A Feathered Visitor

Last night while doing the evening farm chores, the dogs and I came across a pigeon that didn't fly away.  My first thought was that Denny was going to devour it, being dinner time and all, but he didn't.  Denny put his new herding training into practice and pushed the pigeon into a corner.  The bird tried to fly but it couldn't seem to take off.

Since I can't leave a wounded animal to be attacked, I picked it up; cradled it and took it to the house.  Years ago I found a raccoon in the woods behind my house.  He had fallen from a tree.  I wrapped him up and put him in the dog pen [dogs were inside] to recuperate. Not the smartest thing I've ever done, unfortunately not the dumbest either.

Before I made up the carriers for it and all of the animals were in the house,I put the pigeon down and tried to see if it call fly. I thought it might have just been stunned earlier.  Unfortunately, it still couldn't take off but man, could it walk fast.  So inside it came.  (Wish I could tell if it is a he or a she.)

I bedded one of my cat carriers down with straw, gave it water and seed then put it in the bathroom where I could shut the door.  Willow's retriever instincts kicked in and I knew she would be been staring at it all night long. Not the best way for a visitor to feel welcome.



Pidge not wanting to pose for the camera. She might be a wanted Pigeon!



This morning I checked on Pidge (I'm taking a leap of faith and assuming she is female and Pidge sounded right) and she had eaten and drank. This evening I'm going to  see if after 24 hours recuperation she will be able to fly.  If not, I'll have a sweet bird around the farm for a bit.

I've been doing quite a bit of research on Pigeons since Pidge dropped in for a visit.  I didn't realize that there is a big community of people who have pigeons.  I'm so used to them just being a part of the landscape when you go downtown that I didn't realize that people bred them and even race them. It is a whole other world.

Hopefully Pidge will be flying off soon to find her mate.  It is Spring after all.

Mulberries

I made a discovery this past week...I have a Mulberry tree behind my house!

At first I didn't know what it was. The berries look like blackberries but the birds weren't eating them. Because of that I thought they might be poisonous.

Turns out they weren't ripe yet. As soon as they turned I was competing with the birds for the tastiest berries. I was outnumbered...so I didn't get as many as I would have liked. But no worries, I am now hovering over the unripe ones and I'm ready to pounce when they ripen. The birds won't get too many more.

Once I have enough I'm making a cobbler. Yum!

I better go back out and see if any have ripen since last night. Yep, I'm getting obsessive...but I will get those berries.

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