Thursday 4 July 2013

Birds That Pair For Life

Wood Pigeons pair for life and over several years I have had the same pair visiting my garden and in fact often nesting in the Fir tree that you saw the Dunnock singing from yesterday.  The other day I thought it was time I videoed them in my back garden.  My story does not finish here but look at the video first.  It can be access at

http://youtu.be/rAx76assApY




 Then I went upstairs to put the video onto my computer and suddenly there was an almighty thud on my study window.  I ran downstairs, went outside and there lay one of my Wood Pigeons, dead with a broken neck.  It would not have suffered.  I lifted it and I could see just how beautiful a bird it was so I decided to photograph it as one never really often gets this close to any bird (unless you are a ringer).







Now, over the past few days, I noticed my lone Wood Pigeon visiting my garden and it is sad to watch.


However yesterday I saw another Wood Pigeon following my Pigeon around and I do hope that they will be able to find each other as suitable life mates.

Thank you for visiting my blog and THANKS TO ALL who left comments yesterday on any of my posts.

26 comments:

  1. So sorry about your pigeon but really enjoyed looking at it close up. As you say - it's very rare to get a good look like that, especially of the wing feathers. Glad a new mater is in the offing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. am familiar with that thud on the windows and always hope it won't be as tragic a result as this. Always sad to witness; I do hope the new wood pigeon might be a new companion for the other

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm so sorry about your pigeon. We seldom get to see details like this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Margaret, my heart sinks every time I hear that thud on the window, yesterday it was a juvenile Goldfinch...I feared the worst as it lay motionless on it's back on the patio..all was well though as after a minute or so it suddenly rolled over and took to the air seemingly non the worse for wear!

    Sad to see that your Pigeon wasn't so fortunate, a good opportunity to get some close up photos though!

    Can I be bold and point out one thing?...your Pigeons were not a pair (as in breeding) as the one that unfortunately died was a juvenile...It lacks the white collar and purple/green sheen seen on the neck of an adult bird (it takes about 16 weeks to acquire the white collar) I can only guess that it was the offspring of your regular pair?...[;o)

    ReplyDelete
  5. We're getting a lot of bird strike on the windows at the moment, mostly the babies learning about windows :-(
    We also have a nesting pair of wood pigeons in the garden, I'm very sorry to hear about yours.

    ReplyDelete
  6. How sad the one has died. I'm glad the live wood pigeon may have found a new mate.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very sad, windows strikes are awful for the birds! Great video.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's such a sad ending, as I was watching the video when the first woodie flew off and the juvenile remained and kept looking skywards I was wondering if a predator was around. I put some stickers on my window and they don't fly into the windows anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  9. It is sad to watch a bird mourn for it's mate.I do hope a pair will soon be re-established.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm sorry about your wood pigeon, but thank you for showing us what a beautiful bird it is. We have various sun catchers and things on our windows to reduce the number of 'thuds' we get, but we still get one occasionally.

    ReplyDelete
  11. My favorite picture is the last one with the colorful beak and neck. What do you think happened? Whenever this happened to us, a bird has flown into our big window and crashed into the glass.

    ReplyDelete
  12. terribly sorry! i hate when that happens!

    ReplyDelete
  13. well, death is the only thing about life that is for certain. Great shots of bird detail.

    ReplyDelete
  14. so very sad!! we have a lot of windows in our home and it happens a lot!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Beautiful, but I am terribly sad, the death of a partner is agonizing.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oh, how sad to read the story of your pidgeons!
    Nice pictures you got anyway!
    I hope he/she will find someone new fast.
    Thanks Margaret for your nice comment!
    Greetings Pia

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi again, Margaret!
      I saw you asked someone about a missing comment,
      and maybe I ought to tell you that your comment on my post,
      I found in the spam box. But I don't know why.
      Greetings Pia

      Delete
    2. Glad it worked out at last! And your last comment didn't end in spambox either!
      Thank you for being a follower of my blog! I did the same here now.
      Hope you will have a nice Summer!
      Greetings Pia

      Delete
  17. The Wood Pigeons are beautiful I do hope the survivor finds a new mate.

    ReplyDelete
  18. It is very sad to read about your pigeon Margaret. I have had the birds bounce off our windows at times, but fortunately they've recovered. I do remember one years ago who did not. What beautiful birds they are and I hope there will be a pairing soon.
    Denise
    An English Girl Rambles

    ReplyDelete
  19. Ohndearnthe poor little thing but what a lovely set of photos though. I have anstunned pigeon at least one a year that I keep for a day or two until they recover from a neighbours window only one I hav e found dead, it so break my heart but I suppose they like us cannot live forever. Great video.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I shoot them as they are a pest, but they do make a good meal

    ReplyDelete
  21. Aww im so sorry they are such beautiful creatures.I also have a wide variety of birds that nest in my garden.I do hope there was a happy ending.Its always sad to see such beautiful creatures go.:(

    ReplyDelete
  22. http://aviahadbarot.com/%D7%94%D7%93%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%AA-%D7%97%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%93%D7%95%D7%AA/ This is also a very good post which I really enjoyed reading. It is not every day that I have the possibility to see something like this.. Termite spraying

    ReplyDelete
  23. This was a really great contest and hopefully I can attend the next one. It was alot of fun and I really enjoyed myself.. keeping birds off your balcony

    ReplyDelete