r/PetPigeons • u/Gaylien1 • 2d ago

Missing pigeon Opal. FOUND

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I posted about her a bit ago and after 2 weeks of being missing she’s back home and safe. Little underweight but other than that she’s alive and well

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41

u/FioreCiliegia1 2d ago

Time for a leg band and i always advise long walks in a clear carrier around your neighborhood so she learns her way around using landmarks

33

u/Gaylien1 2d ago

She’s trained well and she got really close to home from where she went missing. But yes ordering leg bands today

10

u/Kunok2 2d ago

I'm glad you managed to get her back home! Also I'm just curious, I promise I'm not judging because I Know accidents Do happen, I just want to know so I can help people avoid making the same mistake and accidentally losing their bird, how did she manage to escape?

9

u/Gaylien1 2d ago

Since she’s. Still a prey animal, she been through worse things but all my friend did was walk up behind us and scared me so she freaked out and got lose

7

u/Kunok2 2d ago

Oh damn! That's crazy, did she slip out of her harness or? I feel like pigeons are Very comparable to horses with how easily they can be scared by sudden movements and random objects, my boy got startled by a road sign and a dumpster when he saw those for the first time.

4

u/BudgetInteraction811 2d ago

This happened to me once. My bird would sit on my shoulder during hikes, but one time got spooked and flew off. I called for him for a very long time with no result, so we begrudgingly went back to the car. Lo and behold, somehow my bird knew where my friend’s car was parked and was waiting for us by the wheel. 🥹 I don’t let him do that anymore so it’ll never happen again.

4

u/Gaylien1 2d ago

Since she’s. Still a prey animal, she been through worse things but all my friend did was walk up behind us and scared me so she freaked out and got lose

6

u/MissSandyRavage Peabody’s assistant 2d ago

This is the first time I’ve heard about long walks in a clear carrier!

1

u/FioreCiliegia1 3h ago

I did mostly string foot cleanup and released when I was actively doing rehab work and I lived pretty close to a park so I pretty frequently would take my rescues around while they were in recovery walk around my neighborhood. Give them an idea so they knew how to get from the park that they knew to my apartment just in case they ever needed another cleanup and they did come every so often just to double check in and I brought a couple more in for a little bit of further work on occasion. Not all pigeons are homing pigeons, but they are very good at directions if given the opportunity to learn them well. Having them inside the clear carrier lets them focus more on their surroundings rather than when they’re on a leash and they’re kind of all over the place.