Friday 1 June 2012

An Inadvertent Avian Grand-Parent - that's me!


Mummy or daddy?
Some days after I returned home after the Wine Country Cruise from LA to Vancouver, I realized that a pigeon pair had made a nest in one of the unused planters on my patio. Mea culpa for tempting them. I should have put in my summer plants before I left.
In this nest were two small perfect white eggs, and the pigeon parents were very diligent about sharing the "egg-sitting" duties.
At a dinner party that evening my friends, more pragmatic than me, emphasized the importance of not letting these eggs hatch in my planter. Dire consequences as bird droppings fouling  my patio, and the parents thinking that this could be their permanent residence for annual reproductive ventures, were proposed and I was warned to either remove the eggs, or shake them to addle them.
And the grand-kids
Unfortunately I romantically anthropomorphized these creatures to the extent of imagining their anguish when the eggs disappeared or failed to hatch as they should, and as the days passed I just could not bring myself to do anything.
"Well"  announced my house-guest, "you are now an avian grand-parent." And there in the nest were two little yellow balls of fluff. When I attempted to approach to take a peek, the parent bird flapped around so violently that I feared she would injure herself, but several days later when the nest was empty of a parent guardian I managed to take a picture.
This has been my year for pigeon encounters - see Let Them Eat Pigeon - Unless I win the Lottery! But unlike my previous experience, this has been interesting to watch- so far. But hopefully it will not be long now before the babies can fly and my planter will  be my own once again.