Last October, an exhausted racing pigeon limped into Laurie’s kitchen through her cat door. Laurie was quite surprised to find him there. But Laurie is an animal lover who rescues cats and has volunteered with wildlife rescue and she knew that this brave little bird needed help. She delivered him to WildCare (who kindly took him in despite his being domestic) but fretted knowing that once he healed up, if not claimed, he’d be transferred to a shelter and perhaps killed for lack of an adopter. Coincidentally, Laurie had just met Linda, one of MickaCoo’s volunteers, and the flock that she fosters in her beautiful backyard aviary. Laurie reached out to Linda and Linda put Laurie and I in touch.

Of course, MickaCoo was full with a waiting list so taking Laurie’s self-rescuing pigeon into our care wouldn’t be easy but I gladly talked with Laurie about how she could provide a home for the racer when he was ready to leave WildCare.

By mid-November, the self-rescuing racer was doing well and Laurie had decided that she just might want to create an aviary for him. I had the pleasure of doing a home visit with her in December. I brought along rescued King Pigeon Olivia to assist and we talked about all kinds of lovely aviary possibilities that could be created.

As things often do, it took a little longer than planned but by January 30th, Laurie’s beautiful new aviary was ready and she went to WildCare to pick up not only her self-rescuing racer, but also a little Birmingham Roller that had bonded with him through their cage bars. She named them Polka Dot and Pansy.

I was there to help introduce them to their new home (!!!) and it was an amazing afternoon. Polka Dot, the racer, is male and Pansy, the roller, is female and they were married within their first hour together in their incredible new aviary.

I call it the Aviary that Polka Dot Built. Not only did he rescue himself by walking into exactly the right cat door, but he also rescued Pansy! And his amazing feats continue! On April 13th, Laurie spent her first day as a MickaCoo volunteer doing Pigeon Diplomacy with Jill at the Berkeley Bay Festival.

And Laurie is an award-winning artisanal perfumer and the owner of Velvet & Sweet Pea’s Purrfumery. She’s writing about Polka Dot and pigeon rescue in her blog!

And she is donating a Custom Perfumery Experience to benefit MickaCoo (more details to come soon)!

AND Laurie has opened her heart and home to foster two of MickaCoo’s pigeons, Lulu & Ed, in her beautiful patio aviary!

Self-rescuing pigeon Polka Dot is what we call a SUPER Bird! He makes me smile just thinking about him. And he has a perfect view of that fateful cat door and his beloved Laurie from his aviary. I think that makes him smile.

Thank you Polka Dot & Laurie! MickaCoo is so lucky to have you in the family.

Readers- please help support MickaCoo Pigeon & Dove Rescue: Donate, Shop, Sponsor a bird.