USA: Palomacy newsletter 💙 The Case for Pigeons

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From: Elizabeth, Palomacy Pigeon & Dove Adoptions <Elizabeth@pigeonrescue.org>
Date: Mon, Feb 21, 2022, 5:33 PM
Subject: The Case for Pigeons
To: 

And Underemployed Pigeons, Sindy's Pigeon Service, A Belated Valentine & Palomacy's Parlor...

The Case for Pigeons This pigeon had surgery to fix a broken wing. The blue object is an external wing fixator that was removed after a few weeks. The Case for Pigeons by Rick Schubert, Director Philadelphia Metro Wildlife Center Reprinted here with permission  November 9, 2021 Why do we bother to rehabilitate non-native wildlife species like pigeons? The rock dove, or "rodo" as we call it here, or pigeon to most people, is a common patient at the Philadelphia Metro Wildlife Center. Although they're a highly adaptable and incredibly tough species, they are still brought to us when they're poisoned, shot, abused, hit by cars, caught by cats, and stuck on glue traps. They're not native to North America; they were brought here by Europeans and have since proliferated in urban areas throughout the United States. But you can read about the natural history of pigeons elsewhere…we do not need to reiterate it here. What we are here to talk about is why we love them, why they matter, and why we treat them at our wildlife center. Wildlife rehabbers do not make a difference in wildlife populations, nor do we try to, any more than a paramedic saving a human life matters to the population of 7.5 billion people on planet Earth, it is infinitesimally negligible. However, to the person whom that paramedic saved, it makes all the difference in the world. You save a life because it needs saving, and because life matters, and because compassion matters. When a person has the compassion to step out of our narcissistic, dehumanized world to help a suffering life form, be it an endangered piping plover or a common rock dove, we are here to affirm and validate that behavior, and hope they teach it and pass it on to their children. As with anything else, including humans, if you look at them in terms of populations and statistics, you get a skewed, partial picture. When you hold a hurt individual in your hands and see in its eyes, you see more into the truth of things. Continue   Emma & Ezra  Guest Post by Margaret Brooker   With Additional Information by Elizabeth Young Underemployed Pigeon Syndrome Ezra at work  Margaret contacted Palomacy seeking marriage counseling assistance for her pigeons Emma and Ezra. Ezra had become very aggressive with Emma. This is something we see a lot. We call it Underemployed Male Pigeon Syndrome (UMPS). Pigeons are flock birds and they have a lot of social energy, especially the males. In a flock, even though married pigeons are very devoted to one another, the males flirt with all the females and show off to, trash talk and challenge all the males. They are busy most of the day. Feral city pigeons have even more to do looking for food all day. But a lone male pigeon living as a companion in a home, either with his mate or just his people, will often get bored, frustrated and angry. It happens all the time! Fortunately there are ways to help. Here's Margaret's story of Emma and Ezra with additional info from me along the way. EY Emma & Ezra share a quiet moment I adopted Emma and Ezra three years ago from Avian Underdogs, a pigeon and dove rescue in Orange County. When I first read Ezra's story and saw his picture, I immediately fell for the little guy. He had been rescued a few months earlier with an injured wing, in downtown Los Angeles. His rescuer contacted Palomacy, who put her in touch with Avian Underdogs and paid for her bus fare to Orange County, since she didn't have a car. She was the one who named him Ezra. I had only intended to adopt him, but when I got there, he had a choice of three lovely lady pigeons for a mate. Since pigeons are such social animals and mate for life, I knew it was the right thing to do to make sure he had a partner. I chose his favorite of the three, Emma, and adopted her as well. I live in a small apartment, but work from home, so they have the run of my living room all day, with their open cage in a corner by a window. At first, they had a whirlwind romance, and Emma wasted no time in laying two lovely eggs, to be repeated each month. They both love to spend as much time as possible sitting on the eggs, with Emma sitting on them in the morning and Ezra in the afternoon. In the evening, it was always a constant battle for the privilege of sitting on the eggs, with the sweetest little wrestling matches to determine egg supremacy. Mostly Ezra would be the winner, so he would sit on them, and Emma would perch on the side of the nest, snuggled up beside him. They spent a large amount of time carefully preening each other. They loved those eggs more than anything else in the world. Continue We Want to See You! Palomacy Connecting with Monthly Zoom Parlor Palomacy volunteers, adopters & rescue partners are invited to join us as your interest/availability permits for our monthly Palomacy Zoom Parlor to be held the 4th Monday evening of each month. We had our first Monday January 24th & it was a lot of fun! Per survey respondents' input, our priority goals will be to gain: encouragement, reassurance, mutual support & care; rescue community camaraderie; & rescue, rehab & care expertise. Our next Palomacy Zoom Parlor will be at 6 PM PT on Monday, February 28th. It will include a discussion about self-care, stress management & burnout & we'll start planning for Palomacy's 2022 party!  You'll always be able to see info for upcoming Palomacy Zoom Parlors on our Events page. Sindy's Pigeon Service Guest Post by Sindy Harris Sindy's Pigeon Service is an online store providing the best food and supplies to pigeons and their people.  The online store was inspired by my love for pigeons.  Since my husband, Steve, found white homer, Glory, in an illegal dump of an apartment on the freeway, our lives have never been the same.  In the couple of years since her self-rescue, we have volunteered with Palomacy as rescuers, fosters, adopters and aviary builders.  I have designed and had built four aviaries:  one in Benicia; one at One Living Sanctuary in Martinez; one in a backyard in Oakland and one in Jacksonville, Oregon, where Steve and I now reside.  During that time, Steve and I have constantly experimented with creating new enrichments for our aviary flock as well as our blind birds, Jake and Rosie.  Sindy's Pigeon Service hopes to share these creative ideas and enrichments in this online store. Continue Valentine's Day Is For Pigeons Guest Post by Stacie Delzingo Prudence   I am passionate about my Prudence! (Prudence Penelope Delzingo is certainly a boy, but I still call her a "she" because 3yrs,  Old Dog New Tricks… )  Anyway, here's a bit of my lighthearted pigeon love (& lunacy) in honor of Valentine's Day… who knows more about love than your pigeon?! It kills me when I see people struggling to rehome pigeons.  Especially  pigeons who someone has been able to put the time in to not only "tame", but bring out the best in him to where he can be handled, adored and (like a recent post) even walk on a leash! We "Pigeon People"  know the unique joy of loving & being loved by a pigeon.  It takes time and is complicated but I feel so lucky not to have missed out on this just because I had no idea. It's the best kept secret in the world.  No matter how loud we shout it from the rooftops, it falls on deaf ears,  likening it to that one parakeet they owned in '92  or their Aunt's stressed & screeching parrot that got her evicted from her apartment that one time. It's Valentine's Day, and one thing pigeons DO KNOW, is LOVE. Continue Thank you for helping Palomacy help birds  We are grateful for you!  Find help fast in our Palomacy Facebook Group  See our Available & Adopted Birds Apply to Foster or Adopt Check out our Events Follow us on Instagram   Share Tweet Forward Copyright © 2022 Palomacy Pigeon & Dove Adoptions, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because of your support on behalf of rescued pigeons and doves. Thank you! (We will never share or sell your info.) Our mailing address is: Palomacy Pigeon & Dove Adoptions A Community Initiatives Project P.O. Box 24585 San Francisco, CA 94124 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails?