When did you move in, Mr. Dove?
August 16, 2011 7:05 PM Subscribe
There's been a beautiful white dove hanging out in my yard for a week now. He can fly, and does not appear injured at all. Is there anything I should be doing for the guy?
I have no idea where this little guy came from. Last Wednesday, my neighbor came knocking on my door asking if the pure white dove was mine, since he knew we had chickens. It was just sitting at the bottom of his driveway. We initially thought it may have been injured, but then it flew across the street towards my driveway. It mostly hangs out in my fenced front yard, where I have left food for it, and nests on top of my chickens' enclosed pen. It flies up onto our house roof, and our neighbor's, as well.
We have mourning doves occasionally, but never a pure white dove with red feet. I thought maybe a wedding could have released them and he got lost? But, we're at least 2-3 miles inland from the wedding venues in our seaside city, and it was midweek. My husband thought he saw some roadkill up the street about when the guy showed up, maybe he/she had an injured partner that got hit?
Is there anything special I should be doing to make sure he's okay? Is this normal behavior? I don't mind taking care of him, he's separated from my chickens
I have no idea where this little guy came from. Last Wednesday, my neighbor came knocking on my door asking if the pure white dove was mine, since he knew we had chickens. It was just sitting at the bottom of his driveway. We initially thought it may have been injured, but then it flew across the street towards my driveway. It mostly hangs out in my fenced front yard, where I have left food for it, and nests on top of my chickens' enclosed pen. It flies up onto our house roof, and our neighbor's, as well.
We have mourning doves occasionally, but never a pure white dove with red feet. I thought maybe a wedding could have released them and he got lost? But, we're at least 2-3 miles inland from the wedding venues in our seaside city, and it was midweek. My husband thought he saw some roadkill up the street about when the guy showed up, maybe he/she had an injured partner that got hit?
Is there anything special I should be doing to make sure he's okay? Is this normal behavior? I don't mind taking care of him, he's separated from my chickens
Response by poster: Nope, nothing like that at all (first thing neighbor and I looked for). He's relatively tame, but will take off if we get within a foot of him.
posted by kpht at 7:22 PM on August 16, 2011
posted by kpht at 7:22 PM on August 16, 2011
Best answer: Shoot. That would have made things easy. Still, I think he's probably a release dove. That would mean he's not used to fending for himself in the wild and could use your help.
If you'd like him to stick around, you could buy some seed for him (at the pet store, bird-specific) and put out a bath and a bowl of grit (ground oyster shell) for him.
...or you could contact the ASPCA or animal control.
posted by likeso at 7:34 PM on August 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
If you'd like him to stick around, you could buy some seed for him (at the pet store, bird-specific) and put out a bath and a bowl of grit (ground oyster shell) for him.
...or you could contact the ASPCA or animal control.
posted by likeso at 7:34 PM on August 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Contact animal control; it's probably a "tame" dove, and it knows people are the source of food and friendship, so that's why he seems to be hanging around closer than usual. I've often heard stories of people who have had a tame bird escape, only to hear, days later, that it landed on a neighbor's shoulder or found a way into a neighbor's house once it finally decided it hated the sweet, sweet freedom. Animal control will have a way to catch it humanely and the facilities to care for it. Even if you've been feeding it, the bird probably isn't familiar with predators or other self-care things that humans usually take care of for caged birds.
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:42 PM on August 16, 2011
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:42 PM on August 16, 2011
Yeah, meant to add "aviary" to that... I assume you have chicken wire? ;)
Predator ignorance is fatal.
posted by likeso at 7:49 PM on August 16, 2011
Predator ignorance is fatal.
posted by likeso at 7:49 PM on August 16, 2011
Response by poster: Yeah, I was thinking that. Despite being an urban area, we only have one animal control guy, and he doesn't work full-time hours. I don't mind keeping the little guy, but I want him to go back to an owner if he has one that can be found (no signs or postings anywhere that I could find), or at the least be the safest he can be.
(We have seed set out for him, a pan of water, and I actually already have grit from when my chickens were wee).
posted by kpht at 7:49 PM on August 16, 2011
(We have seed set out for him, a pan of water, and I actually already have grit from when my chickens were wee).
posted by kpht at 7:49 PM on August 16, 2011
kpht, you rock.
In some places (they do it where I live) to save on shelter accommodations you can report a found animal while still keeping them. Animal control comes out, takes down particulars, scans for chips (in cats & dogs), takes pictures, puts a description up on their website. If they aren't claimed within a certain amount of time, the animal is yours. Maybe this?
posted by likeso at 7:56 PM on August 16, 2011
In some places (they do it where I live) to save on shelter accommodations you can report a found animal while still keeping them. Animal control comes out, takes down particulars, scans for chips (in cats & dogs), takes pictures, puts a description up on their website. If they aren't claimed within a certain amount of time, the animal is yours. Maybe this?
posted by likeso at 7:56 PM on August 16, 2011
Response by poster: update: got a bigass cage, caught him after 2 weeks of him hanging around, he's an inside pet now and he seems reasonably happy. the DPW was by digging up our street the other day and mentioned a cat would likely get him, so we made it top priority to make him safe (and impending hurricane irene). no one's missing a dove, the only thing i can think of is asshole tourist wedding dove release. although now i want another to make a pair... his name is whitey and my toddler calls him "my friend."
posted by kpht at 8:38 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by kpht at 8:38 PM on August 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
I once had a ringed dove in my backyard. I called animal control, guy came out, handily caught the dove, gave him a quick once-over (was a bit thin) and saw to it that the owner (whose info was on the ring) was reunited with his dove. Dove had been released in a race flight far away weeks ago but had been blown off course in a storm. (He didn't win the race.)
posted by likeso at 7:18 PM on August 16, 2011