Hi,
We have had this beautiful fellow residing semi-permanently in our Surrey garden for over a week now. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I wonder if it’s an escaped / released pet, or something quite rare. Possibly a tumbler pigeon (but I’ve never seen him do anything remotely athletic)? It doesn’t have a ring on its legs, so I’ve ruled out any racing breed. He seems content but is clearly lost. I refer to it as ‘he/him’, but I’ve no idea if it’s male or female.
He is brown with lovely white feathers. Plump but reasonably toned, with a brown head, pink pigeon feet and the slightest pinky-green burst in his neck feathers, which you probably can’t see in the pictures.
He / she is quite tame, and sits perched on our garage roof most of the time, occasionally strolling around the patio. He definitely walks & moves like a pigeon, with those unmistakable neck movements & bobbing strut. Though he doesn’t talk much, his call is not a coo but more a light, high pitched shriek. He disappears in the evening (I assume to seek shelter and sleep) and is back first thing in the morning when we come downstairs, sometimes standing right by the back door waiting for us. I don’t know that he wants to or would come indoors, but he will stay in the garden all day like he owns the place. We've been feeding him seeds and fresh water each day, which he gobbles up happily, but he shows no interest in going anywhere else.
He doesn’t seem injured or in any distress. Sometimes we’ve found him sitting on the ground or the roof, like he’s taking the weight off one or both of his feet. We think this is a sign of hunger, so we feed him again. He flies but seems to flap quite unnecessarily, and doesn’t look that agile, but I don’t think his wings are clipped. We've noticed (but can't scientifically verify) a decline in other birdlife in the garden since his arrival; like he's staked our garden as his territory and others (even magpies) aren’t coming. Other grey pigeons and doves come occasionally, but not much. Our resident robin, for example, has not been seen since his arrival. We get a lot of parakeets around here as well, and I’ve not seen any this week. He quite bravely shooed off some magpies from his food the other day, and no scrap ensued! Otherwise, he’s a very docile chap, and he seems to trust us as he doesn’t seem fazed when we approach him now, like other pigeons do.
Is he something special, and if so should I do something? I’ve become quite attached to him, but don’t want to contain or keep him as a pet or anything. I also don’t want to invite the wrong attention if he is rare or lost. From what I can gather, the various pigeon organisations and registers in the UK would just consider it a feral bird and be unable to help if it isn’t wearing an identifier, but I can’t help feel he’s something special and potentially lost and in danger. Any advice or help identifying our new friend would be greatly appreciated!
Many thanks in advance,
Rob