Ramblin' Rosen

R.I.P. Monster
Originally uploaded by lilitu93.

This photo shows Tony stroking the baby pigeon we named Monster. It was taken yesterday.

Today we we woke up, and s/he was gone. We think maybe a crow got him/her.

R.I.P., Monster.

I’m still leaving up the Pigeon Cam, though it’s not too exciting right now, but Hattie and Sid have started beaking again (pigeon kissing). Also, it looks like they are rebuilding the nest. We’re figuring out ways to keep their nest a bit more covered, so that birds flying about won’t be able to see the babies if they decide to lay eggs there again.

Both Tony and I are really sad that neither baby made it. Even though there’s hardly a shortage of pigeons in London, these were “our” pigeons, so to speak, and, although they weren’t our pets, we’ve grown attached to them since they’ve been living on the balcony. Let’s all wish them more luck for their next attempt.

Only one baby made it
Originally uploaded by lilitu93.

The other baby that was half-hatched died while hatching. Poor thing. The body is still in the nest, however.

The other baby has grown so much–it only hatched Thursday, and look how much bigger it is already.

Two babies!
Originally uploaded by lilitu93.

Both baby pigeons have hatched. One hatched two days ago (we think), and the other hatched yesterday (when this picture was taken).

For more pictures of the babies, see this photo set on Flickr, and don’t forget almost real-time pidge action at Pidge Cam 2005.

As I mentioned in my last post, two pigeons are starting a family on our balcony. We’ve set up a webcam that’s pointed at the pigeons’ nest: The Pidge Cam 2005.

At the moment, the site is beta–we’re testing whether our connection can handle updating it every 30 seconds, plus the site needs some design lovin’ before I’ll promote it beyond this blog. But I wanted to give my loyal readers the chance to see it right away.

Please take a look at it and let me know what you think. For some reason, comments on this blog have now become moderated–I think the spam filter is being overzealous–so don’t panic if any replies don’t show up right away. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it’s better than having 100s of spam comments for poker and viagra.

Pigeon egg on our balcony
Originally uploaded by lilitu93.

A pair of pigeons have made a nest in a planter on our balcony. They’ve laid two eggs and are taking turns sitting on it. Squabs should be hatching any day now.

This picture was taken a few weeks ago before the second egg was laid. Pigeons lay a pair of eggs, one a day or so before the other, and they sit on their eggs for about 18 days before they hatch. So any day now, we will have squabs to photograph.

I’m also setting up a pigeon web cam–I’ll be posting here with more details once the cam is up and running.