First in-house injury

When I went downstairs to take care of the pigeons this morning, I found drops of blood here and there on the floor. My first thought was that one of the silly little quail that are living there till they can catch a ride to Sacramento must have gotten injured. They are small and frolic about heedless of the much bigger birds around them. It wasn't them, though.

My next guess was the chukar (also a temporary guest waiting to get to Sacramento) because he's fairly bold and had a stand-off over a seed dish with greedy Tank on Sunday.

I caught Brother Chukar and looked him over (which he hates- it's AMAZING how strong such a small, lightly built animal can be) but he's fine.

It turns out that Doll got hurt. Somebody tore off a chunk of the soft nostril tissue (called the cere) on top of her beak.

Yesterday I saw Country come off her nest like a shot to drive Doll, who had landed nearby, away so it might have been her or her mate Tank who, at 780 grams, is the biggest pij I've met and could do damage if he tried. But my friend and pij expert has never seen this kind of wound inflicted pij-to-pij so it might be that Doll tangled with the chukar. Based on the interactions I've watched, I'd guess not, but he does have a scimitar for a beak. I've confined Doll to a crate (to minimize activity & protect from further complications) and applied topical antibiotic. Poor little squeaker.