A Blooming Hill Vineyard

What to do about Wilbur.  This is on my mind every time I lift my head from my computer and look out of the window into Wilbur’s aviary and beyond.  The dilemma is that Wilbur can fly perfectly, now, and we feel like we should let him go.  He sits on the little perch Jim built for him and surveys the bit of world he sees, which is pretty big, probably, from a pigeon’s perspective.  Sometimes he sleeps, all puffed up.  Sometimes his sits on the branch perch across the corner of the aviary.  This actually thrilled me when he started to do it because I knew it meant he had his balance back.  It was a couple of months before he ventured up there. 

He definitely knows his name and, gradually, has decided to stay closer to me when I feed him every morning,  He used to sit at one end and wait for me to put the seed on his ledge, back off and call his name.  Then he would fly over.  Now he flies over immediately and stands there while I pile in the sunflower seeds, his favorite.  We tried grapes when Jim was dropping fruit last year but he didn’t seem all that interested.  Hmmmm.  A teetotaler pigeon?

I worry that he’s lonely although he does have visitors  during the day – some good, some bad.  The good ones are the little sparrows and small robins that fly into the aviary to nibble the seeds he leaves behind then fly out until the next meal.  He seems to really like the beautiful blue jays that land in the Magnolia Tree and then come over to eat spilled seed on the deck floor just outside of his aviary.  He looks at them, cocks his head, seems almost ready to coo at them.

Hawks are a different story and there are a couple that have stalked him.  I haven’t seem them in a while so maybe it would really be safe to let him out.  Still…I don’t know.   Where will he go?  There aren’t any other pigeons around here so we’ve talked about taking him to the racetrack next time we go out to see the horse training there.  Many pigeons live there and I’ve seen several with red feet, the sign that they are not native to Oregon, so maybe he can make it.  But, what if he’s not accepted in the existing groups?   I’m hoping he will head back to our barn where he had taken up residence when he first flew in.  He would stroll around in the arena, in and out of the horses legs.  All was well until Trouble decided Wilbur would be a nice lunch.  Has Trouble learned that Wilbur is not a meal?  Trouble did learn that the cats just don’t want anything to do with him and he leaves them alone.  Not sure how the barn kitties, White Paws and Tiger Paws would treat him, though.   

The possible solution Jim thinks will work is to cut open a little flap near the top of the aviary and build another perch up there so Wilbur can fly in and out as he pleases.  Jim says he will do this but I notice he’s in no hurry either. 

It’s hard to see our little chicks leave the nest.  Maybe tomorrow.  Maybe not.  Not today.