A PIGEON STORY
This article was first published in Animal Scene, April 2008
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By Ninong Alex
It was the day before Christmas. As I was about to check on Tisoy, our six-month old spitz, and Epoy, a pure pekingese, both wallowing in the terrace, I espied a gray object moving on the driveway. From the corner of my eye, I took congnizance of our unexpected guest – a pigeon - unexpected maybe but not unwelcome.
I beckoned to my wife who was coincidentally coming out of the kitchen. Hurriedly, she took a front seat view. And as if to delight the master and the mistress of the house, the unexpected guest came pecking on the screened iron grill gate of the terrace. I ignored my wife’s look of succor for so many reasons. First, it will mess the house with its droppings. Second, it may ruin the decoration particularly the Christmas tree. Third, we honestly don’t know anything about pigeons. With a smirk, my wife went for the terrace gate as if to tell me that I was jumping to conclusions. Yes and no. Yes because all those 3 reasons are true. No because I was afraid that the pigeon may stay and be endeared to us and another heartache when it leaves. It had been 7 months since Jedi, our beloved askal, passed away but we still couldn’t reconcile with the loss. So, another undue attachment is unwelcome.
Twinkle at feeding time
Before my wife could open the terrace’s steel gate, the pigeon had already moved away. That’s when we noticed that our maid was now sweeping the fallen leaves on the front yard and that the pigeon was following her wherever she went. The pigeon was evidently a fledgling (I declared this after consulting the internet) because it was walking to and fro, seeming that it couldn’t fly yet. And I assumed that fledglings are normally tame since there was nary a protest when our maid scooped it with her hand.
Upon close examination, I saw the pigeon’s full crop of plumage, gray with rainbow colors in the neck. It looked so young and frail and probably hungry because it gobbled up the grains of rice that our maid scattered on the ground. And before any bonding starts, I decided to give it a free ride on the December breeze. It flexed its wings but daintily landed on my feet. And after an applause by my wife and our maid, I shook my head and headed for the kitchen to mind the food for the Noche Buena.
My vocal cords got an early Christmas morning exercise with a scream upon seeing the messy car’s roof. And the pigeon, which was roosted on the garage cabinet, glided down and quickly walked to my feet as if to console me or maybe to admit its fault. And thinking to myself that the bird seemed to have a mind of its own, I gazed at the driveway and the front yard in it’s entirety. The only way in (our territory) is by flying over the gate. And so as not to spoil my Christmas with speculative thinking , I just asked our maid to clean the car. I was positive that our guest would be gone before we knew it.
Twinkle. Our maid had christened the pigeon. I drew out a sneer to indicate that it would be embarrassing if that pigeon turned out to be a male. And by the way, why was it still here? It was already two days after Christmas. With the mystery getting deeper, I disturbed some friends to inquire if homing pigeons just home in on any home. I got 3 negative answers and 1 undecided. But unanimous was their opinion that if the pigeon had indeed stayed overnight with us then it might stay. However, the professional opinion was that pigeons live by pairs and that a pigeon may not survive the loneliness of living alone.
On the next day, I succumbed to the request of my wife and our maid. The neighborhood carpenter was summoned to build a home for Twinkle. But the carpenter misunderstood the instructions. He had constructed not a roosting bay but a cage. We cannot afford to have Twinkle in a cage. How could she if she decides to leave? So Twinkle was back in the garage with her early morning droppings on our car.
Twinkle's egg and feathers
On the year’s last Saturday morning while cleaning the driveway with water, Twinkle again glided down from her perch to join me. And it was anticipating the pouring water from my pail. It was actually taking a bath! Having caught my fancy, I asked my wife to get the camera and take pictures and videos of the bathing pigeon. And having bathed, she was given permission to enter not just the terrace but also the house. We were all amazed because Twinkle never used her wings as she walked straight to the dining room then to the kitchen before checking the expanse of the living room and finally going upstairs by hopping. I would like to believe my wife’s and our maid’s idea that Twinkle is the reincarnation of Jedi, our faithful dog who was with us for 10 years.
On New Year’s day, we brought Epoy and Tisoy for a stroll in Tagaytay’s cool weather. We came home after dusk only to find that Twinkle was gone. After looking around, our maid started to cry. And before I could say a word, we heard that familiar cooing sound. Like a child hiding, Twinkle was in the garage cabinet behind the curtain. That’s the time it dawned on me that Tisoy and Epoy had a foster sister now. Also, that gave me the impetus to uncover the mystery.
Since Twinkle couldn’t fly higher than 5 feet, there’s no other way she could have entered our yard except if someone had dropped her by the fence. And who would do that? And why was that pigeon so tame and acting like a dog who wanted to be with people all the time?
And it came to pass that Twinkle had earned a season pass in our house. Her droppings, however, were confined to the backrest of the sofa and the chair. Roosting in the garage at night, Twinkle’s first station in the morning was the terrace, usually under the divan which happens to be Epoy’s favorite hideaway. And if she got tired hiding, she would knock on the screen of our main door by flying vertically not unlike spiderman walking up the building. When she was not let in, she would run (not fly) to the backyard to knock either on the screen of the window or the screen door. And once inside the house, she would play with Tisoy’s drinking plate for a moment before going up to stay on the second floor landing which was Jedi’s favorite resting place. Her diet consisted of concentrate grains with a dash of uncooked rice plus a grated leaf of lettuce. She also loved biscuits and pandesal crumbs.
Twinkle carried by Ninong
As January ended, Twinkle had established her routine and even our dogs have been enamored by her closeness. Little by little, she had learned good aviation practices by flying to the ledge of our bedroom window and to the roof a week after. But she only flexed her wings when there was an audience.
The mystery further deepened when our maid was proved right in guessing the pigeon’s gender. Two days before Valentine, Twinkle had laid her first egg! Another round of research was in order. And my research proved right when Twinkle laid another egg after 44 hours. It takes 17 to 18 days of incubation for the egg to hatch and a male is required. In the first place, there was no male pigeon to speak of although my research tells that it was not that unusual for virgin pigeons to lay eggs.
Before the week was over, a neighbor called up to inquire about our pigeon. They had several pigeons but misfortune befell the coop and only 3 were left so they set it free. But it didn’t take long when the 2 pigeons died and the one left flew away. So common sense tells us that Twinkle was the survivor. But the neighbor denied Twinkle’s identity so we were back to square one.
And so Twinkle had converted the resting place into a nesting place. During the incubation period, the young mother would take 15-minute breaks, about 6 times a day. What’s funny was whenever there were people around, Twinkle would stand on the top of the stairs and coo loudly as if to summon us so she would be taken by hand to the terrace or outside of the house to empty her gizzard and to feed. If there were no attendants, Twinkle would just use the sofa’s backrest for a toilet and go back to her nest without eating.
Five days after the end of the incubation period, Twinkle had finally come to terms that her eggs wouldn’t hatch. But despite the failure, it is apparent that Twinkle is happy to rejoin her foster dog brothers and human family most of the daytime hours.
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By Ninong Alex
It was the day before Christmas. As I was about to check on Tisoy, our six-month old spitz, and Epoy, a pure pekingese, both wallowing in the terrace, I espied a gray object moving on the driveway. From the corner of my eye, I took congnizance of our unexpected guest – a pigeon - unexpected maybe but not unwelcome.
I beckoned to my wife who was coincidentally coming out of the kitchen. Hurriedly, she took a front seat view. And as if to delight the master and the mistress of the house, the unexpected guest came pecking on the screened iron grill gate of the terrace. I ignored my wife’s look of succor for so many reasons. First, it will mess the house with its droppings. Second, it may ruin the decoration particularly the Christmas tree. Third, we honestly don’t know anything about pigeons. With a smirk, my wife went for the terrace gate as if to tell me that I was jumping to conclusions. Yes and no. Yes because all those 3 reasons are true. No because I was afraid that the pigeon may stay and be endeared to us and another heartache when it leaves. It had been 7 months since Jedi, our beloved askal, passed away but we still couldn’t reconcile with the loss. So, another undue attachment is unwelcome.
Before my wife could open the terrace’s steel gate, the pigeon had already moved away. That’s when we noticed that our maid was now sweeping the fallen leaves on the front yard and that the pigeon was following her wherever she went. The pigeon was evidently a fledgling (I declared this after consulting the internet) because it was walking to and fro, seeming that it couldn’t fly yet. And I assumed that fledglings are normally tame since there was nary a protest when our maid scooped it with her hand.
Upon close examination, I saw the pigeon’s full crop of plumage, gray with rainbow colors in the neck. It looked so young and frail and probably hungry because it gobbled up the grains of rice that our maid scattered on the ground. And before any bonding starts, I decided to give it a free ride on the December breeze. It flexed its wings but daintily landed on my feet. And after an applause by my wife and our maid, I shook my head and headed for the kitchen to mind the food for the Noche Buena.
My vocal cords got an early Christmas morning exercise with a scream upon seeing the messy car’s roof. And the pigeon, which was roosted on the garage cabinet, glided down and quickly walked to my feet as if to console me or maybe to admit its fault. And thinking to myself that the bird seemed to have a mind of its own, I gazed at the driveway and the front yard in it’s entirety. The only way in (our territory) is by flying over the gate. And so as not to spoil my Christmas with speculative thinking , I just asked our maid to clean the car. I was positive that our guest would be gone before we knew it.
Twinkle. Our maid had christened the pigeon. I drew out a sneer to indicate that it would be embarrassing if that pigeon turned out to be a male. And by the way, why was it still here? It was already two days after Christmas. With the mystery getting deeper, I disturbed some friends to inquire if homing pigeons just home in on any home. I got 3 negative answers and 1 undecided. But unanimous was their opinion that if the pigeon had indeed stayed overnight with us then it might stay. However, the professional opinion was that pigeons live by pairs and that a pigeon may not survive the loneliness of living alone.
On the next day, I succumbed to the request of my wife and our maid. The neighborhood carpenter was summoned to build a home for Twinkle. But the carpenter misunderstood the instructions. He had constructed not a roosting bay but a cage. We cannot afford to have Twinkle in a cage. How could she if she decides to leave? So Twinkle was back in the garage with her early morning droppings on our car.
On the year’s last Saturday morning while cleaning the driveway with water, Twinkle again glided down from her perch to join me. And it was anticipating the pouring water from my pail. It was actually taking a bath! Having caught my fancy, I asked my wife to get the camera and take pictures and videos of the bathing pigeon. And having bathed, she was given permission to enter not just the terrace but also the house. We were all amazed because Twinkle never used her wings as she walked straight to the dining room then to the kitchen before checking the expanse of the living room and finally going upstairs by hopping. I would like to believe my wife’s and our maid’s idea that Twinkle is the reincarnation of Jedi, our faithful dog who was with us for 10 years.
On New Year’s day, we brought Epoy and Tisoy for a stroll in Tagaytay’s cool weather. We came home after dusk only to find that Twinkle was gone. After looking around, our maid started to cry. And before I could say a word, we heard that familiar cooing sound. Like a child hiding, Twinkle was in the garage cabinet behind the curtain. That’s the time it dawned on me that Tisoy and Epoy had a foster sister now. Also, that gave me the impetus to uncover the mystery.
Since Twinkle couldn’t fly higher than 5 feet, there’s no other way she could have entered our yard except if someone had dropped her by the fence. And who would do that? And why was that pigeon so tame and acting like a dog who wanted to be with people all the time?
And it came to pass that Twinkle had earned a season pass in our house. Her droppings, however, were confined to the backrest of the sofa and the chair. Roosting in the garage at night, Twinkle’s first station in the morning was the terrace, usually under the divan which happens to be Epoy’s favorite hideaway. And if she got tired hiding, she would knock on the screen of our main door by flying vertically not unlike spiderman walking up the building. When she was not let in, she would run (not fly) to the backyard to knock either on the screen of the window or the screen door. And once inside the house, she would play with Tisoy’s drinking plate for a moment before going up to stay on the second floor landing which was Jedi’s favorite resting place. Her diet consisted of concentrate grains with a dash of uncooked rice plus a grated leaf of lettuce. She also loved biscuits and pandesal crumbs.
As January ended, Twinkle had established her routine and even our dogs have been enamored by her closeness. Little by little, she had learned good aviation practices by flying to the ledge of our bedroom window and to the roof a week after. But she only flexed her wings when there was an audience.
The mystery further deepened when our maid was proved right in guessing the pigeon’s gender. Two days before Valentine, Twinkle had laid her first egg! Another round of research was in order. And my research proved right when Twinkle laid another egg after 44 hours. It takes 17 to 18 days of incubation for the egg to hatch and a male is required. In the first place, there was no male pigeon to speak of although my research tells that it was not that unusual for virgin pigeons to lay eggs.
Before the week was over, a neighbor called up to inquire about our pigeon. They had several pigeons but misfortune befell the coop and only 3 were left so they set it free. But it didn’t take long when the 2 pigeons died and the one left flew away. So common sense tells us that Twinkle was the survivor. But the neighbor denied Twinkle’s identity so we were back to square one.
And so Twinkle had converted the resting place into a nesting place. During the incubation period, the young mother would take 15-minute breaks, about 6 times a day. What’s funny was whenever there were people around, Twinkle would stand on the top of the stairs and coo loudly as if to summon us so she would be taken by hand to the terrace or outside of the house to empty her gizzard and to feed. If there were no attendants, Twinkle would just use the sofa’s backrest for a toilet and go back to her nest without eating.
Five days after the end of the incubation period, Twinkle had finally come to terms that her eggs wouldn’t hatch. But despite the failure, it is apparent that Twinkle is happy to rejoin her foster dog brothers and human family most of the daytime hours.
posted by Sonny G at
8:53 PM
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