Bandit

On 9/21, this adorable little Helmet pigeon was found as a stray near Hedding and First in San Jose and taken to the San Jose Animal Control Shelter.



MickaCoo volunteer Cheryl and I picked him up there on 10/3 and he's currently fostering in my loft and will soon be available for adoption at the Marin Humane Society in Novato (they kindly provide space in their barn when MickaCoo is full up and pigeons in other shelters are out of time).

His beak is very small (as per his breed standards) and his markings are cute and he's little and dear. His black is SO black that he makes black satin feral pigeons look grey in comparison. He's adorable but his breeding makes me sad. I guess I like things wild. He's "imperfectly marked" and not "show quality" and I wonder how many cute little penguins just like him were killed ("culled") as youngsters because they weren't perfectly marked. To me, he IS perfectly marked even if his life has been imperfectly controlled by the people to whom he has been, right down to his DNA, enslaved.



2/6/10 Update

June Bug has been the most eligible hen in my coop for a long time and she had her choice of mates. There were two flightless kings courting her- Peppermint and Sesame, each who already had a nestbox ready for her to move into and two flighted fancy pigeons- Austin and Bandit, both half her size and neither with "property".

For reasons known only to herself and on her own schedule, June Bug finally decided to choose a mate and she chose Bandit- a teeny, tiny helmet pigeon literally half her size. I don't know what made her choose Bandit but he is as cute as Brad Pitt was in Thelma & Louise. Cute.

For the longest time, they tried to build their nest just sitting on the top of Bean & Blanco's nest tower and everytime somebody flapped their wings, the whole thing blew away.

There were other potential nest spots but, since this was the only one they were interested in, I offered them a basket which they investigated but didn't like.



Then, a couple of days later, I saw a hanging basket at Lowe's and I bought one for them. They loved it and moved in almost immediately.