Well so far it has worked we haven't lost anuther baby to the road. Instead we lost one to a red tail hawk. It was not a good sigh to see one of your birds taken down by a hawk.

Jackal64
Windy Wings

Have you noticed an instinctual awareness of hawks in the babies or the adults? Phoebe usually sees soaring birds weel before I do, which I find encouraging. I have no diea what she would do if she saw one while flying, but I feel a little better knowing that she's on alrert.

Do pigeons show awarenessof hawks?

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

When our babies sit on top of our loft they look every where. They will spot a hawk, or any other kind of bird flying above them before we do as well. We have seen a hawk try to take down a baby, and the adults interfer with it by flying in front to confuse the bird. Yes they are smart in flight and on the ground when it comes to hawks. Tell you the truth I didn't know how smart till I saw it that day. I have also seen how one can out fly a hawk by itself. We have a baby called Alex who was beeing chased by a hawk he came right back to the loft and landed right at my feet the hawk was scared off by this action and I realized I had one smart baby on my hands.

Jackal64
Windy Wings

Very smart! Couldn't ask for more...

Zazu B&G calls (shrieks) to almost any bird larger than pigeon size passing by over head. Don't know if he's making contact or warning all the other macaws. Gulls ignore him, crows often answer him, and i once saw a redtailed-sized hawk literally skid to a near-stop in midair to scope him out, before moving lazily on. i don't much worry about him - too big for the common hawks around here (i've checked out possible flight areas for him that were unfortunately also favored by golden eagles, and decided to steer clear). Little birds zipping around make him nervous, which would be funnier if i didn't have to worry about a startle flight.

Likewise, Mouse PFLB seems a bit small to make a worthwhile meal for an airborne predator.

The one i worry about most is Pongo U2, which is why i wondered earlier about painted-on eyespots for her. Not many people bother shooting at birds around here - too busy shooting at one another, sadly...
lisa
"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement."

P.S.: i want pigeons!
lisa
"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement."

Well Lisa if you want pigeons the best way to start is by getting a yearling or a baby that isn't homed all ready. If you get one that is older and is homed to a certain spot they will fly back to where they grew up and will never come back. You will have to do allot of training to get them homed to where you live but it is worth it. Not all pigeons are smart some are pretty dumb to put it bluntly.

Find out where someone raises pigeons in your area and ask them what they suggest for your area. Then you can either buy from them or keep an eye on your classifieds and you can find cheap pigeons that are being sold in your area. Remember if you want a top quality bird it will cost allot. Some go as high as $15000. I am not making that up.

Others can go as low as $5. It depends on what kind of pigeons you want. If you need help after getting one please ask me I can help you and I know allot of web sites where you can get what you need for them. Good luck and I hope if you do get one you will tell me what kind and color of your new pigeon. Also check out some other web sites and see if they have information on pigeons as well.

One is where I am a member of Windywings.com hope I dont get in trouble for that. Anyway good luck and let me know what you decided.

Jackal64
Windy Wings

P.S IF you get one you will be hooked they have cute personalities if you look. Our flock is now over 80 birds and 70 of them fly know. It is so cool to see your flock that big fly together and watch out for each other. You'll love it.
Jackal64
Windy Wings

Well it was the worst week of training. We have been taking them away from the loft to see if they can find there way home for the up coming racing season. We had 50 when we started and know we have only 16. If this keeps up our season is over before it started.

Jackal64
Morning Star Chapel

Gee thats alot missing! Is that many missing normal? Are they taken, lost or gone to another loft?

Murray NZ

Its normal for this kind of things to happen. We have had a couple return and they were both hurt. We will doctor them and help them heal. For the others we don't know what happen and where they are.

Jackal64
Morning Star Chapel

Dang, what a terrible loss. :-(

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

YEah it is, and it even went worse. We took them the 60 miles and only four have come back. That was yesterday. Today we still only have four. The whole season is over.

Jackal64
Morning Star Chapel

How many practice flights did you do before the flights when there were so many losses? Would short flights help them get prepared for long flights? E.g. 100 yards, 200 yards, quarter mile, half mile, one mile, etc, etc...

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

We start on short flights and work our way up. They also get out everyday to get exercise and work on there flying ability. Some are just not cut out for this and we don't know which till its to late. I wish we could do it all over again and save our best flyers but it dosent work that way. Thanks for asking and I'll talk at you a later time.

Jackal64
Morning Star Chapel

Just to up date. Our baby flock is back up to 22. Some made it back and some were hurt. One we call Bandit looked like he was shot by a small gun. We removed the bb and he is doing good. Our racing season is still over there have been two races all ready so we are out for sure.

Jackal64
Morning Star Chapel

Whoops, I wish I'd seen this before I asked how many birds you have, about two seconds ago... I'm glad Bandit is doing well

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

Whoops, I wish I'd seen this before I asked how many birds you have, about two seconds ago... I'm glad Bandit is doing well.

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

Thank you. We are glad Bandit is doing well also.

Jackal64
Morning Star Chapel