Injured/Exhausted Pigeon Problem

rokkitgurl

Late last night during a dinner party, a ringed/marked pigeon made a sleeping area on my balcony. He slept the entire night and shat everywhere.

It's 11am and he is still here. He attempted to fly and I noticed that he seemed very lethargic and tired. I put out water and a teeny bit of oatmeal for him to munch on.

I was able to get a photo of the rings in his left foot and have already compared the tags to other area racing pigeons and nothing matches.

Could these tags also be from some conservatory study for migratory patterns of pigeons or something?

For now, I'll keep the bird dry and watered. Any advice or suggestions would be very helpful as I live in an apartment and would not be able to care for this bird properly, especially if he is injured or sick. If he gets worse, I will try to contact the RSPCA or a vet and get him immediate care.

homerhop

Leave food and water out for him, sometimes the weather or a bird of pray will put a flock off its course and seperate birds. As soon as it gets its energy up it will prob head on its way.

Discodog

He will be a racing pigeon but sometimes they are difficult to trace. Try & get some seed so that he gets an energy boost. I had one stay with me for 5 days.

Sundew

Rokkitgurl: I had a racing pigeon on my balcony some weeks ago. Also got some snaps of his tag. There should be a letter on one of the tags. Try getting a few more snaps if he moves around and you should be able to spot the letter! You can then piece the whole ID together!

I fed my visitor oat meal for a day or two and plenty of water. Rang the racing board with his details. He ended up staying for 3 weeks before heading off. They actually advised me to stop feeding once he had perked up so that he would head off again.
Turned out my fellow was a Tipp pigeon (his owner made contact with me) who had made his way to Dublin from Laoise........seems his compass wasn't working
Don't now where he is now but doubt he made it back home :pac:

Eugene Fitzgerald (union president)was a huge help to me and you might want to contact him or Seamus Lehane (region secretary)
Their details can be found on this site. You may have already seen it!
http://www.irishhomingunion.com/page2.htm

rokkitgurl

Thank you all so much for your replies! I've just checked on my balcony for him and he's has flown the coop!

I'm guessing he was absolutely exhausted when he arrived, thus explaining his lethargic behaviour. He ate the oatmeal and water I put out and I think a lazy Sunday is what he needed. He slept most of yesterday! I'm guessing he left sometime early this morning. If he returns, I will contact the Irish Homing Union.

It was certainly fun to have a feathered guest for a few days. I was quite surprised at how tame he was. He nearly ate the meal straight from my hand!
This experience has certainly changed my opinion of pigeons. Some aren't exactly "rats with wings"