by Backstory: Last week I found a hurt pigeon on the street. I brought down water and food, but he wasn’t moving so I put him in a box, took him upstairs and called New York City Pigeon Rescue. Because his leg appeared broken they told me to call the Wild Bird Fund. The Wild Bird Fund said they’d set his leg, but their hospital was full so I’d have to take him home afterwards. I panicked—feeding him was hard and I have two cats—but agreed. Part of me was glad, I was already attached to the little thing. But he turned out to also have a broken wing so they took him in order to manage his pain and food. I miss him, but I was especially glad to hear that they could manage his pain, poor little guy.
Last night they emailed me: Your little one is looking good. He is standing pretty well on the leg with the recent fracture of the femur. He’s also moving his wings pretty well. But I will not be testing the mend until more time has past. Though I refer to the bird as he, I do not know its sex as yet.
So I’m happy. It looks like he’s going to be okay, and will grow up to annoy New Yorkers who have a thing about pigeons (he’s only 14 weeks old I was told).
Yay!
I wonder how he got injured in the first place? Lucky little bird that you came by 🙂
I also wonder. I mean how on earth did he get hurt so badly??
Hi. Actually, this is a fledgling pigeon which is not completely grown and they often get hurt in the process of learning how to fly etc. It might have flown into a car or someone riding a bike might have hit it. That happens all the time now with these horrible bike lanes. I ride a bike myself and in some ways they’re good BUT people go TOO fast. If you even step ONE FOOT off the curb and forget to look, you can be killed. Anyway, mostly cars and bikes are what hurt the pigeons. By the way, I belong to the pigeon rescue group. Welcome.
Thank you! And thank you for rescuing pigeons.
That’s closer to 14 days old than 14 weeks. I’d estimate about 18 days old.
Ohmygod. I feel even better now about helping it!