Baby Pigeon fell out of tree

gloobag

For the past couple of weeks we've had a pigeon nesting in one of the trees in our tiny garden. Woke up this morning to some commotion outside, and looks like her nest has fallen out of the tree and one fat little baby was left sitting on the ground.

Mommy pigeon seems to have disappeared for the moment, so we took what was left of the nest and put it on our garden table and plonked baby back inside for now (probably the wrong thing to do), as he/she's not safe on the ground because of our dog. It's just chilling in the nest now as you can see in the photo.

Does anyone know what we should do with him/her? Doesn't look like there's much the mommy pigeon can do and we haven't a clue how to care for the little one

Mellor

Can you put the nest back in the tree?

gloobag

Mellor wrote: »

Can you put the nest back in the tree?

No, I don't think so. I think the reason the nest fell was because of the the strong wind yesterday. I think part of the nest might have been blown away, so it's not in great shape unfortunately.

Toulouse

http://www.irishwildlifematters.ie/

DBB

I'll move your thread over to Nature & Birdwatching op, you should benefit from the expertise there. Please be aware that a different charter applies.
All the best,
DBB

Knine

You can soak some porridge oats or peas & gentle open its beak & put them in. Baby pigeons do not open their beaks begging like other birds. You will need to add some moisture to the food. I have reared lots of them & used to keep pigeons myself. Be warned though they get very tame.

OpenYourEyes

Call someone on the website given above, but in the meantime you're right to put the chick/nest somewhere elevated and away from predators. Try and stay inside though, you don't want yo scare the adults off.

gloobag

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

Call someone on the website given above, but in the meantime you're right to put the chick/nest somewhere elevated and away from predators. Try and stay inside though, you don't want yo scare the adults off.

We called a nice lady from that site, and she advised us to get him back into the tree somehow in the hopes that mommy returns.

We've placed the nest in a bucket and securely tied it to a branch in the tree with baby inside. Fingers crossed!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

gloobag wrote: »

We called a nice lady from that site, and she advised us to get him back into the tree somehow in the hopes that mommy returns.

We've placed the nest in a bucket and securely tied it to a branch in the tree with baby inside. Fingers crossed!

You have done all you can do. The important thing now is to leave it alone and try to forget about it. Don't check to see how it's doing. It should be fine.

gloobag

A bit of an update.

I just witnessed a family reunion

The parents have returned and I was lucky enough to see the little guy getting some grub.

One thing I'm worried about though, is that the weight of the parent pigeons perching on the rim of the bucket we placed the nest in almost caused the whole kaboodle to come tumbling out, baby and all.

I was thinking of moving the bucket up higher, so it can sit on one of the sturdier branches, and then tie the bucket to the main trunk of the tree. At the moment, it's just hanging from a branch. Or should I just leave it alone and let them get on with it?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I'd leave it. One disturbance has been overcome, two may be pushing luck. But, who knows?