How come??

Often asked question: How come we never see baby pigeons? We do, but don't know it. That's because when pigeons leave the nest they look like adults except for a subtle difference in the shape of their bills. And the young may trail after the adults, but for the uninitiated the young look like adults.

A couple of weeks ago a neighbor called frantically, "There's a nest on the ground on the path behind the building. Two babies". A nest in September????? It's very late for nesting. Certainly not robins or cardinals or starlings or bluejays. On the ground???? There's only one possibility in a city. Somebody found a pigeon nest on their terrace, didn't want the mess, and removed the nest. With luck the parent pigeons would hear the babies call and come feed them. But NOT on the sidewalk. We placed the nest in the bushes. The plan was to wait 24 hrs., and then if necessary take the messy nest with babies to a rescue center where the babies could be hand fed. Before that ran its course the nest vanished. Hopefully, someone rescued the babies. I would hate to think the opposite. Hopefully, these two will survive and grow up to settle on some fine statue in the neighborhood.

This is what pigeon nestlings look like. They were capable of walking around in the nest and mewling for food.

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