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| A baby pigeon, amidst the adult flock, seen here, in Skid Row. |
This year, the feedings and the community support of the pigeon flocks that I frequent has been robust (I visit 3 flocks regularly, and sometimes I see another tiny flock, here and there). That being the case, the paired pigeons felt confident to mate and rear some young, and, here in mid-May, I started to notice the baby pigeons’ ruffled feathers signature look, along with their smaller size amongst the rest of the flock, not to mention their squeaking sound, as they struggle to make sense of feeding time. There are perhaps 4-5 different baby pigeons that I’ve noticed. By this time in their fledgling upbringing, they already knew how to peck for food on the ground. I hadn’t noticed them out, any much earlier, though.
The babies are charming, this year, because there’s some adults that are setting examples of eating out of my hand and perching on me, to compete for my hand to feed them, with priority, so the babies immediately took after these adults and they comfortably started eating out of my hand and perching on me, as well. It’s really satisfying to have attained this level of comfort and sociability with the Pershing Square flock, in particular - they’re a large flock, and it’s a challenge to keep them fed, although, as I mentioned, the community at large has also been supporting the flock, bringing food and water pans for them. A lot of times, the pigeons will follow me, as I leave, because they would like more food from me, it’s really cute.
