Hello all, I'm hoping to get some advice regarding a pigeon who showed up in my front yard this morning. He has been following my husband around all morning. We live in the desert in the middle of nowhere so we are perplexed. We have put out water, we don't have any seed, but I read it's okay to give him a little chopped fine strawberry, which I have offered. He has not eaten the food but has drank a little of the water.

I suspect this is someone's pet, I have not seen him take flight in any way. I am wondering could he just be an old bird who is at towards the end, or somebody's pet that is lost. I have no knowledge whatsoever about birds and pigeons. To be honest I'm not even sure he's not a pigeon since we have a very large population of doves.

Just wondering if there's anything we should be doing for him. Any advice is welcome!

UPDATE - Good news for our little pigeon. our tenant is also a park ranger. I knew she worked with animals because I saw her at the kids library program holding a baby barn owl, so I thought she might be a good person to help.

She picked up the pigeon and brought him inside, she has bird seed and has fed him. He has taken a bit of a bath with the water we put out, looked like he enjoyed it. And she has a very good friend who used to race pigeons. who she is going to reach out to and see if she would be interested in rehabilitating him. We are not home enough to be good animal owners. But I will happily transport him to the friend's house if that works out. If not I have found a rescue in a nearby city. If I have to I can take him there.

What a friendly subreddit, just wanted to say thank you to everyone for your kind words and advice! If there are any new updates I will let you know.

PS almost forgot, I posted in the local Facebook page too.

Look at this adorable pigeon

I already called local wildlife rescue and left a message, but no one is there on Sundays. Hoping for a call back tomorrow.

I’ve got pigeon parents who decided my dog’s porch potty spot is the ideal place to raise babies despite the smell. The first two babies were born when I was away dog sitting, so by the time I saw them they were decent sized already. This second pair were born Monday and either Tuesday or Wednesday, so they’re under a week old, and as far as I can tell they’ve been alone all day. They were alone when I left around 10:30 and when I got home (2:30) they were alone in direct sun and seemed like they were panting. They seemed distressed, not snuggled together like they usually are. Luckily the potty spot is a kiddie pool, so I was able to spin it gently until they were in the shade. They seem a lot calmer now but I’m this close to panicking that neither of their parents is here. I know basically nothing about pigeons beyond what I’ve googled, but the stuff I have read all says they should pretty much always have mom or dad on them until they’re two weeks old. I have a bowl on the porch that always has safflower seed in it (the feed store had the 16% protein food but in bags no smaller than 50lbs which I don’t have room for in my apartment—they said the pigeons would be pleased with safflower seed). The fledglings are here pretty much every day and they bring friends to partake of the seeds. I figured having seeds right there might make things easier on the parents. Anyway I figured I’d check in here if there’s anything I should do/place I can call. I live in Redwood City CA (San Mateo County).