Hand Raising A Baby Pigeon

Hand Raising A Baby Pigeon

This is a photo story, with captions and all.

[1] This is me holding up a baby pigeon. He's about an hour old in this picture. I found him in the park near my home, alone on the ground. His parents could be anywhere; they might have abandoned him, or they might be just out of sight. I decided to take care of him until his parents returned, and if they didn't return then we'd visit the vet and ask for advice. You can see from his eyes he's still blind at this age; his eyes will open in a few days.

[2][3] I took him home and put him in an improvised nest (a plastic box filled with paper strips). He was quite active, but needed help with balance when he stood up. Baby pigeons are adorable. The species is called rock dove or rock pigeon; there are many subspecies (columba livia), and they say you can tell by the color patterns on their feathers which subspecies they are, but I don't know how you're supposed to tell -- they all just look gray to me.

[4][5] The next morning, no parents had returned; so

Hand Raising A Baby Pigeon

Many people who find baby pigeons wonder how to raise them. It is a common misconception that the baby bird will die if you touch it. This is not true, and in most cases the parents are around and will continue to feed the baby after you put it back in the nest.