Guest Blog Post by Patti Delaney

On August 14, 2019, my cousin Josh sent me a message. An injured pigeon had appeared at his workplace, Certified Collision Body Shop in Sacramento. He attached a picture of a young homing pigeon with a drooping right wing.

Smart Mr. CC went to the auto body shop for repairs!

I made an appointment with my avian vet, Dr. Jeanne Smith, so she could see the bird immediately after I picked him up. It turned out his wing was broken, so Dr. Smith wrapped it. She also checked him for parasites, worms, and other injuries. His leg was sore and he was hopping on one foot. Dr. Smith said his injuries were due to a collision. I teased that he’s not only a homing pigeon, he can read: He went to the body shop for repairs! And that’s how he became Mr. Certified Collision—CC for short.

We ordered a DNA test to find out if Mr. CC was male or female. I knew he was a youngster because he was still squeaking. I estimated that he’d hatched at the beginning of July, 2019.

Facing Big Fears

Because of his sore leg, I kept Mr. CC in a carrier pod to limit his mobility until he felt better. Of all his conditions, the most difficult to help him with was his fear. Most pigeons will calm down after you hold them for a little while, but not Mr. CC. He would keep trembling. If anyone was in the room, he would plaster himself against the side of his crate as far away from the perceived threat as he could get. I took him to a Palomacy outreach event so I could get advice from those with more experience. There, we watched him alternate between waves of high stress and periods of calm. Unfortunately, the calm never lasted for long.

Learning to trust

When Mr. CC could walk on both legs, I upgraded his housing to a dog crate sharing a room with two other male foster pigeons, Rhett and Jacques. Rhett has a bold personality and I hoped Mr. CC would learn, copy, and achieve some confidence. But nothing much changed. When Rhett and Jacques were adopted, I moved Mr. CC to the family room where two parrots are housed. The cockatoo has typical attention-seeking behavior. My hope was that Mr. CC would see another bird demanding my attention and begin to feel that he, too, was safe. It seemed to help. He started using the shelves near the front of his crate.

Brave!

Despite his shyness, I took Mr. CC to work at several Palomacy outreach events: Blessing of the Animals at the San Damiano Retreat Center, a House Blessing, and three SPCA Camp Kindness presentations. Mr. CC received big doses of compassion and he seemed to take it in. He was a favorite with the kids.

Mr. CC and an admirer at a Palomacy outreach event

Mr. CC’s turning point came in early December. He was becoming confident. He was playing passionately with his toys. We were both starting to feel optimistic about his future.

Meeting Lucy     

About a month earlier, Sasha Johns had reached out to the Palomacy Help Group Facebook Page: She and her husband had visited a shelter to see if there were any dogs they might want to adopt. As they walked down the hall, Sasha saw a room with a beautiful white bird. She couldn’t stop staring at it. Her husband pulled her out, but she kept going back to see the bird. A volunteer came in and Sasha asked about the bird. The shelter didn’t know what kind of bird it was, its sex, or age. They just knew it was found in a park. Although her husband was not very happy about this adoption, Sasha was thrilled. She had contacted the help group to ask for advice, and I answered her call.

Dr. Freeze before she was Lucy

The bird, named Dr. Freeze, was a roller pigeon who was already snuggling with Sasha and eating out of her hand. Like Mr. CC, Dr. Freeze also had a right wing injury. He’d been to the vet for evaluation and to be treated for other minor health issues. He also had a DNA test. Dr. Freeze is female! Her name is now Lucy.

Falling in Love

Last summer, I left my name and number at the shelter where Sasha found Lucy. My hope was to share pigeon knowledge with the staff and volunteers. Amazingly, the Adoption and Foster Coordinator contacted me on January 1. It was a holiday but she wondered if I could evaluate a pigeon that had been surrendered. Evaluating pigeons isn’t my area of expertise, and I explained that to her. But I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity to make a difference. It’s baby steps for now, but I’m encouraged that there will eventually be a better understanding of the pigeons who land at this shelter.

I was so pleased with this opened door of opportunity at the shelter that I shared the information on Palomacy’s Facebook Group page. Sasha saw my post and commented that this was the shelter where she adopted Lucy. She said she would be interested in helping or fostering another pigeon.

Sasha with Mr. CC, now Bugsy

I checked in with Sasha to see if she was serious about getting another pigeon. I was thinking of Mr. CC. It seemed like a perfect match since both birds are flightless due to their wing injuries. Mr. CC would have an indoor, loving environment, lots of out-of-cage time, and maybe even a wife!

Sasha said yes. And so did Lucy.

On January 7, Mr. CC—now named Bugsy—went home. When I left on that day, Bugsy and Lucy were already mirroring each other while preening. Now, five months later, Bugsy, Lucy, and their people are all very happy together.

Bugsy and Lucy

You can help Palomacy create happily-ever-afters for more lucky birds like Bugsy and Lucy!  Please adopt, volunteer and donate!

The Call

On March 25th I received a voicemail that all rescuers fear: 39 doves and 1 pigeon needed a new home. Their person had late stage cancer with not long to live. Her good friend Karen was also an animal rescuer and had found safe new homes for the dogs, chickens, even a 30 year old horse, but the doves’ only option seemed to be “set free” which was no option at all for the helpless birds.

As you probably know, Palomacy is always full. Overfull. The demand for our work far exceeds the capacity to do it. Every new bird in need of help is a new challenge. Let alone 40 birds. As much as these doves needed a place to go, we had no space to offer them. It is an awful feeling. Sometimes we can surge here or there. Or sometimes we can work with a shelter for emergency housing but we had no such option this time.

My conversation with Karen the animal rescuing friend was heartening. She totally understood our situation and was committed to helping us to help her friend’s birds. When she told me she was on her way to a horse rescue, I asked her to please ask them to help. And everybody else, I said. Please reach out to everybody! Doves are lovely, not hard to care for and we help every step of the way. Karen promised she would. I asked her to send photos of the birds. Their situation was bad.

Many of the overcrowded doves had bald spots from fighting

They were living in filthy conditions

There were 4 Eurasian Collared doves housed & fighting with a pigeon

The Visit

On April 9th, given access to the property, Palomacy volunteers Jill & Nath met in Gilroy to assess and assist the birds. There was a big aviary with five compartments but all the birds were crammed into just two. The four Eurasian Collared doves (ECDs) were in a compartment with a pigeon and the 35 domestic Ringnecks were all crammed into another. The wooden walls of the aviary (unlined with hardware mesh) had big holes chewed into them by the rats who were eating all the babies and weak or injured birds. We call this a “survival of the fittest” flock meaning there would have been a lot more if not for the predators who were killing off the most vulnerable birds. Jill and Nath spent the day helping to improve the birds’ safety and well being. First thing, the unnamed pigeon, now called Marigold, was removed from the ECDs’ compartment for transfer to Jill’s pigeon aviary for fostering. Pigeons are two to five times bigger than doves and conflict between them means injuries for the smaller doves. The four ECDs were more bald than feathered from their fighting. Next they worked to seal up and block off the many holes and gaps the rats were using to raid the aviary. Then, to provide some much needed relief to the overcrowded Ringnecks, they cut out mesh dividers into two adjacent vacant compartments so that the doves could spread out across three times as much as space as they’d had. Finally, they swapped out real eggs for fakes and gifted the doves with some long grass stalks for nesting. They were ecstatic.

Jill took pigeon home to foster with pigeons

Rats & other predators chew through wood that isn’t lined with hardware mesh & kill birds

Wood that isn’t lined with hardware mesh isn’t predator-proof

Working together to help the doves

Jill & Nath cut out interior dividers to give the badly crowded doves 3 times the room while they waited for rescue

Filthy nests of real eggs were replalced with clean nests of fake eggs

The safer, less crowded doves were thrilled with their gift of nesting materials

The Adopter

When I asked Karen to ask the horse rescue (and everybody) for help with the doves, she took my plea to heart. And she did ask and Dennis Barwick, founder of The Backstretch Equine Rescue said, Yes! Oh my goodness! What an INCREDIBLE life-saving, hope-inspiring difference saying yes to a rescue aviary makes! We were thrilled to have Dennis’ help and quickly started figuring out how we could, during this most challenging of times, work together to make a safe, happy new home for all these doves as quickly as possible. The first thought was to try and move their old aviary from its location in Gilroy to the Backstretch Ranch in Aromas and then fix it up there but ultimately that just couldn’t work. The structure, even if we could have moved it, just wasn’t salvageable. So then we had to quick figure out an emergency interim solution.

Rescue Day

On April 15th, Palomacy volunteers Jill and Nath and I met in Gilroy to catch and transport all the birds to their new home. We caught everybody, triple checked that no one was over looked and then, all boxed and podded up, we headed for The Backstretch Ranch.

Jill catching doves on moving day

Nath & Jill & birds ready for transport

Doves on their way

The Backstretch folks had a temporary solution: a great big dog kennel (15′ long x 5′ wide x 6′ tall) set up right next to the ponies. The kennel provided a good, sturdy frame but needed to be carefully and completely wrapped in .5″ hardware mesh to be made safe. Caged birds attract rodents and predators and nothing keeps them safe- not guard dogs nor motion lights nor having what one considers a “predator free area” except for an inpenetrable enclosure. If the enclosure is safe, the birds inside are too. If not, they are not. I hope you never come outside to discover the carnage rats, racoons, raptors, etc. can create when birds aren’t safely enclosed. (Pro Tip: Chicken wire is completely worthless for keeping predators and rodents out. Stuff should be illegal!)

Dog kennel provides a sturdy frame …

… but the giant openings are unsafe. All kinds of predators – rats, raccoons, hawks, cats, etc. would pass or reach through and massacre the doves trapped inside.

So we got busy cutting .5″ 19 gauge hardware mesh from a 100′ x 6′ foot roll to fit the sides, top and bottom and attaching it tightly with lots of zip ties. We carefully overlapped all the corners and seams because any gap means the enclosure is no longer predator-proof.

Thanks to several hard-working volunteers from both The Backstretch and Palomacy, we had the doves’ temporary aviary secured and comfortable with nest boxes (made by Jill) and branches, a smooth barnmat floor and partial siding and roofing for shade, privacy and protection from the elements together in a few hours.

And then the best part. We got to move the doves in. They were pretty amazed at their new lifestyle upgrade!

This is all for us?!

It took the doves a few minutes to unclump…

Backstretch Rescue founders & dove adopters Dennis & Janeae

SUCH LUCKY, HAPPY DOVES!

Proud dove team: Janeae, Dennis, Jill & Nath

This is the doves’ emergency home. Next comes their forever aviary!

Fundraising campaign coming soon: Help us make the Backstretch Doves’ Educational Rescue Aviary dream come true!