The cats have taken to bringing in birds they find roosting at night, including this juvenile pigeon (I’m pretty sure). The roommate found it this morning. This time he put it in a box (step in the right direction). It’s alert and is able to perch on my thumb, so hopefully it will survive. It’s pretty raw across the back and under both wings. It is missing its tail and a crapload of feathers. A neighbor has a friend who is professional bird rehabber, she’s calling them now to see if we can drop the bird off. Fingers crossed. I have been keeping it warm in my sweatshirt this morning, it is calm and friendly enough. It’s fledging, those as new feathers growing around its beak and if you look around in it’s feathers much, so it was probably uncomfortable even without the cat’s chewing on it, but I’m sure that didn’t help.
It’s a bandtailed pigeon (the largest breed of pigeon in the US), the rehabber has turned over the rehab to me. So I’m giving it a try. I put anti-bacterial ointment on the raw spots and put the bird into a small dog crate with some water then I called my friends at the feed store to figure out the best food choice for the little guy, so we’re all set up now.
