Our Pigeons Are So Gay

Our pigeons are so gay. I mean that literally. We have gay pigeons. Your first thought might be, "Wait. You have pigeons?" To which I say, doesn't every gay couple in the Hillside area of Daly City have pigeons? To that, I can answer a resounding yes, since I am pretty sure Joey and I are the only gay couple living in the Hillside area of Daly City. But that is not the point. We are talking gay pigeons. To be exact our gay pigeons.

Ellen

Let me give you some background. This all started when a homing pigeon named Ellen (she told me), showed up in our backyard and decided that home is where the heart is. Her heart apparently is right on Price in the Hillside area of Daly City. This is usually what happens to a neighborhood. First the gays move in, then the next thing you know the pigeons come. Ellen seduced us with her charms and before we knew it we were building her a pigeon loft. Well, Joey did most of the work. I just assisted. He built quite the pigeon palace. However, in this case the whole "if you build it, they will come" thing did not happen. Why isn't life like the movies? Ellen is a smart girl. Why would she want to live in a loft, no matter how stylish, when she could come and go as she pleases knowing she can always come home to a delicious meal? Ellen is a modern girl and will not be caged. That's fine by us. We applaud Ellen on her individuality and free spirit. But what do we do with the loft? Get pigeons, that's what.

Joey's Pigeon Loft

There is a pigeon rescue in San Francisco called, Mickacoo. They are a the sister organization of Mickaboo the bird rescue I volunteer for. They were having an event in Tiburon and Joey and I decided to go. That where we saw them. Lola and Luigi. Lola is a very large king pigeon and Luigi is a beautiful fantail. We were in love. We asked about adopting them and after filling out the proper paperwork and interviews they were ours. Turns out Lola is really a male. That's just his drag name. His new name is Lorenzo and Luigi is his partner.



So what's so gay about them? Well, besides the obvious, right now they are taking turns trying to hatch the fake eggs we put in their nest. Seems that our little gay pigeon couple is feeling clucky. They are the new normal of Price Street. I guess we all are.

Mojoe

Last night as Joey and I were in bed watching TV with Mojoe I was admiring the little guy (Mojoe, not Joey) and remarking how much he must trust me to sleep so soundly in my hand. What a life he has!

We started this routine when we got Mojoe at five weeks old. We needed to quarantine him from our other birds for a month so we had him in the bedroom. In order to spend time with him, we took him out and watched TV on my laptop in bed.  He always fell asleep in my hand. After the month ended we continued the routine and have since graduated to a bigger house and a bigger TV in the bedroom. I think we all look forward to this time together and Mojoe gets quite mad if we are even late for TV time.

Mojoe as hand-fed and since we got him at such an early age he is completely tame. That doesn't mean he's behaved, he's just tame. Mojoe knows no fear which gets him into trouble. Why would he know fear, though? He really knows nothing besides life with us, which means a loving and safe home, an endless supply of food; and of course, TV time. I never want him to know hardship.

A lot of birds aren't as lucky as Mojoe. In fact, there are so many abused and abandoned pet birds it breaks my heart. What if this had happened to Mojoe? I hate to even think about it.  That's why I volunteer for and support Mickaboo.  Mickaboo is a bird rescue group in the Bay Area that helps companion birds who have been neglected, abused, injured or surrendered. This all volunteer group does amazing work helping hundreds of birds. This isn't cheap.  Last month alone, Mickaboo's vet bills were over $20,000!!!  Can you believe that?  Well, actually I can. Mojoe got in a little scuffle last month and his bill alone cost me $800, so it comes to reason Mickaboo would have huge bills. But, how do they afford it? Well, through donations, fund raisers and events like Chase Community Giving.  In fact, you can vote right now for Mickaboo!  Just go to the Chase Community Giving page on Facebook or go to their website to vote.  By just doing that one simple task you can help Mickaboo win $10,000!  Imagine how much that would help!  Let's give all birds the chance to have a life like Mojoe.

Please vote!

We Have a Pigeon

It's no secret that Joey and I are in to birds. I got my first bird in college and had him for 20 years. Since Joey and I have been together our flock has slowly grown. First it was a lovebird, then two, then a conure, some finches and finally our parrotlet Mojoe. Oh, then a few more finches.  Yes, we like birds.

When we started to clean up our garden we added some bird feeders and bird baths so we could enjoy the birds outside as well. There are all sorts of little birds that come and visit us sometime times very exotic ones, but mostly just little sparrows and the like.  We did have a flock of ring necked doves that hung out with us for a bit on their way somewhere, but mostly we just have our neighborhood birds. Oh, and pigeons.  We have also managed to attract a flock of local pigeons.  These are just your normal grey feral pigeons. While they are a bit of a nuisance, they come with the territory. I didn't pay them much mind until one day I noticed something different. Off to the side of these grey pigeons was a bright while and grey pigeon. I knew she was different the minute I walked outside and all the pigeon flew away except her. Just just looked at me as if she knew me.

For the next few weeks this pigeon would follow me around the yard as I did my yard work. She wasn't what I would call tame, but she wasn't afraid of me, either. She kept her distance, but was always close enough to me that I knew she was there. I named her Ellen.

As time passed it became apparent that Ellen was here to stay. I went out and fed her each morning. Putting the food closer and closer to me. Joey fed her every evening when he got home. The other day she even ate out of my hand. As we started to get attached to this bird we also started worrying. What would Ellen do in winter? Would she get cold? I decided to call Mickacoo, a local pigeon rescue group.

Elizabeth explained to me that Ellen was a domesticated homing pigeon that apparently got lost or decided not to go home. While Ellen could withstand the elements, she has no knowledge of how to forage for food on her own. It's most likely that the food Joey and I were giving her is what was keeping her alive. She said homing pigeons want a home and Ellen has probably decided she would like that home to be with us. At first I wasn't so sure I wanted to keep a pigeon, but it was too late. I was already attached.

So, Joey and I keeping Ellen and are in the process of making her a home. We already made the main part of her home with a chicken coop we are converting. Some folks think we are crazy.  Well, most folks do, but I don't care. I am getting old enough that I deserve to be a little crazy! I've earned it. Besides, we didn't choose to have a pigeon. Ellen chose us.

Happy 4th Everyone!

Birdie Muffins

A few weeks ago we took our lovebird, Ray, to the vet for his annual checkup. We don't actually take all the birds each year, but rather cycle one bird in each year. It's pretty expensive and, unless there seems to be something wrong, every few years per bird seems just fine.

As always my veterinarian, Dr. Dustin, gave me the pellet speech. If you have a bird you totally know what I am talking about. "Pellets are much better for the bird because they provide 100% of the nutrients that they require and they will live longer, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." Now I love Dr. Dustin.  Honestly, I do. I love everyone at Bay Area Bird Hospital and consider myself blessed to have such a great avian vet in my city. However, I do not want to feed my birds pellets. It's not that they are too expensive. I would pay any price if I meant it would keep my birds healthy. The fact of the matter is, none of my birds like pellets. I don't blame them. I tried them and they taste horrible. I wouldn't want to eat them either. I have tried all of them on the market and whether they are sunny fruit flavored or summer garden delight, they taste like cardboard. Even Wild & Spicy didn't get by flock going. (Yes, that is a real flavor.)  I have mixed them into vegetables and fruit; hidden them in seed; and tried to make them fun by hiding them for my birds to discover. No interest. I even bought birdie muffin mix and baked for them. What do you think happened? Well, look at the picture. They taste exactly like they look. They were gross.

They say that pellets provide the exact number of nutrients birds require for a healthy life and I am sure they do. I have tried to tell Max, Ray, Billy and Mojoe that but it went about as far as telling a kid to eat liver because it's good for them. I am fully aware that my birds aren't children, but they still can taste. They are are also very expressive when they like something. Max purrs when he sees a blueberry and Mojoe can hardly wait to get to his morning breakfast of Italian Parsley and quinoa. They may not be children, but they are my kids. I know what they like.

There are countless articles on best practices to convert your birds to pellets all of which, in my opinion, are just ways to force your bird into eating them. Given the choice the bird is not willingly going to eat these things - period. I could decide I want to feed Joey pellets, too, so he could live longer, but I don't think it would make him very happy. I certainly wouldn't be joining him in that little experiment.

So, why am I ranting about all this? Well, because I really started to feel guilty about not being a good provider for my birds. It didn't matter that in addition to seed I gave them fresh fruit and vegetables, cooked them grains and gave them vitamin supplements. I still felt like I was doing something wrong. Then I started thinking about how hard it must be to be a parent of real children. With all the dos and don'ts floating around out there how does one make the right decisions? It must be a total nightmare. I asked my friend, who's a mom, about this and she said, "You do your best with the information you have and follow your heart. You will do what is right." That was the wisest advice I have received in a long time.

On my follow up visit with Ray, I asked my vet to check his weight and she remarked how healthy he was, how beautiful his feathers were, and what a wonderful disposition he had. In short, he's a pretty amazing bird. I noticed she stopped pushing pellets after she told me that. I guess I am doing something right after all.

There are always going to be things I should or shouldn't do, but I am just going to do my best and follow my heart. I think we all should.

Happy Easter!

I couldn't resist just one more:

Looks like one got out!!

Mickaboo

I wanted to talk about something near and dear to my heart.  All my friends know how much Joey and I love our boys.  Each one of them brings us special joy and I can honestly say it's hard to say who is my favorite.  All of them are at one time or another. They all have such different personalities.

Max, our conure (in the back of the photo), is a big baby.  He needs attention like no other, but only on his terms! He can drive me crazy with noise but then looks at me and says, "Hi Baby" and all is forgiven.   We got Max totally by accident on a trip to PetCo.  While I don't really recommend buying birds there, this guy knew exactly how to get Joey and me to take him home.  We knew in a minute that he was meant to be with us.

Ray, in the middle of the photo, was a planned addition to our family. He is a little socialite and adventurer.  He loves nothing more than finding a place to hide, usually a cupboard, and waiting for me to find him. Once in awhile it puts me in a panic, but most of the time it's fun. Ray gets along with almost everyone, well except Mojoe. That is another story!

Mojoe is our newest addition and he is certain he is an eagle. This little guy shows absolutely no fear, which is cute and troubling at the same time. If there is something to get into Mojoe will probably find it. He is a little love, though, and loves to sleep in my hand at night while we watch TV, like in the picture below.

Then there's Billy, our blue lovebird.  We got Billy through Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue. He was found starving and shivering in someone's backyard and taken to Mickaboo where his foster parent nursed him back to life.  Billy has had the hardest life of any of the birds and it shows. He is very shy and I still can't really touch him.  However, each day he gets a little bolder and he and Ray are best friends. I often look at Billy and wonder what would have happened without Mickaboo.  I actually look at all of my birds and think of how lucky we all are and then I think about all the poor birds that don't have it so lucky.

That's what I am really writing about. Every day Mickaboo helps so many birds in need and gets them to their forever homes, like they did with Billy.  I try to help out Mickaboo in small ways, like by updating their Facebook page and donating when I can.  But it's just a drop in the bucket.  SO......if you feel so inclined, donate to Mickaboo by clicking the link below.  Any amount would make a difference and be greatly appreciated.