The Jerseys of Late

Good day,

Just stopping in to talk about the Jersey Pigeons that so many have taken a fondness to.

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of good to tell you at the moment.

For starts, Jersey One, has been MIA for about 2 weeks now.

I'm hoping he's just off with another part of the folk somewhere in the area.  I can't say Jersey One is my favorite of the pair but he is the kinder one, spending more time with me during visits, hanging out on my hand.

As for Jersey Two, well, he's at Toronto Wildlife.  He's been there since April 21st.

About a month ago I was feeding them and I noticed that wet look about him.  He smelled pretty bad too.  I couldn't quite nail it but it's something like old vegetable oil.  I can only wonder what he got himself into.

I made contact with TWC regarding him.  It was advised that if I could catch him, to bring him in (with advance notice of course) and they would most likely be able to clean him up.  It took a while to do this because either his timing was off, not arriving until too close to work time, or he got away from one of my few failed attempts; and with Angie's broken foot troubles we had been to a number of doctor appointments through the weeks and I've not been around or too consumed with my own life.

The fact he was still able to fly well and in every other way was a perfectly healthy Pigeon, I wasn't overly concerned.  I knew in time I would be able to get him.

Actually, the story of my grabbing him is kind of funny.  Believe it or not I had the assistance of Pierre.  That Friday morning Pierre is waiting outside the back door.  In comes Jersey Two.  The day before we had a really cool rainy day and I knew my bird pals were quite hungry.  Jersey had no patience on waiting for Pierre (King Bird) to finish up and he flew to my left forearm...  Pierre is feeding from my left hand.  The birds got into quite the coo coo cooing argument right there and next thing I know they are getting aggressive with each other.  They are biting at each other and wings are flapping, whacking each other.  I knew with his distraction to the fray, that this was my chance.  A quick grab with my right hand and I had him in that bander's grip I mentioned in my Pierre and TWC blog a couple months ago.  Jersey Two quickly submitted, probably very confused to what was going on, why his human friend was doing this to him.

It was a bit of a wait before we hit the road to the centre.  I wanted to wait for morning rush hour to die off.  I figured no sense in us sitting in traffic, crawling the roads; better off to keep him in a dark quiet spot at home until it was time to leave and have half the drive time.

He was a little restless during the drive.  I spoke softly to him.  I don't think it had the same effect with him as it did with Pierre.  This bird has only befriended me in the last 7 months; it's going on 5 years with Pierre.  But overall he was pretty good about the confined road trip.

I dropped him off and now it's a matter of waiting, hoping he comes home sooner than later.

And I've got just as much hope that his side kick comes back too...  sooner than later.

They've been such a joy to have around as you can see.

That's the thing with wildlife, we don't always know what happens to them.  I know someone else out there is befriending them, probably getting the ball rolling on these birds having trust in people.  It's funny when new birds fly in and jump right on me, being like "what up dude?"  I love them all but no way they can sense it just like that now.

Please wish the best for both of them.

Little Bits B4 the Long Weekend

Good day! Is it just me or is this one blazing hot summer in Ontario? Apparently not as this has been floating around social media...

Where I work, the building (warehouse) has no A/C and with all the propane forklifts driving around, plus all the machinery making our products, it's almost unbearable and exhausting some days the last number of weeks. When the work day is done, I don't want to do anything, even sitting in the A/C house and blogging. As much as I have wanted to be lazy, a lot of the time I am not, and cannot.

The Skunk hunt continues although I've decided to not put the trap out until I really start seeing him again, and not just a tail fleeing the yard in the dark. That blog is here. I've caught a number of other birds and animals in the trap. The most "interesting" to extract has been the Opossum. A big creature who barely fit in the trap but did manage to squeeze himself in for the ice cream. Ice cream?!?! Yes, I figure if the Skunk had a hankering for a McFlurry, then baiting him with some ice cream seemed like a good idea. But the 'Possum got to it first.

When I opened the trap, the 'Possum didn't do a thing. I thought perhaps he was stuck and needed some help. I was not about to try and pull him out with my bare hands though, even by his tail. I held the trap above ground, with the opening facing the ground. I shook the trap for a number of minutes before he finally started to slide out... very slowly. It was like trying to get thick ketchup out of the bottle. Finally his weight pulled him out with my shaking. No lie, the animal dropped at my feet. He lay there on top of my feet, looking up at me, for at least a minute before he finally scurried off for safety under the shed.

The Raccoons are having a blast with the trap because they know some good food is within. Momma knows how to get the grub out without getting trapped. The kids love to monkey with the trap, push it around, trigger it and even risk going in, getting trapped, just so they can have the food. I've released them and they quickly run off to a waiting mother nearby.

Nothing but trouble these young'uns are but we love them and they add to our summer.

The other morning I found one stuck in our garbage bin. They are at that age where they are exploring the 'hood and quickly learn good things to snack on can be found in the bins. We rinse our containers and we separate our trash but they still go in on occasion. Lucky for him it was me who found him! He was also lucky to be inside here while we experienced one very intense long lasting thunderstorm. It may have been hot in there but at least he stayed safe and dry.

He sure was happy to get out! To do this, I slowly and gently lower the bin on it's side, and I back away, letting him come out on his own.

I watched him race off home, which is at the very back of our property.

Mom was waiting for him.

I wonder what our furry neighbours think of me? They see me daily, early morning and after dark. I say nothing to them, just do what I'm doing, which is often sitting quiet and still. I make use of sitting by the shed, and set up a little barrier with a cinder block. They come around the corner and look at me. The block seems to be a border and they feel safe with it there, separating us. Of course I see photo ops with this.

No wonder people post Raccoon things on my Facebook wall, eh?

I've been keeping busy with Toronto Wildlife this summer but that's for another blog.

And I guess the biggest news of late is our pal Pierre the Pigeon celebrated his 4 year anniversary of coming to visit us on July 21st. I know not everyone is big on Pigeons, often calling them flying rats or even worse. But come on, this bird deserves some love and respect. He is a survivor! How many of his flock I have seen become Hawk food, get carried off by some free roaming cat or just not come back for one reason or another (none of them good). Sure he gets a good meal from me but other than that, there's nothing else I can do for him, I can't protect him from all the danger out there with predators, Pigeon haters, sickness and so on.

Pierre July 2016

The first day we met back in July 2012

A bitter cold winter day where it was in the -30's with the wind chill

I made this on his 2 year anniversary with us

A birding bud whom we've not yet met created this.  Thanks Jeff, still makes me laugh!

Thanks for stopping in, thanks for not giving up on me and my blog! Have a great long weekend, if you have one. Cheers!

I posted this on social media not too long ago, and I guess it is good for here too.

He's Back!

24 long days away, that's the longest he's ever been gone. But now he's back.

Who?

Pierre!!!!!

I don't think I need to explain who he is but I may attach a link to one of my other blogs about him for anyone new discovering my scribes about life with the animals.

I've been watching out for Pierre every day, scanning any Pigeon flocks that have dropped in. And believe me, there have been some huge numbers of birds coming in. My hope faded as the days passed. Such a long time away. So many Hawk strikes. Pierre is not a young bird anymore. In 4 days, providing he continues to return, he will hit the 42 month mark (3.5 years). And the fact he flew in here that first day, then literally walking into our lives, means he was a flighted and accustomed to humans kind of bird, maybe some months old, maybe a year already? He wasn't born here, cracking out of some egg and started out day one of his existence with us. According to statistics, Pigeons live 3 to 5 years in the wild. He's definitely on the higher end of time on this Earth. In around 4 years or more anyway.

But let's get back to yesterday, January 12, 2016.

I was home for the day, fighting a cold. I find it hard to sit still even in unwell moments. We just got over a slight snow storm, I had shoveled outside, both the front walk and a few spots in the back for the birds and critters. I put out a sheet of plywood where I drop all the cracked corn for the Pigeons. It's easier to clean off of snow than a spot on the ground. Corn pile set up, I go back inside. Shortly after the Pigeons start dropping in by the dozens. I'm looking. My eyes go bug eyed as I am almost certain I spot my boy in the mix. It's not easy to find one common looking bluish Pigeon in a flock of 30+ as they feed, heads bobbing up and down, birds shoving and pushing each other. Pierre has a distinct white mark on his right cheek that I always look out for even as small as it is.

I'm still dressed so it was only a matter of putting my coat and boots on. I step outside, trying to find him in the bunch. He pops his head up, sees me and I put my hand out to him. Pierre takes immediate flight and comes right to me. I'm talking to him, beyond thrilled to see him and things like "Holy *expletive* Pierre, where have you been? I've missed you!" I don't have any food for him, I was too excited about the possibility of seeing him and I left it inside. I said "come on, let's get you some food" and I turned to walk back to the house, with him still on my hand. Pierre takes flight and races me to the back door. He lands on his perch which is the post to the clothes line and waits for me.

Note, all photos are after we had our reunion and feeding because I left the camera inside. I wanted to see him, or if he was in the flock, and had no concern on getting photos, so the camera was the least of my concerns. But with the time we spent together, after a good feed and visit, I got the camera out and took a few shots.

I go inside and grab some of the good food which includes sunflower chips and peanut bits, all unsalted of course. Pierre comes for a feed. It didn't take long for some of the others to realize I've got the good stuff. I have a couple new hand feeders, much younger birds, and in they come. They push Pierre off my hand and try to feed. I push them off and call him back. Pierre comes right back to me. I pull him closer to my body and I turn us away from the flock and face the house. Pierre continues to eat. But young hungry birds are persistent and the others eventually have another go at trying to get the grub from me. A couple come in and once again knock Pierre off. I once again give them the "heave ho", I even stomp my foot this time and call Pierre in. The stomp spooks most of the birds and they flutter away from me. I don't know if Pierre knows his name, but he does watch me, and if nothing else, he probably knows my tone, and when I extend my hand out to him, it's feeding time. He immediately comes right back to me. We go through the same scenario a few more times. I felt bad being mean to some of the others but sorry, Pierre comes first, they can go eat the corn at the back.

After the feed and some belly rubs, he spent some time about the yard, wandering around, being all Pigeon like, strutting about.

While I am so happy to see my little feathered friend, I am sad too. I can see he's not the king bird in the bunch anymore. I noticed a significant loss in weight with him as he sat on my hand. I know I've kept him big and bulky with what I've fed him over the years and him not coming in for almost a month, plus prior visits have been less and less the last couple months (no thanks to them Hawks) have contributed to his loss in weight. In the bird kingdom, he's an old man now, and while he looks good, clean and healthy, he's not the dominant powerhouse he once was. The days of past, he wouldn't take shit from the others, he'd push them around and have his tantrums, cooing his head off, going in circles, chasing everyone.

Here is Pierre with Mickey. Notice the size difference? Yet yesterday Mickey pinged Pierre right off my hand like he was nothing.  This is an older photo.  Mickey is still about the same size, Pierre is still bigger but not quite as "full" as this.

I envision taking him in to live out his days, but that's only make believe. I can list half a dozen reasons as to why it would be wrong to do this. I don't think he'd be happy anyway. Would any wild and free creature like to suddenly be in confinements? It's like asking any human out there if they want to spend the rest of their life in prison.

I do hope we have many more visits in the coming days, weeks, months. I'd love one more summer with him out back. It was hilarious to watch him hog the bird bath. He and the missus would spend hours just sitting in the shallow water, not allowing any other bird in, and they'd preen each other, lift their wings towards the sun and just enjoy the dog days of summer safely in our backyard. We don't get Hawk activity in the warmer months.

Now let's try and not be sad about this blog with how it's ending. It is how life goes. Nothing lives forever. A lot of young Pigeons don't make it to adulthood. A lot of adult Pigeons don't live nearly as long as Pierre has. And most of them haven't had a blessed life like he has coming to me. Sure people feed them in the parks, usually bread or cheap dollar store crap seed. He's lived on peanuts and sunflower all his days with me and I've stuffed him to his heart's content every single time. He's got fresh water too if he wants, which is more difficult to find than food for any wild animal. And lastly he's got a friend in me. I always watch out for him while he's here, the best I can anyway. That's pretty awesome for a wild Pigeon, don't you think?

He does have a bit of a fan club. People about the world that know of him, the few who have met him, all root for him and continued good health. If only he knew...

Still one of my favorite shots of us.

He's a Pierre blog that may be a good starter for some.

Pigeon Pages Volume 1

For starts, happy 40th month to my pal Pierre! This week marked the mini-milestone.

We've had a few mornings together this week, even just before I started this blog he and the missus spent some quality time with me on this chilly November morning.

It seems his flock may have a new member as of this week, which is what this blog is about.

On Monday November 16th this bird made his first appearance to our backyard. I was scanning the back with my bins and he got my attention with how he was standing alone down by the shed, far from my regulars. Then as I zoomed in on him, I took notice to his leg bands.

#346

Guelph...  is that where he's from?

I know leg bands on a Pigeon aren't all that thrilling to most people, but I do find it interesting, just to know where the bird came from. He's not the first banded Pigeon to come visit us over the years. About 2 years ago one came in from Quebec and spent 3 days with us. That bird never mingled with my buds, just did his thing, grazing anywhere the others were not. He would spend most of the day with us and when dusk came, he would fly off in the opposite direction of my buds. I managed to make contact with his owner, just to say "hey, your bird is hanging out here in my Toronto backyard". The guy really wasn't interested. I found that odd. For me, I'd be very interested, especially since that one was almost 600 km from home.

So now we have this one. I once again tried to make contact with his owner through the CRPU and also through their Facebook page. That was on Monday, it is now Friday, and no one has gotten back to me. I am not going to pursue this any further.

I've watched this bird every morning this week. He's gone from a loner...

to slowly mingling with my flock, feeding with them, and after a couple days he was flying in and out with them.

Blending in with the bunch but I see those bands.

Here he is with some of the "Helmets".  There's a small group that come in with others, but these birds have white on their heads, some more than others and we call them that.

Pierre joins the party.  This is rare because my boy doesn't like to hang out in the open space at the back.  He knows there are threats of Hawks especially as the weather gets colder. Can you spot Pierre? Hint... he's obviously a stand out bird with me.

Trying to make friends with Ollie?  I know Ollie by those legs of his, plus he's a very vocal bird, always going on about something during feeds.

Classy artsy fartsy shot of him in a tree.

I've had some discussions with others via social media about him, and with a co-worker as well who has over 100 birds of his own. For many in these racing clubs, the birds who don't come home, who get lost can pretty much stay lost. They aren't doing their job as winning these races and are useless. I don't mean to offend anyone who is a part of these clubs and thinks differently than this but so far no one has spoken up otherwise. I'm not the only one who has ever tried to connect one of these birds with it's "owner" and come up confused, frustrated and thinking "WTF?" Maybe these clubs get tired of the people contacting them about stray birds (hence not getting back to me)? My co-worker had one of his disappear on him and flew back home almost 3 months later. Oh the stories that bird could tell!

If he decides to stay, he is welcome here, both from myself and my wild flock. He will have a good life with us all as my buds know how to survive even without me feeding them almost daily. Pierre's absences for up to 2 weeks is proof of that. The Helmets were MIA for almost 2 months recently. I finally saw Petey this week after nearly 3 weeks and he's been in every day so far.

Petey and I a couple weeks back...

Some of you love Pigeons. Some of you have grown to acknowledge and even admire them through me, thanks to Pierre. They are very cool birds if you take the time out to watch them, no two are alike. They are living beings who feel just like us. Pierre has taught me that. I recently shared a Facebook memory from 2009, I wasn't embarrassed about it either, it shows I have grown as a person, and my friends all got a chuckle out of it... I am so happy that none of those annoying Pigeons are present in the backyard this morning True story!

If you'd like a read about life away from the animals, check out Angie's latest blog here.

It's Friday! Have a great weekend!

Son of Pierre?

While celebrating Pierre's 3 year anniversary on Tuesday, spoiling him as I do, I took notice to a young Pigeon standing near us. He was watching the goings on, tilting his head from side to side, and really did have a look of curiosity about him. He was in a flock of about 8 or 10 birds, and even though he looked like many of the others being an overall dark bird and nothing unique about him physically, that look of wonder to him got my attention. I threw some corn down to him and the larger birds just pushed him aside in the feast. I made a few efforts to ensure he got some grub despite the bullying.

Next day, July 22 (for the record), I am outside with Pierre and the missus once again. They are enjoying breakfast at my hand. I suddenly feel a little nipping at my ankle. Then something tugging on my shoelace. I look down and without a doubt I know it's the same young bird.

He's now looking up at me.

He takes flight up to me, lands on the waist line of my shorts, trying to hang on there. He's flapping away like crazy, looking at me and finally lets go as this isn't a place to try and get comfortable. If he wanted my attention, he certainly got it now.

Moments later he takes flight again and now lands on my head.

Pierre isn't pleased about this and starts one of his tantrums. The missus continues to eat, cleaning up the last of the sunflower chips from my hand.

The young bird isn't quite sure what to do now.

Pierre gets aggressive and tries to chase off the bird. Food gets gobbled up and off goes the missus to the bird bath. Pierre decides to follow.

The young bird may have saw this as an opportunity and now went for my shoulder. He lands and looks me in the face. He vocalizes to me, nibbles at my nose, walks the length of my arm from shoulder to hand and back. He's still talking to me. Another walk to my hand, he nibbles on my finger tips. I break out some seed for him and he eats. I'm wondering why I don't have a camera on me for this.

I somehow get him to leave my arm and wait on a tree branch while I went inside... for a camera.

I return, put my hand out and he comes right to me. He begins the vocalizing once again, walking hand to shoulder and back. I feed him again, I take some photos and a video you can see here.

I'm wondering if he could be one of Pierre's kids? It is possible although I will never know for certain. I don't think the love of a parent sticks with a Pigeon once the kids are out flying with the flock. And definitely not with my boy. There are days where food is more important to him than his mate and he will kick her out of the way in an instant if he's exceptionally hungry.

A name for him will come at some point. I recon once Angie meets him. She likes to name them, and really I am out of names for my flock. It is too difficult to keep track with a few who look way too similar and usually I can only tell once they are on hand with me.

Say "hello" to ????

3 Years with Pierre

Happy Anniversary to Pierre!

3 years ago today he flew into our yard, walked the length of it, hopped up the deck steps and jumped into the laps of Angie and I while we enjoyed our first morning coffee.

We both looked at him, wondering what the heck was up with this bird. He spent the weekend with us out back, and even entertained us and friends during a backyard BBQ.

And who knew that this was going to turn into a unique friendship between him and I? I sure didn't. But over time, I knew he was special and he wasn't going away. We have a bond that goes beyond the food offerings in my hand. Anyone who has followed my blog over the years, or the countless photos on Facebook, knows this to be true.

The life of a Pigeon is tough. A good sized bird (good eating for a bird of prey) with little defense other than some great maneuverability in flight when speed is not enough. They really are dependent on us humans for survival. They find roosts in the structures we create and they eat what we discard. To many, the Pigeon is a pest bird and deserves to die in the talons of a Hawk or Falcon. Some who cannot wait for nature to take its course on the Pigeons do horrible things to rid of them from illegal shooting to poisoning. I remember years ago seeing someone walking through a downtown park and trying to kick the numerous Pigeons on the path. The man cursed loudly at the birds. No bird was hurt in that moment and the guy looked like a total idiot to others.

I can admit I was not a big fan of the birds back in the early days of backyard bird feeding. I didn't hate them. I would never hurt them. I was just annoyed at their backyard bird feeder etiquette. Over time I learned to live with the Pigeons, and changed how things were done out back... different feeders and different seeds. Feeders less accessible to these big birds (ones they cannot grab on to) and better quality bird seed not full of junk and filler (the cheapest stuff you can buy at a grocery store or Canadian Tire as an example are just full of crap the other birds will throw to the ground). I learned to accept them, live with them and over time enjoy them. Pierre certainly helped with that.

Pigeons are actually quite intellectual. They are very personable too. Of course having Pierre come right to my hand allows me to see them differently than most. As a few of his flock figured out what he and I had going on, I got know more of them as individuals too. All with their own personalities and relationships with other birds in the flock.

Pierre is the longest surviving bird in his flock, of the ones I recognize anyway. I plan to do a blog on the individuals over the years as a few are no longer with us. And I know the day will come when Pierre will be a bird of the past as well. I do my best to look out for him while he is visiting. He is very well fed as you can imagine. Coming to my hand, he does not have to fight for food with the others. I spoil him rotten. But I can't always protect him as he is a wild bird. He comes and goes as he chooses. He has many dangers in daily routines and even coming to our yard, the threat of a bird of a prey or some free roaming cat looms. Even if he avoids all such dangers in his life, eventually age will catch up with him. Nothing lives forever.

I enjoy every visit we have together. From our personal feeding moments to just watching him as he hangs around our property, mingling with the other Pigeons and acting like a bunch of people at a social. I find peace the days he chooses to nap in our trees or on lawn. I laugh when he enjoys the bird bath just a little too much, spending lengthy amounts of time splashing about.

Watching him and his girl "the missus" over the kitchen roof, enjoying the warm sun on the roof shingles.

He's been around days when I needed him just to be with me, as time with animals is great therapy. Not that there is any short supply of animals inside or outside of our home but he is one of the special ones.

I pride myself on knowing how much of a positive impact I have had on him. I've made many of his days much easier, never going hungry, and ensuring he is stuffed to the eyeballs on the coldest of days even as it feels my fingers are going to fall off from the chill.

Not everyone has been fortunate enough to meet Pierre while visiting us. For those who have been *blessed*, he does leave them with a changing moment in their life. I guess the most stand out story of this is the Global news reporter Laura Zilke who came here in January 2014 to do a story on helping the birds through a harsh winter. I will attach the blog link here. But a long story short, after Pierre arrived near the end of the Global peeps time here, and he landed in her hand for a feeding... Laura thanked me for the amazing opportunity, saying how they do so many terrible stories day in, day out of tragedies, this was special, uplifting and something she would not forget. Over a year later there is still a little chit chat regarding Pierre between Laura and I on Twitter.

I can go on and on about Pierre. A lot of stuff that I have said in other blogs.

I will end this with "Happy Anniversary Pierre! Let's have another great year together!"

A couple video links from this summer. Tantrum video. Just us video.

Pierre turns 30!

This past weekend Pierre celebrated another milestone with us... 30 months of coming to visit. Two and a half years! Why do I mark these things? I think it's pretty cool to know how long some of our unique backyard buds have been with us.

But the day before his special day, he came pretty close to not seeing the next.

Friday I was out back before work. A cold January day, the birds were hungry and coming in like crazy for some grub. The hand feeders were all squabbling to get at me for some finer dining including shelled peanut bits and sunflower chips instead of the cracked corn on the old bench. Lately the Pigeons have been stealth like due to the Hawk visitors. But without a sighting in a few weeks, I guess everyone has relaxed. Lots of commotion for many minutes when suddenly a Blue Jay let out an alarm call, and all the birds jetted off in various directions. Smaller birds took cover in the conifers and discarded Christmas trees, the Pigeons separated into smaller groups going in various directions. My focus was on Pierre since he just left my hand. He and 7 or 8 others went straight out through the back, making a turn north/west before doing a circle and heading south/east to their suspected roost. But as they went down to the back of the yard, a Cooper's Hawk was rocketing in, coming from the east, which put them all in his sights. The whole ordeal took mere seconds but felt a lot longer as I stood and watched, unable to do anything.

It was something to witness as the Hawk was almost on my Pigeon buds, close enough that the talons were out and about to grab one of them. At this point I could not tell who was in tow with the bunch but the last Pigeon narrowly escaped being lunch for this accipiter.

And honestly, I don't know what I would have done if the Hawk brought one down right there in front of me. I may have acted out in upset fearing it was Pierre. Normally I wouldn't, the Hawk worked for his meal, the other creature is dead or better off at this point, and I let nature take it's course. Let's leave it up to wonder and mystery, and hope it doesn't happen.

I had to leave for work and knew that would be it for the day with my buds coming in.

Saturday comes, it's Pierre's special day and I really did not expect to see him after that near miss. But early afternoon there he was with his flock.

Pierre always stands out.

They all got a good feed from Angie and I. She even had some one on one with Pierre; not surprising but with her work hours, she doesn't see Pierre nearly as often as I do. I'm only seeing him 2 or 3 times a week this winter which I figure is due to the Hawks.

By March the Hawk visits fade out for the most part, Cooper's and Sharp-shins go nesting wherever (not around here it seems). The Red-tails still remain along the rail line which Pierre and the gang must cross to get to us. But I expect more frequency with his visits again.

I'm already looking ahead to the 3 year anniversary in July.

This year I am even marking the visits from Pierre on the calendar. He's older now. I can see it. He may be wiser and physically larger than many of the others but his spunk isn't there like it once was. He takes some good shit kickings from the younger birds. I always look out for him though. Whenever he comes to visit, he gets special treatment. I ensure he has a good peaceful meal, hand feeding him and keeping him close to my body... the others won't dare try and knock him off from this position. None of them have that level of comfort with me like he does.

I'm not all doom and gloom about this with tracking his visits. It's a reality that one day he won't be here with us. A few times I really thought he was gone with his lengthy absences, sometimes gone for more days than ever before. So I embrace our visits. I have no idea how old he is. 30 months plus ???

Some of you may enjoy this blog while others may roll their eyes. He's got as many fans as he does who don't care for him and his kind. Funny how at times it's just so out of the blue for someone to come and ask about him, people I don't expect this from, co-workers or acquaintances, heck even a stranger one day at the nearby Tim Horton's who recognized me from that Global News piece last winter all asking how he is, if he's still coming around. Then the haters chime in at other times constantly warning me about Pigeons carrying many diseases, jokes about bird flu, I am probably hated by neighbours and these birds aren't nothing more than pests and better off in the clutches of a bird of prey. It's the same old crap and I just ignore them now because obviously their attitudes will never change. I just joke that they are jealous that they can't make friends with animals.

Well a bunch of them just flew in. I think it's time to end this blog.

Cheers!

Here's a few fun phone photos from the last while...

Meadow likes Pierre when he's not on me, taking my attention.

We sure have our moments.  And through that window in the back, the lady next door is highly entertained.  She thinks Pierre is a real character and even took him for a walk about her property one morning.

Pierre embraces our encounters as well.