbiage since some seem to take it negatively. He cannot fly well and was rescued from a dangerous job site. The crew was worried he would be hurt by machinery or wild animals. He’s super friendly toward people and has no flock here.

Why are they so cute ;_;

There was one sweetie who let us stroke him whilst feeding

P. melanospilus

I live on the fourth floor of an apartment building near a busy street, and for the last three weeks the same pigeon has been showing up on my balcony railing almost every morning around 7am. I know it's the same one because it has a weird patch of white feathers on its left wing and one foot that looks slightly bent, maybe from an old injury.

At first I thought it was just passing through, but it's clearly picked my balcony as a regular stop. It doesn't seem scared of me at all, just kind of watches me through the glass door while I make coffee. I haven't been feeding it on purpose, though I did spill some rice out there once about a month ago so maybe that's what started this whole thing.

Part of me wants to just let it keep doing its thing since it's not bothering anyone, but my downstairs neighbor mentioned pigeon droppings building up on her window ledge and I'm worried this is going to become a bigger mess if it starts thinking my balcony is home base. Anyone dealt with a single bird getting attached to one spot like this? I don't want to be cruel about discouraging it but I also don't want to end up with a permanent pigeon roommate and all that comes with it.

The bent foot thing does make me feel for it a little though. It gets around fine, just has a slight limp when it walks along the railing. Makes me wonder if that's part of why it picked my spot, maybe easier for it to land here than somewhere higher traffic.