Olivia

Olivia was first spotted as a young king pigeon hanging out with a flock of ferals in Oakland. She was flying and uncatchable (by humans) but, as a domestic meat bird bred for the dinner plate rather than survival, at profound risk from predators.

She did OK for awhile but came down with a bad respiratory infection and was grounded. Her luck continued to hold because kind people found her and took her in before the illness or nature could finish her off.

She had a long recuperation and was on MickaCoo's waiting list of birds needing to come in. Eventually she laid an egg and, since we always have lots of bachelors, we knew we could add her to a foster aviary and that she would get a warm welcome.

And she did. Too warm for her liking. I was surprised to find that Olivia, despite having been living with other rescued pigeons for months, was actually very people-oriented. She was much more interested in me than in any of the many bachelors that were vying for affection.

Olivia was panicky when I left her outside in the aviary and much happier "helping" me inside.

She got along fine with indoor, special needs hen Pearl but Pearl's mate Leo would chase her away when they were out at the same time.

Here Olivia studies the 4' tall Pet Food Express "My Mutt" poster of my first adopted pigeon Rocky. (All the indoor pigeons spend an inordinate amount of time gazing at this giant pigeon picture.)

Olivia wasn't thrilled to have pants put on but she definitely enjoyed the attention and affection she got from going out and about as a PR Pigeon.

But the truth is that I'm not that great a pigeon husband. And, after a week of doing her best to turn me into one, smart Olivia realized that she could do better. On one of her aviary visits, she started to warm up to widower Walter's courting. And then, just like that, she married him.

Olivia, once so solicitous of me, has now given her heart to Walter and she is a very faithful mate.

They've made a nest together and laid eggs, of which you can see Olivia is rather possessive.

Never the less, I did have to replace her beautiful real eggs with fakes (pigeon birth control) because sadly there aren't even enough homes for the pigeons that are already here, let alone for us to allow more to hatch.

Because Olivia paired up with my widowed pet pigeon Walter, she has been adopted by me. But MickaCoo has many, many more lovely and very wonderful birds in need of a great home. Please take a look at our Available Birds and please, help us to save these innocents from being killed in shelters for lack of adopters.

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