Penny the pigeon (as the came to call her...don't ask me why) has flown the coop. She did really well in the playpen, so I heard. I was out school shopping with a huge gang of kids. We got home at 8pm and I saw she was getting antsy. You can't release them at night because they can't see well, so decided to contact our contact person and see if a Thurs morning release was ok.
Drew told me that the contact called while I was shopping and they couldn't find a flyer near us. That perhaps we could go to a feed store and see if they knew anyone. 300 miles was way too far for them to drive for a wayward bird. I wasn't positive how much of a negative spin was Drew's or the contacts. I decided that Tom should call both the contact and the bird owner at 10pm. He got answering machines at both places.
I decided then and there that I'd wait ONE more day to hear from them and then we were going to attempt to release the bird on Friday morning...contact or no contact made. The bird was just getting too active for my liking. Besides, I was getting hit with allergies big time (bird dander is one of the WORSE allergens).
I freshed up the cage and the supplies Thursday morning. Penny was acting pretty cagey, trying to stay away from me, pacing around on the opposite side of the playpen, etc. There was no way we could wait more then one more day. This bird wants to go!
Thursday afternoon Olivia asked if she could peel back the sheet off the top of the playpen and look inside. I gave my ok, which maybe I shouldn't have. Penny immediately jumped onto the siderail of the playpen and then attempted to fly onto my kitchen fan lights. It wasn't pretty. I told the kids to open the doors, that mabye the bird would head to toward the fresh air instead of a wall or closed window. He ended up ontop of the back door but not out it. Then flew into the livingroom and was flapping against the front window screen. If I didn't do something he was going to get hurt. I gave Danielle to the nearest kid, caught the pigeon and went out the front door. I put him on the front porch railing and he immediately took flight.
He flew in 2 HUGE counter clockwise circles over our house and the lot across the street. On the second pass over the house he switched directions and started heading north/northeast. We haven't seen him since. I hope we did the right thing and he makes it back home soon (they can easily fly 300 miles a day).
The contact person called during the evening, he never got Tom's message last night. I told him what happened and he said good...hopefully he'll find his way home. He thanked me for taking care of it. I gave him my email addy and asked if he'd let me know if and when it arrives home. So hopefully in the next week I'll have an update.
Bye Penny! Fly home safely! You were an exciting addition to our family, even if it was for only a few short days. There'll be stories told about you for a long time.
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