Save Water - Bath with a Friend

Two local wood pigeons were keen to heed the advice issued during the UK drought of 1976 in June 2023, even though a) they were 47 years too late, and b) the bird bath isn't really large enough to accommodate two wood pigeons satisfactorily.

[@FinlaysFireSystemsElectrical]

Adorable, the pigeons like to “surprise ” me by flying onto my shed roof which is made of corrugated metal. Once they did it while i had a fluorescent tube in my hands, luckily i didn’t drop it 🤣

[@StreetLightOnline]

That sounds about right - they're probably doing that in vengeance for every time that you've spooked them by just happening to be standing near them! They certainly know how to pick their moments!

[@FrontSideBus]

I love it when it's raining and they sit there with the wings up getting some water on their "armpits" xD

[@StreetLightOnline]

They are rather adorable when they do that - one was having a quick scrub in a neighbour's top gutter during a shower the other week - their lack of spatial awareness cracks me up every time, as you have this big fat woody squeezing into a narrow space! I've commented on your recent pigeon video, by the way, though it might have been held for review as it contained a link - I'm envious of how tame young Geoff is!

[@FrontSideBus]

@@StreetLightOnline Yeah the Wood pigeons certainly are right characters, they are quite enjoyable to watch. My local ones always were a bit timid but they have made plenty of nests in the big copper beech at the end of the garden over the years. They are wary of coming down lately though. The Rock doves never minded the Wood pigeons but the Wood pigeons always tried chasing them off which resulted in they themselves being driven off as the rockies are hard and take no stick 😂 I'll check that comment, I'm sure I had allow all set.

[@StreetLightOnline]

I had a couple nesting within a conifer tree earlier in the year - it was a right rigmarole for them to get in and out of it each time! I don't know if a magpie or similar had spooked them (one of the woodies had no concerns at all about telling a magpie to "clear off" when it came too close for comfort, however!), but they seemed to abandon it after sitting on it for a prolonged amount of time. Occasionally, a couple of stock doves pay a visit here - I'd never seen their type before, and thought at first that they must have been baby woodies. Usually, their relationship with woodies is fairly harmonious, but if the stocks get between the larger cousin and the feeding bowl, they are chased off rather rapidly! I used a different type of seed one time, which must have been especially delicious, as it attracted five woodies, two magpies and a (partridge in a pear tree) jackdaw - when something of a mass brawl began to develop, I decided to intervene!