Boo's Story

I sure wish Boo would tell us his story as I am sure it is full of many dramatic highs and lows. This is just the little bit I know.

On 12/12, I received this email:

Please help.

I live in Hayward Ca. There has been a King Pigen in the area going on four weeks. Local amamil control will not take the brid. Can someone contact me and see if someone will come and get the pigen. I can be reach on cell phone 510-XXX-XXXX.

MickaCoo was full and I was booked solid with no time to go to Hayward and try to catch a free-flying pigeon. Despite his surviving for weeks hanging around the trailer park, this bird was at grave risk and already on borrowed time. Domestic pigeons don't last long in the wild.

I had recently met a really nice Hayward Animal Care & Control volunteer named Susan. She had transported baby king pigeon Carmine from the shelter in Hayward to me in SF and of course no good deed goes unpunished. I alerted her to the bird's plight.

Amazingly, Susan (who bottle-feeds motherless kittens, docents at the zoo and protests circuses among other kindnesses) lept into pigeon rescue action and the very next day I received this email:

I am happy to let you all know that I have the bird! He is safe, and I'm working on setting up a room for him to have to himself. HOWEVER, I can only foster him until there is room at Mickacoo. Please let me know when there is an opening for this little guy. Thanks! Susan

Susan named this handsome, lucky bird Boo.

He appears to be a big racing-type homer or maybe a king-homer cross. He has one dark brown eye and one bright gold eye and a single brown feather in the center of his breast. Susan cared for him in her home for a couple of days and then, when we were ready for him on 12/21, brought him to meet me at the Wulf foster aviary.

Usually when we set pigeons free in a big, beautiful aviary full of lots of nice birds, they swoop off with nary as much as a backward glance. But not Boo.

Susan and I were there for over an hour, weighing, banding, treating and releasing three other pigeons and Boo just hung out nearby the whole time. He didn't seem comfortable in the aviary and surprised us by not joining in with the other pij. The other three releases- Cloud and Silvy and Pip- all did no problem.

But not Boo. Boo hadn't been particularly tame while at home with Susan. He spent most of his time there looking out the window. I wish we knew his story, where he came from, how he came to be out in the world all alone.

He tried out a few alternate perches but still seemed ill at ease.

Since the aviary is under the care of a house sitter for the holidays, I didn't feel quite right leaving Boo and so brought him with me home to my aviary, where I could keep an eye on him, just in case.

I don't know why he was so unsettled that day but Boo has settled in fine at my aviary. Here he is showing off the Captain Morgan in him.

And he likes that bird in the mirror.

And here I imagine he might be saying "Tell Susan Hi!"

Oh Boo. I wish you could tell us your story.

P.S. Susan is now caring for three injured baby king pigeons- Percy, Mercy and Kristi- rescued from SFACC. MickaCoo's foster network was still too full and so once again Susan is helping birds for whom we had no room.




Please help us help birds- foster or adopt!