Feathered Out and Home Alone
The feathers are finally coming out, and if anything, these birds are ahead of schedule. The eggs seemed to hatch much faster than the web sites I looked at indicated they would, and the growth of these chicks (or “squabs,” as they’re apparently called) is almost alarming. Another concern was that mama and papa pigeon seemed to have deserted them–no one has been sitting on the nest for two days now, leaving the squabs unprotected almost all of that time. Apparently, however, pigeons do this–the hen will make a second nest somewhere with another clutch of eggs. The folks must still be somewhere nearby, though; once in a while I catch them coming in to feed. It’s only been ten days since hatching, though, and the sites on the web say 18 days before they get left alone.
Must be fast pigeons.