March 28, 2023
by Elizabeth
Comments Off on Shelters’ Guide to Pigeon Rescuing & Rehoming DRAFT

Shelters’ Guide to Pigeon Rescuing & Rehoming DRAFT

Why can’t rescues rehome all the pigeons? We rescuers wish we could! We wish the size of the problem was manageable but it is not. The number of fanciers & hobbyists who breed, use & lose domestic pigeons far exceeds the rescue resources helping them. Most of these beautiful birds, when they get lost & hurt, die alone, unseen. Even together, we are helping only the tip of the iceberg, only the luckiest few who are rescued alive.

Domestic King pigeon fledglings at SFACC. Bred for meat (squab), sold live, “released” into an unsurvivable wild & lucky enough to be rescued alive.

Ten Tips for Shelters Rescuing & Rehoming Pigeons

This article focuses on domestic, unreleasable pigeons that need to be placed with adopters. (Releasable feral pigeons need pigeon-friendly rehab.)

Embrace that pigeons are adoptable and make amazing companions.
Learn why pigeons make such ideal companions indoors with family or outside in predator and rodent-proof aviaries.
Connect with a pigeon rescue expert for ongoing assistance. Palomacy will help you!
Discover your pigeon people by identifing the pigeon lovers (old & new!) within your staff, volunteers and community.
Learn rescue-based pigeon basics (rather than fanciers’): care requirements, how to identify ferals and domestics, inhumane practices, etc.
Set up your pigeon habitats including a cage in the lobby!
Promote and publicize pigeons for adoption (names, photos, bios, outreach events, etc.)!
Screen potential adopters to ensure safe, proper housing, avian vet care, no breeding (provide fake eggs!), no free-flying.
Connect adopters to a supportive pigeon rescue community such as the Palomacy Help Group.
Celebrate your wonderful selves for delivering compassion to all!

FAQs: Yes, pigeon pants are a thing! No, don’t try to trace sport bands; they’re designed to record winners, not recover the lost. No, pigeons won’t make you sick. Yes, pigeons are very smart!

1 & 2 Pigeons ARE Adoptable & Make Amazing Companions

When I first started helping shelter staff to rehome domestic pigeons, they did not believe they were adoptable. Thankfully that perception is changing. Now more and more people are aware of their plight and their potential. And Palomacy has 16 years of expertise with thousands of happy adopters and adoptees as proof.

Misperceptions vs. Reality

People mistakenly think pigeons need a lot of exercise, want to fly all over and be free. They don’t. Domestic pigeons cannot be safely free-flown (no domestic sky) and fortunately they don’t much miss it. Pigeons are ground foragers whose feet are more important than their wings for day to day quality of life. And they are low energy, couch potatoes who LOVE the easy life. They are masters of the leisure arts and love to lounge in the sunshine, soak in their bath, flirt with prospects (including shoes, vacuum cleaners, their reflections), nap on pillows, snuggle and watch movies, nest build and fegg (fake egg) sit, and just savor the good life. They are vegan granivores who love foraging for their seeds. And pigeons are safe and harmless. They are a much lower disease/injury risk than dogs or cats or rabbits. Pigeons are soft bills without the beak strength to bite hard nor do they chew up cords, furnishings, etc. Pigeons are very smart (though not in a show-off kind of way), have deeply felt emotions, are quiet, good natured and charming. If you don’t think pigeons are great companion animals, I respectfully suggest that you don’t know pigeons. Read adopters’ stories in our blog and their reviews to learn more.

3 Connect with a Pigeon RESCUE Expert

Pigeons have been bred and used by humans for thousands of years. They have a long history of being exploited and the vast majority of traditional care info available online and in books centers their usefulness over their well being so it is important to seek out a pigeon RESCUE expert. Pigeon racers, breeders, sellers, fanciers, etc. engage in a whole range of inhumane practices that are dangerous for the birds. (Learn more Pigeons’ Leg Bands: What Do They Mean?, Why “Dove Releases” Are Cruel, Violet’s Story: What’s Wrong With Rollers?) Pigeon rescue experts know that domestic pigeons should not be free-flown; should not be allowed to hatch chicks (way, way too many “surplus” pigeons to ethically breed!); should not be kept standing on wire; should not be crowded… Rescuers will provide predator and rodent-proof aviaries completely wrapped with hardware cloth (never chicken wire!) and house no more than 30 pigeons in a 16′ x 8′ x 8′ enclosure while hobbyists and breeders house more than 100 in that same space. (Palomacy advises 32 or more cubic feet per bird for aviary pigeons. Breeders recommend 8 to 10 cubic feet.) Make sure you have a pigeon-centric RESCUE expert to help navigate all the info out there. And connect with an avian vet. Pigeons are SUPER resilient and most issues are treatable (many with just cage rest, supportive feeding and antibiotics). Pigeons can thrive blind, one-winged, one-legged… they are brilliant adapters and always make the best of their circumstances. (Need proof? We have LOTS of documentation. See Prince’s Story: Baby, I’m a Star! for one example. #WeDontHaveToStartWithEuthanasia) And rescuers are happy to support your pigeon work! Join our Palomacy Help Group, call 415 851-5948, and/or contact Elizabeth@pigeonrescue.org or Jill@pigeonrescue.org with questions and for referrals.

4 Discover Your Pigeon People

While pigeons are often maligned and have been treated as livestock rather than pets, once you start asking around, you will be surprised to find out how many people actually really like pigeons (or fall in love when they meet them). If you want to place pigeons with adopters, you need to get pigeon-appreciating people involved.

As Pam of Oakland Animal Services told me, “Not every pigeon person starts out loving them. I was asked to help clean the aviary and hesitantly agreed. Little did I know how much I would fall in love with them and find their cooing so soothing. I started cleaning the aviary with my AirPods in listening to music. I stopped that very early on when I found how pleasant and soothing their coos were.”

So true! Most of our volunteers and adopters come to us with no prior interest whatsoever in pigeons! They are just stopping by our booth at an adoption fair or reaching out for help with an injured pigeon camped out on their porch & are blown away to discover how loveable they are! Involve every one in your pigeon project initially, even the skeptics, and you’ll discover some pigeon lovers who didn’t even know they were.

5 & 6 Pigeon Care Basics & Setting Up Habitats: How to Welcome Pigeons Into Your Life

Courtney & Ray

Pigeons do great indoors as family pets. They can also live outside in a predator & rodent-proof aviary but I would never make a single pigeon live outside alone. They are flock birds and to be outside alone is stressful and lonesome for a pigeon. A single pigeon living indoors adopts the people as flock members. (If a pigeon is going to be outside even temporarily, she must be in a predator-proof cage. Most birds cages are designed only to keep birds confined indoors and they are not predator-proof outside. To be predator-proof, the cage must be sturdily built, have very narrow spacing between bars and a raccoon-proof latch.) Please see How to Choose a Cage for Pigeons or Doves for detailed and important considerations regarding putting a bird in a cage and see How to Create an Aviary for Pigeons or Doves for the same regarding housing birds outside. Also check out How to DIY make a Safe, Easy Pigeon or Dove Aviary.

If we had our way, there would be no pet pigeons. They would all be wild and free, not captive. Palomacy doesn’t believe that birds should be domesticated, bred and used by people for any reason. But, because people do breed, use and lose domestic unreleasable pigeons, there are a great many in need of rescue and homes. This is for those birds and the compassionate people who save their lives through rescue and adoption. There’s lots, lots more to learn about pigeons and what amazing companions they can be. Keep reading and join us in our Help Group on Facebook. Thank you for being a friend to pigeons. They are angels among us.

RESCUED OR ADOPTED INDOOR PIGEONS NEED

an appropriate cage for their home base 36″ or more wide
a big mirror (pigeons self-recognize & enjoy mirrors )
fresh food and water daily (flat bottom ceramic dishes are best)
safe, daily out-of-cage time in the house for exercise & fun
a big flat-bottom casserole type dish for bathing
safe access to sunshine unfiltered by glass & avian-safe full spectrum lighting
inclusion in the family & company (yours or another pigeon)

Check out How to Care for a Rescued Pigeon & How to Choose a Good Cage for Pigeons or Doves

Janelle & Beep chat up Petey & Pineapple in their double-flight cage

RESCUED OR ADOPTED OUTDOOR PIGEONS NEED

a predator & rodent-proof aviary (they cannot live outside loose or in a cage) with a maximum hardware/mesh opening of .5″
a minimum aviary size of 4’ W x 6’ L x 6’ H (bigger is better, they can’t be let out safely)
other pigeons (single pigeons cannot be alone in an outdoor aviary)
a big mirror (pigeons self-recognize & enjoy mirrors )
nest boxes (one per couple) & nesting materials (e.g., pine needles)
fresh food and water daily (flat bottom ceramic dishes are best)
large flat-bottomed pan or dish for bathing

Check out How to Create an Aviary

& How to Make the Easiest, Safest DIY Aviary

OAS kennel aviary

Continue How to Welcome Pigeons Into Your Life

#1 Pro Tip: House Pigeons in Your Lobby!

The single best thing a shelter can do to get pigeons adopted is to house one or a pair in a cage in your lobby. We’ve heard all kinds of objections over the years- But the dogs will go crazy. It will be too hhectic for them. We don’t have room. They’ll have to see scary predators. And yet none of those are good reasons to exclude pigeons from the lobby. Here are the facts.

The birds will see and be seen by people! The pigeons need the promotion, appreciate the entertainment & will exhibit more of their natural behaviors in a lobby cage than they will in a back room kennel. Pigeons LOVE to be where the action is & the proximity will strengthen their bi-culturalness and adoptability.
The people will learn about domestic pigeons, become familiar with their need for rescue and adoption, their potential as companions, and enjoy their charming ways (flirting, snuggling, kissing, bathing, strutting, etc.)
The shelter will benefit from the exposure, word of mouth, the pigeons’ more natural behaviors, and the increased awareness that generates support and adoptions.

Check out: Great Big News Lobby Pigeons!

7 Promote and Publicize

Pigeons are super easy to photograph (they’re calm and regal and gorgeous) and with photos, names and bios, YOU CAN GET THEM ADOPTED! Sometimes shelters post a photo of a bunch of pigeons and don’t differentiate the individuals, the married couples, the old ones, the sassy… a pigeon expert friend can help you to make those distinctions and teach your team too. (It’s easy!) You can get plastic color snap on bands or use colored zip ties as anklets to keep track of which pigeon is which. And they are all individuals! Sit down (less threatening) and watch them for awhile to get to know who is who.

8 & 9 Screen Potential Adopters & Connect Them to Support

Successfully placing pigeons as companion animals requires adopters informed with & committed to up to date best practices for their care. No free-flying; no breeding; predator & rodent-proof aviary for outdoor living or a big cage with safe out time in the house; company (either a compatible pigeon or human BFF)… Palomacy is always happy to help assess before the adoption and to provide the ongoing coaching.

Palomacy Expectations for Dove & Pigeon Adopters

Housing. An appropriately sized, safe, predator and rodent-proof uncrowded cage (indoors) or aviary (outside) approved by Palomacy
Daily care. Fresh food, clean water, poop clean-up, checking for and replacing eggs
Companionship. Lots of time with you or another bird, not home alone all day. Supervised, safe, indoor out-of-cage time daily, unless living in an aviary.
Veterinary care. Exams and treatment from an avian veterinarian if sick or injured
No free flight. No uncaged time outdoors unless properly protected in a stroller, carrier, or harness
No breeding. Hatch prevention if your bird has a mate. Replace real eggs with fake.
No exploitation. No selling, sporting or business use of Palomacy birds
Forever home. Provide a safe and loving home under all circumstances (including illness or moving) and a pet-care plan in case something happens to you. If you feel you are unable to keep your bird, contact Palomacy first, with an offer to return the bird to us.

10 Celebrate!

You are helping to close a deadly gap in the animal welfare community. You are extending the reach of compassion. You are AMAZING!

BONUS: What’s the Difference Between Pigeons & Doves?

Pigeon and Dove – the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, and often incorrectly. Both comprise the order Columbiformes, with over 300 species. Rather than delve into the technical and scientific names, let’s focus on the domestic species that Palomacy primarily serves, why it’s important to distinguish them, and how they differ as pets. Depending on your location, you may see other members of the Columbidae family in your backyard – we’ll save these species for another post. Continue

BONUS BONUS: What’s the Difference Between Feral and Domestic Pigeons?

Feral flock with domestic visitor by Ingrid Taylar

Feral Pigeons: Self-reliant, Survival of the Fittest

Our world is full of pigeons! Most of us are familiar with the feral pigeons living wild and free in our cities and towns. Did you know they are super smart? That they flirt a lot but mate for life? That they can fly 60 miles per hour? They are completely harmless and much less a risk to our health than our own dogs and cats. They are beautiful neighbors and when they need help, the first option should be to rehab them and release back to their flock and life. If a feral pigeon proves unreleasable, they adjust very quickly to life in our homes or aviaries as companions. Blind, missing a wing or a foot, neurological- they all adjust and if provided with a good home, they love the soft life a lot more than they miss being free. (Pigeons are masters of the leisure arts!) If you’re not sure how to determine a pigeon’s releasability, get help from an expert!

Domestic Pigeons: Man-made, Dependent & Defenseless

Domestic pigeons are birds that humans have selectively inbred (for many hundreds of generations) for traits they want who are confined for use and ruined for wild living. There are more than 300 breeds of domestic pigeons- from the big, white king pigeons bred for meat (squab) to little white homer pigeons bred to used for “dove release”; fast, muscular pigeons bred to be cruely used for “racing”; small rollers and tumblers selectively inbred for seizure disorders that trigger somersaults in mid-flight; fancy exotics like fantails and trumpeters, pouters, owls, frillbacks, jacobins, capuchins, etc.etc. They can look all kinds of ways, come in all colors and rarely act tame (unless sick, weak or human-bonded). Due to their breeding, weird traits, lack of wild parenting and flock, they can’t survive like the ferals do.

Questions? Ideas? Suggested edits? Please email Elizabeth@pigeonrescue.org Thank you!

March 14, 2023
by Elizabeth
Comments Off on Listen to Your Birds (Avian Underemployment)

Listen to Your Birds (Avian Underemployment)

Mochi

Guest Post by Nicole Smith

Big king man Mochi self-rescued in my in-laws’ backyard. They found him hanging out with the songbirds, eating corn off the ground. Chris and I took him in, and he soon became a permanent family member. Less than a couple months later, lovely king squeaker hen Fuji self-rescued very assertively by landing on my horse while I was giving him a rinse. She came home and became pigeon family member number two. Eventually the two of them married. Mochi maintained his comfortable but suspicious attitude toward Chris and me, while Fuji grew into a confident bi-cultural citizen.

Fuji & I

Fuji & Mochi

A few new rescue pigeons and almost a year later, I posted the following on the Palomacy facebook help group:

Is it ever a good idea to split up a mated pair? My two beat each other up pretty dramatically today. (Editor’s note: While it can be very upsetting, the nicks shown on their ceres in the photos below are extremely minor. Fights can be much worse with scary looking injuries to the face, eyes and cere. These injuries are self-resolving- very quickly- and no cleaning nor antiseptic treatment is required.)

Here is the history: When they first started laying, they fought over the nest a lot and it was pretty ugly. The vet at the time advised me to remove the feggs early to keep the peace. After a while they seemed to calm down about it, but they would still have occasional scuffles (sometimes over the nest, sometimes not). They have been on a normal laying schedule for a while now and keep the feggs until they abandon them. They were scuffling this morning and I didn’t worry about it because I’m used to seeing it every once in a while. When I came home today, I found both birds pretty beat up. What would you guys do for this pair?

Other info: The male had a blood test to confirm sex. The female lays eggs. They have a very large cage (I have to get in it to clean it) and daily out of cage time.

Palomacy founder Elizabeth commented on my post with information about “UMPS” or Underemployed Male Pigeon Syndrome. When I told her I thought it might be my female that needed the extra attention, she encouraged me to trust what the birds are telling me. So I did!

A little over half a year later, I saw another person in the help group describing a similar situation with their pigeon pair and got to leave the following update:

I have a pair that sounds similar. They were fantastically sweet to each other for many months and then started fighting under similar circumstances. Hen would be on the feggs, male would come into view, and she’d run out and attack him pretty brutally. When this happens, they both get their ceres beat up and I have had to temporarily separate them because it’s too nasty for comfort. Separating them really stresses them out so I had to find a better solution. Elizabeth advised me on UMPS (UFPS in my case) and how to address it and now we have peace. She is one of my birds that is most bonded to me and one of my most curious, observant birds. If I don’t spend enough time with her, she will pick fights with her husbird over the feggs. She hates my hands and usually doesn’t want to be pet but loves sitting with me and I didn’t realize before how important this time is to her. I’ve learned that she is very clear and communicative about her needs and as long as I’m meeting them, there is total peace between her and her husbird. I got a little cat backpack for her, and she comes on trips and walks with me as part of her time with me and extra stimulation. Between the occasional cat backpack walk and making sure to spend time with her when she flies over towards me or is staring at me like this:

The problem has been resolved.

I also have one male that is a jerk to everyone if he doesn’t have enough playtime. He catches balled up socks and throws them around, is well entertained by hard-to-get nesting material, loves online shopping for red things, and is ALL about a good cat backpack walk. He is still a destructo-boy even with lots of play and stimulation, but I think the other birds enjoy when he’s spending most of his time beating up inanimate objects.

Listening to my birds how Elizabeth suggested has led to all kinds of positive changes that I would never have expected. I have learned not to underestimate their intelligence and emotional needs. No two birds are the same, and Fuji consistently blows me away with her ability to challenge my understanding of pigeons every day. When we are out on our walks and are passed by a stranger, she flies at them feet first with big wing flaps (in her backpack). Until my sister came with me on a walk, I figured she was getting startled and flying in the opposite direction. I never would have guessed she was darting bravely and fiercely toward the passing stranger. In our home, she is known to swoop at people other than me. After far too much time passing off her behavior as who-knows-what-she’s-doing, I have finally accepted that I have a guard pigeon.

I feel honored to have this bond with her and have come to realize that our bond is as important to her as it is to me. As much as it is important not to humanize our feather friends, it’s also important not to underestimate their capacity to need friendship, play, and love in ways that seem unexpected or even impossible. Fuji is a very clear communicator, but it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize.

UMPS has now been officially renamed “UPS” to include birds like my Fuji.

Here are some of Palomacy’s tips for the Underemployed Pigeon:

Palomacy is frequently contacted for pigeon marriage counseling assistance. One bird becomes very aggressive with another. This is something we see once in awhile. We call it Underemployed Pigeon Syndrome (UPS). Pigeons are flock birds and they have a lot of social energy, especially the males. In a flock, even though married pigeons are very devoted to one another, the males flirt with all the females and show off to, trash talk and challenge all the males. They are busy most of the day. Feral city pigeons have even more to do looking for food all day. But a lone male pigeon living as a companion in a home, either with his mate or just his people, will often get bored, frustrated and angry. It happens all the time! Fortunately there are ways to help.

We have seen great success breaking a bullying habit with time-outs though it can take many repetitions. (We sometimes use it to stop a persistent bully in an aviary too.) Implement this approach when you have the time to observe and interrupt the bullying consistently. When the aggressor attacks, say, [Name], NO and scoop them up and into a waiting pet carrier or crate. Leave them in for five minutes to start and then let them out. Watch and repeat. You can extend the timeouts to 30 minutes or even a couple of hours if needed. It will likely feel like it’s not working but stay with it and it nearly always does. (The longest I’ve had to keep this up for is a week.) Ultimately the aggressor makes the decision to stop attacking and, once they do, we’ve found that it holds. We have former bullies living peacefully beside their prior target safely. (I recognize that this is not a positive reinforcement training approach and welcome input on the subject. These next tips are positive.)

Giving the birds more enrichment is important. There are lots of good ideas out there for foraging (mostly designed for parrots but some will work or can be modified for pigeons). One approach we often recommend is using a big fake turf mat or a snuffle mat dog feeder as your pigeons’ food dish so that they have to forage for every piece. Be sure that you only use the old fashioned rubber fake turf (not the fancy looks & feels like grass cellophane kind) so that your birds don’t forage and ingest and become impacted with the fake grass. Use the same caution with snuffle mats or any fabric- no long fibered material as it can be preened and ingested and cause severe problems. Use only short fiber fabrics, think velvet or velour.

We highly recommend taking your pigeons for safe outings and it is especially valuable for underemployed pigeons! Even though they may only be riding in a pet carrier on an errand or in a stroller or bird back pack and not physically active, it really wears them out- mentally and emotionally – and gives the mate a break while they are away, too. Please always keep your pet pigeon safely secured. Riding on your shoulder or otherwise unenclosed is super dangerous for them.

Play fighting is wonderful for your underemployed pigeon! And it won’t make them more aggressive but rather the opposite. They need to burn that energy and play-fighting them with a puppet or sock on your hand or plush toy is great for them. (Short fibers only!) We also recommend creating a punching bag toy for your underemployed pigeon by hanging a plush toy where they can play fight anytime. (Use only a single strand of ribbon or string to hang it- NO LOOPS! Any loops in your pigeons’ area are a stranglulation risk.)

Male pigeons especially enjoy being able to show off in nice big mirrors and can burn off a lot of excess energy cooing and dancing at themselves. Move mirrors around so that he gets the fun of looking for and discovering them. While mirrors may or may not be good for some birds, they are great for pigeons (and they have been proven to self-recognize). Pigeons also appreciate watching videos, television (Sponge Bob is one of our adopted pigeon’s favorite), interacting via FaceTime or with two way pet cameras or monitors (especially helpful for when you’re away). If yours isn’t much impressed, try another channel or approach.

Palomacy also suggests putting out a variety of different types of nesting materials if you can (long pine needles, long grass, thin twigs, zip ties in different colors, paper shreds, etc. etc.) because they all seem to have their preferences and it’s fun to see them express theirs. In addition to different materials, you can also use different lengths with some being too short and others too long to give them the satisfaction of finding just the right stuff. Make them work for it. Put the nesting materials as far away from the nest as possible so that they spend lots of energy looking for and trundling it back to the nest. And don’t limit how much you put out. Some pigeons are very industrious and will build huge nests given the materials.

While many pigeons are very content to be masters of the leisure arts, some need to be busy to be happy. Listen to your birds. You’ll know the difference when you find what they need.

Amelio’s big nest

March 9, 2023
by Elizabeth
Comments Off on Freedom Thanks You, Craig!

Freedom Thanks You, Craig!

On February 25th, 2023, Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Adoptions applied for an emergency funding grant from bird-loving super-philanthropist Craig Newmark.

We wrote:

This grant will be used to advance Craig’s drive for pigeon positivity through Palomacy’s ongoing work rescuing hundreds of pigeons and doves; educating thousands of people about their plight and potential; and reducing the prospect of harm and cruelty for millions of birds. We are continuously building a broader-based, ever further-reaching, rapidly growing coo-mmunity of people helping people to help birds. This grant will be deposited immediately upon receipt as operating cash/seed funding for our brand new, independent 501(c)3 public charity. Our name, mission, and practices will be the same; administrative costs will be reduced, and the number of birds served will increase.

The next day we received a wonderful email saying, “Hey, Elizabeth, I want to share the news that Craig Newmark Philanthropies has approved a one-time gift of 25K, and the money is currently on its way to you. I’m excited to support Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Adoptions and look forward to seeing your projects come to fruition. While I have a sense of humor, I really do love birds, and try to help in a very modest way. Palomacy does a job I really appreciate.”

And with that, our beloved Palomacy has launched!

One could say that Craig Newmark is the wind beneath our wings!

Freedom

Hawk-struck, domestic King pigeon in trouble

The Bird

This King pigeon, bred for meat (squab), was most likely purchased from a live food market and then “set free” as part of a ceremony or a misguided “mercy release.” She is domestic, without a wild ancestor for hundreds of generations. She has no survival instincts and no safe place in the wild, but she is very smart. She knows that she’s in a bad situation. She has no access to any of the things that she needs: no protection from predators, no one to provide food and water, and no other pigeons to be with. She hangs out close to where she was released because she has no place to go, and even if she did, she isn’t a good flier. This photo was taken by a nice person, Virginia, who, in her backyard, saw her attacked and then dropped by a hawk that Virginia startled. She named her Freedom.

The Good Samaritan

Virginia’s message came into the Palomacy Help Line on March 2:

Yesterday I saw a hawk on the side of our house and it dropped this pigeon when I startled it. It does have some wounds on its back. We brought it inside for the night and gave it food and water. We called the local sanctuary. However, they won’t take it. I’m not sure if you have any contacts in the Modesto area that could nurture it back to health. We tried to release it and it just walk into the corner of our yard and didn’t fly away. We have brought it back inside for the evening. We left it outside for a bit to see if it would fly away but no luck.

The Rescuers

Palomacy Help Line volunteer Adrienne quickly responded, counseling Virginia to keep the pigeon indoors and asking assessment questions: Is the bird eating, drinking, and pooping? Active and alert? Is there a foul smell coming from the wounds? The answers were mixed with yes to eating, no to active, and no to smell. Fearing a potentially severe injury, Palomacy Care Director Jill coordinated with adopter and foster volunteer Pam in Manteca to receive the pigeon that night and transport her first thing in the morning (42 miles one way) to Medical Center for Birds. Freedom was examined, then her wounds were cleaned and treated. She’s now on antibiotics, pain medication, and treatment for a yeast infection. Freedom eluded the butcher, escaped a hawk, and defied the odds to get a chance to live. Her prognosis is cautiously optimistic and once discharged from the bird hospital, she will stay in Palomacy’s foster care until she is placed with a screened, trained, and approved adopter. Freedom is safe.

The Donors Who Make It All Possible

Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Adoptions rescues birds by the grace of our donors. We don’t charge for our services, though we do ask for donations because the services we provide aren’t free. We employ two (very) full-time staff to coordinate more than 100 highly effective, skilled volunteers to assist every step of the way as we save hundreds of birds and educate thousands of people every year. (See What Is All This Palomacy, Anyway?) Our vet bills alone average $8K a month. Palomacy bills will total about $250K this year—but that will only cover those expenses we pay for. Our work is largely subsidized by the incredible generosity of our volunteers who donate not only so much time and labor but who also cover the in-kind costs for everything from gas and tolls to foster-cage buying, aviary building, bird food, pigeon pants, and so much more.

Palomacy’s donors provide the foundation for everything we are able to do, for every plea we answer, and every life we help.

Freedom thanks you

In the past month, Palomacy urgently needed $18K to clear our 2022 revenue shortfall. Five extremely generous and fast-acting emergency donors ransomed us from our debt while our ongoing supporters covered about $17K for the current monthly expenses. Then our biggest donor, Craig Newmark, invested $25K in Palomacy’s future, allowing us to launch ourselves as an independent, nonprofit public charity.

Every day, we are challenged to help the birds and people who depend on us. We are able to be here, doing this wholesome work, thanks to you.

Freedom thanks you.

Thank you, Craig! (Creative credit to The Coalition of Women in Journalism)

See how Craig became Palomacy’s most generous donor: Craig & Eileen: Pro Pigeon!

March 2, 2023
by Elizabeth
Comments Off on Palomacy: Independent, Nonprofit Public Charity!

Palomacy: Independent, Nonprofit Public Charity!

Today, March 2nd, 2023, Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Adoptions is, after being fiscally sponsored for 15 years (three by Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue & twelve with Community Initiatives), now the independent nonprofit public charity that we have always aspired to be! THANK YOU FOR LIFTING US UP!

Kingpin by Adrienne Ruork

What’s New, Changing and Staying the Same with Palomacy Now?

What’s staying the same

Palomacy’s mission is unchanged and our passion for this work has only been strengthened by the progress we are seeing! Our purpose is saving lives by closing the deadly gap in the animal welfare community that for too long has endangered and abandoned domestic pigeons and doves. Palomacy provides advocacy, education, rescue, coaching, referrals, veterinary care, foster and forever homes. Our programmatic work isn’t changing. (See What Is All This Palomacy, Anyway?) Staying the same are our:

+ Purpose, people, programs and practices!

+ Website at www.PigeonRescue.org including all of our articles and stories (updates needed have been made)

+ GlobalGiving donor platform (all changes were made internally, no donor action required)

+ Our social media (@PigeonDiplomacy for Instagram and Twitter) and our Palomacy Help Group and Facebook Fan Page are the same

What’s changing

Our administrative processes have changed. We have spun off from being a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives (CI) and are now, as our own nonprofit, tax exempt public charity, taking over, with the professional support of virtual bookkeepping firm Good Steward Financial Company, the accounting, payroll, benefits, and tax reporting responsibilities CI had fulfilled. Checks and invoices can now be made out directly to Palomacy and sent to our same PO Box 24585, SF CA 94124.

+ Palomacy donations will no longer incur a 10% fiscal sponsorship fee

+ Palomacy’s recurring donors through FundRazr will need to restart their contributions here (please!)

+ If your estate plan makes a bequest to Palomacy, you’ll need to update it, removing Community Initiatives/CI from our name and switching to our EIN: #87-2836252, Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Adoptions

+ Employer matching plans need to be updated the same way, removing Community Initiatives/CI from our name and switched to our EIN: #87-2836252, Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Adoptions

What’s new

As an independent nonprofit, we are able utilize resources that we previously could not access through our fiscal sponsor’s status. For example, we:

+ Qualify for Facebook and Instagram fundraisers (no fees!)

+ Qualify for TechSoup, Google for Nonprofits, etc.

+ Qualify for nonprofit US Postal Services (thank you, Heather)

+ Can receive and send money as a PayPal Charity low fee account

+ Can receive and send money as a Venmo Charity low fee account (Venmo.com/PigeonDiplomacy)

+ Expand our range of potential grant and donor sources

+ And lot’s more. We’ll be updating you!

We did it!

Heihei by Adrienne Ruork

March 2, 2023
by Elizabeth
Comments Off on What Is All This Palomacy, Anyway?

What Is All This Palomacy, Anyway?

Adopter Erica & rescued King pigeon Basil (squab survivor)

Since you’re reading this, you probably know a little about Palomacy. Or maybe you know a lot. Or think you know a lot? To me, Palomacy is a big, gorgeous, many faceted gem which can be hard to conceptualize all at once with so many planes and angles. So I’m here to try and give you a tour of our shared jewel.

The deadly gap in animal welfare that allowed for domestic, unreleasable pigeons and doves to be bred, used, lost, hurt and killed (as if they were disposable) is what started all this in 2007. I didn’t mean to start a rescue but a bird needed help and I helped and then the next one needed help and the demand has grown exponentially ever since. These birds are SO help-able (easy, smart, quiet, domestic, hardy, charming) and yet most all the shelters, rescues, sanctuaries turned them away. We started accidentally and then became MickaCoo (within the warm nest of parrot rescue Mickaboo) and then we found our calling, our destiny, and became Palomacy. Palomacy is pigeon diplomacy. We knew these birds needed more than a rescue, they needed a movement.

Palomacy’s First Responders

More than 100 people reach out to Palomacy every day seeking help for a found bird or one who needs rescuing or with questions and concerns or stories about their own birds. It is inspiring and exhausting both. There is a huge demand for pigeon and dove rescue and adoption help (millions of domestics need rescue every year in the US alone) and so anyone who helps pigeons and doves is always overwhelmed with infinite pleas for help compounded by the dearth of resources. It IS getting better, though. There are SO many more shelters, sanctuaries and rescues helping pigeons and doves today than there were 16 years ago!

Palomacy Help Group

I call this facet: Palomacy Worldwide (distinct from our hands-on services provided only in the San Francisco Bay Area, Palomacy Local). The majority of inquiries come first to the Palomacy Help Group on Facebook, from everywhere, near and far. This is the fastest and best place to get help for a pigeon or dove. (Many people tell us they have joined or rejoined or stayed on Facebook because of our group.) It is an amazing, positive, thriving, and rapidly growing mutual aid community where everybirdy, as we call ourselves, from total newbies to bird nerds, through avian professionals and Palomacy experts convene to help each other help birds. We are averaging 5,000 posts and comments monthly & over 80,000 views (just on Facebook). And going up every month! Our Help Group, led and moderated by a team of 15 of Palomacy’s most knowledgeable volunteers (located all across the country), is focused and consistent with a strong culture of compassion for all and a commitment to Palomacy’s principles. We have lots of fun (and tears too) in our group but never at the expense of the birds; the birds’ needs are the priority. Becoming a Palomacy Help Group Mod requires exceptional communication and diplomatic skills and the exposure to every possible question, situation, resource, challenge, etc. serves as Palomacy’s University. Our Mods are amongst Palomacy’s hardest working and most impactful volunteers. They are a 24/7/365 lifeline for pigeons and doves and the people trying to help them. And, faced daily with so many at-risk birds, most of our Mods have themselves become major rescuers, supported only by Palomacy’s encouragement and experience, no funding. Only those caring for birds in the San Francisco Bay Area receive direct support from Palomacy’s foster homes, avian vet care and adoption services. This is something that needs to change. We need to raise enough funding to provide at least some support to these rescuers! All of the help we give- the going out late night to pick up an injured bird the caller is afraid to touch; the drop everything and drive however far to a good avian vet (and for some, pay out of pocket); the dining table medical fostering; the hours spent coaching and and and… all of it we do for free! (We fundraise for donations but no fees except $10/bird to adopters- the same fee we started with 16 years ago. It averages almost $1,000 per bird we take in to subsidize all that we are doing for everybirdy.

Palomacy Phone Line (415) 851-5948

Palomacy receives about 150 phone calls/voice mails per month and three of our expert Help Group Mod volunteers, Dion, Robin and Adrienne, respond every day to the callers from all across the country seeking help, info and referrals. They work hard to coach and connect and have close relations with many resources near and far. And our phone responders are daily arranging emergency rescues with other volunteers- or going themselves!

Palomacy Website: PigeonRescue.org

Our website is an always welcoming door to and stable home for hundreds of articles about pigeon and dove care; stories abour their rescues, triumphs and tragedies; for our foster birds’ and adopted birds’ bios; our applications and donation links, events and news and announcements and merch (shirts, stickers, mugs, calendars, strollers and more); for showing off our Top Rated GreatNonProfit badge (246 five star endorsements) and Top Ranked GlobalGiving medallion; for our videos and press links and free downloads and resource pages and social media feeds and newsletter archive and so, so many photos. Our website averages 1,600 pageviews a day for a total, so far, of 4,401,897 pigeon and dove-positive page views! We seek out guest blog posts and have amazing stories from all over. No monetization, no ads. It is a sturdy WordPress site designed and built nine years ago by one of our many super generous & talented volunteers, Shae. She set it up clean and clear so that I can update it and maintain it and add to it and modify it without tears. We get so many compliments about our site and lots of gratitude for the valuable content. Sometimes adopters-to-be find our site, build their aviary to meet our pigeon-friendly, predator and rodent-proof guidelines and then contact us and we are gifted with the joy of a turnkey aviary, safe and ready for birds to move in! This is a piece of Palomacy that is high impact for low cost with a ton more potential. It would be awesome if we had a webmaster to glow us up!

Palomacy People

Palomacy has two paid staff, myself as executive director and Jill Shepard as care director and together we lead and deploy our team of more than 100 amazing volunteers through out the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, from Half Moon Bay and Salinas in the south all the way through Sacramento and Roseville in the north. We respond to emergencies- late at night, in the rain, on holidays. We empower good Samaritans to become fosters and adopters; teach and coach and support and console* fosters and adopters and volunteers and shelter and sanctuary and rescue staff and vets. We provide medical foster care, supportive care and sometimes fospice care. (*Rescue work is traumatic.) We help coordinate outreach and humane education events large and small. We post post post on social media to help raise awareness, inspire compassion and plead for support- for foster homes and adopters and donations. (Our expenses in 2023 will be about $250K. Eighty-five percent of our funding comes from individual donors at an average of $60 per donation. We have to inspire nearly 4,000 acts of giving to cover our bare minimum expenses! People always ask, Where is your shelter located? We don’t have one. We wish we did! We all work and foster from our homes and backyard aviaries and, when we get really lucky, with a public-facing partner like the Ploughshares Nursery in Alameda. We use our own phones and computers, pay for our own Internet and gas and bridge tolls ($7+ per bridge to get anywhere and two toll trips are common!), bird food, supplies, etc. Palomacy pays all of our fostered birds’ vet care expenses (which range from $200 minimum to $1,800 to $4,000+ for anything requiring surgery) and we do our best to loan or build or secure cages and aviaries for our fosters but often, they pay. They buy pigeon pants and nest boxes and carriers or strollers for outings; they sometimes pay for bird-sitting or make a donation to Palomacy if a volunteer helps out if they’re away. Palomacy is doing and investing SO MUCH more than shows up in spreadsheets.

Palomacy volunteers are extraordinarily versatile and flexible and generous. Most everyone who volunteers with us serves in multiple capacities including fostering and transportation and outreach events and helping to aviary-build and emergency rescues and social media posts and writing guest blog posts and special projects and so much more. And donating on top of all that! (They even buy their own T shirts.) Palomacy people are the nicest people you’ll meet. The sublime charms of the columbiformes we care for temper us. They make us better than we were.

Special Roles

We have volunteers working hard in lots of special jobs too. We have a six member board chaired since 2014 by the multi-talented Clare (securer of our independent nonprofit public charity status) who took over after Cheryl, who having rescued a King pigeon named Dovee in 2009, built a big aviary, fostered and adopted and rescued and has tabled at countless outreach events, and helped with all of our annual and holiday events. Our exiting board treasurer Ellie has invested many hours in wrangling our accounts and guiding our operations. Faye first volunteered with Palomacy via our lobby pigeons at Humane Society of Silicon Valley and now handles our people database and annual appeal snail mailing list, as well as volunteers for rescue and aviary-building projects. Liese, also first engaged in Palomacy with our lobby pigeons, is our dove expert and guide among other things. Jiu produces our annual wall calendar and Heather produces every page of our 365 bird-a-day desk calendar and covers the cost of production and this year has been our one-person fulfillment center for both as well! Our bird database, Animal Shelter Manager (ASM), is now under the diligent care of Adrienne (who also answers the phone line and produces social media) and she took over after her predecessor Shae meticulously updated and polished hundreds of birds’ entries for three years. Jenna was recruited by very clever little self-rescuing doves named Killer and Friend and since then, she has built them an aviary, has built an aviary for pigeons and adopted 14, is our YouTube channelmaster and will soon take on the role of board treasurer. Patti was brought on board in 2014 by a big, beautiful self-rescuing pigeon named Sochi for whom she built a big, deluxe aviary and adopted a lot of friends also does a ton of outreach and delivers really compelling humane education at schools every year, rolling in with two, three and last I heard, four double-decker strollers filled with pigeon ambassadors!

Dion is, in addition to a phone line responder, our go-to for all the injured or too-early-fledged ferals we help along their way to wildlife rehab in the Bay Area. Christiana is our party mistress, maker of all the extraordinary magic from Flocktoberfest in 2017 through COO-CHELLA, Mascoorade, Pijama Party and Summer of Dove 2022. Our Ploughshares Foster Team volunteers each provide one day a week of luxury hotel level aviary cleaning and bird care of 28 rescued birds with never, not one, oops baby since they began in 2015. Can you even calculate how many real eggs successfully swapped for feggs that is? A modest guesstimate says 10 eggs per year times 12 female egg layers times eight years is about 1,000 oops babies not hatched! (Definitely the record holders within Palomacy!) Josette and Luis design, source and build aviaries, haul heavy stuff, and donate their beverage service at our annual events. Plus all of these people and the 85+ others I haven’t mentioned do lots and lots of stuff too! It really is extraordinary.

Palomacy Foster Volunteers

At any given time, there are approximately 40 sites around the Greater Bay Area fostering Palomacy’s 200ish adoptable pigeons and doves. These birds have found themselves, through no fault of their own, without anyone else to care for them and so they are at fatal risk. Our foster volunteers learn on the job, on the phone and text, in the Help Group, from each other and at outreach events but most of all, the birds teach them who they are and what they need. We have a lot of long term foster volunteers, people who have been with us for 10 or 12 years, caring for a couple of indoor birds or a backyard aviary or both. Our birds never time out and they live with proper long term care and conditions for as long as it takes to get adopted. We have one big handsome King pigeon named Zee who has ben fostered since 2014! And a beautiful racing survivor named Jade, married to Chloe, since 2015. And some birds go in to foster care and everybirdy soon realizes, Oh, this is home! And they are.

Palomacy’s Adopters

The first thing I was told when I started trying to help get a (doomed) domestic pigeon out of a (very nice) shelter was they are “unadoptable.” I submit to you that they are in fact exceptionally adoptable given adoption services. I’m just going to leave these photos here to make this point for me.

Palomacy Birds

Every single bird that Palomacy takes in to our care, to heal up, to foster, to adopt, to see through to a dignified and loving death if, despite everything, they don’t make it, are all recorded in the ASM platform. Every bird is named, photographed, their details entered and updated when they transfer to a different foster home or to their forever home and sometimes, when they return to us for additional support.

Our current caseload of foster birds

Palomacy’s Donors

We exist thanks to the kindness and generosity of our amazing donors. There are so many worthy causes and we are filled with gratitude when our humble rescue earns the support of a donor. Money is a funny thing. It doesn’t fit in very well with what we’re doing. Once, a venture capitalist I sat next to at a product testing, asked me how we could monetize our booming pigeon rescue. And that’s the thing: we can’t. Not really. The birds’ success has to be our profit and the funding relegated to just paying bills, nothing more lofty than that, I think. We do want to become self-sufficient, we do want to work from a place of modest abundance rather than scary scarcity. It is by the miracles of our donors who keep us aloft that we are still here with the opportunity to solve the puzzle of providing top notch care to little beings with no pockets. (Donate here.)

Palomacy Veterinary Partners

Disco Dr. Vanessa Hernandez

Over the years, we have worked with most all the avian vets in the region and we’re very lucky to have quite a few. Over time, despite their being 40 miles from most anywhere (and lots further for many of us), we have worked more and more closely with Dr. Brian Speer of Medical Center for Birds (MCFB) and his incredible team of five avian vets. I can’t imagine trying to do this work without them. Birds don’t give much notice when they’re going to be sick nor arrive in a box, mortally injured, hawk-struck or cat-caught. The MCFB team bends over backwards every day to fit our emergencies in, to deliver platinum card life-saving for our birds somehow within our never enough funds. And they do it so kindly! Truly, we are grateful to all vets for the really challenging work they do and we hold MCFB especially close in our hearts for all their support and encouragment.

Palomacy Shelter and Rescue Partners

I started doing this as a “Smalls” volunteer at the San Francisco Animal Care and Control where, as the open door shelter, they accepted stray domestic pigeons rescued off the streets but didn’t consider them adoptable. Together, over all these years, we have debunked that myth and proven that not only are unreleasable pigeons adoptable, they make exceptional companions for so many people who appreciate their droll wit, deep feels and lazy ways. We are thrilled that so many shelters and rescues and sanctuaries are becoming more and more equitable in their care for domestic pigeons and doves. The Oakland Animal Shelter and Peninsula Humane Society-SPCA have incorporated pigeon aviaries and outreach into their work and their adoption numbers are increasing. There are amazing wildlife rescues partnering with pigeon rescuers so that together, all pigeons and doves, feral and domestic, have a chance at help. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, WildCare successfully treats and rehabs hundreds of feral pigeons annually (averaging more than 600ish every year).

Palomacy’s Social Media Friends

You are helping to lift up pigeons and doves so powerfully! Your appreciation of their beauty, their wisdom and loyalty and resilience and just their being is having a PROFOUNDLY positive effect on their reputation. You are moving the needle from nuisance back to noble. I’ve been here doing this 16 years, long enough to see the progress we are making together. AND WE ARE MAKING PROGRESS.

More Facets

There are more facets to shine light on. This Palomacy thing is surprisingly big for how small we are! But for now, tonight, this examination will have to do.

Gratefully,

February 26, 2023
by Elizabeth
Comments Off on UV Lighting for Companion Birds

UV Lighting for Companion Birds

Guest Post by Jiu Z

Why do your indoor birds need special lighting?
Birds need access to direct, full-spectrum UV (ultraviolet) light to be happy and healthy. Ideally, they’d get this through safe, protected outdoor time straight from the natural sun for at least 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week (more is better). However, if your birds are only getting sunlight through glass windows or through mesh screens, they aren’t getting the full spectrum light they need—UV light can’t pass through glass. For these indoor birds, you can provide full-spectrum avian lighting.

What does full-spectrum UV lighting mean?
Natural sunlight is more than just the wavelength of light that we can see (called visible light). It also includes UVA- and UVB- wavelength light, and these are what our birds need. UVA is invisible to humans, but it’s an important part of avian vision and mental wellbeing. UVB light is crucial for vitamin D production, which birds need for bone health, immune systems, energy levels, and more.

Full-spectrum UV lighting aims to replicate what your bird would get from the natural sun. It’s important to note that not all “full-spectrum” light is equal! Many lights advertised as such don’t have adequate UVB output, or are otherwise unsafe.

Benefits of Proper Lighting for Birds
People who use avian-safe UV lighting have seen huge improvements in their birds’ mood, activity, and overall health. Some benefits are easily visible to us humans: higher energy, better feather quality, healthier eggs. Others may be more subtle to the naked eye, but no less important: stronger bones, more robust immune system, and greater mental wellbeing.

Lighting recommendations
Here are some options for avian lighting for 1-2 pigeons. Read on for information on correct usage of UV lighting and things to watch out for.

Top pick:
Cage size: 48″w x 32″h or smaller (Large and XL dog crates with shelves where the bird’s head is 6″ or less from the top of the cage)

Lamp kit with bulb: Arcadia Bird PureSun Mini

Bulb only: Puresun T5 Mini Bulb [Requires a T5 light fixture! If you don’t have one already, get the kit version]

Place 6-8″ from top of bird’s head. Replace every 9-12 months. More details about this light.

Note: If you can get at least 8″ of space from the top of the birds’ head to the top of the cage, use the Arcadia PureSun Midi recommended below.

Cage size: 64″w x 34″ h

Lamp kit with bulb: Arcadia Bird PureSun Midi

Bulb only: Arcadia Bird T5 Midi [Requires a T5 light fixture! If you don’t have one already, get the kit version]

Place 8-12″ from top of bird’s head. Replace every 9-12 months.

More details about this light.

Other cage setups and bird species:

I recommend contacting Arcadia Bird with your cage dimensions and the distance of your bird’s head from the top of the cage (at the highest perching spot) for a custom recommendation. https://www.arcadiabird.com/contact/

More information at the end about buying lamps and methodology for researching your own.

Placement
Light is strongest closest to the bulb and weaker the further away the bird is. It’s important to make sure the light is placed close enough for your bird to benefit, but not so close that it causes burns or irritation. Lighting should always be placed on top of the cage, never to the side. Putting the light on top prevents your bird from having to stare into the light and provides a gradient so that they can self-regulate when to move closer to or further from the light. Make sure that there are areas of shade in the cage (such as under shelves) so your bird isn’t forced to always be in the light.

Refer to the descriptions above for recommended distances. If the lamp you want to use isn’t listed, contact the manufacturer. If you are using a reflector, increase the distance by 3″. Distance is relative to the top of the bird’s head at their highest perching location.

Note: “Distance from top of bird’s head” isn’t just the distance from the shelf, you also need to account for the bird! If you don’t have enough distance, the mounting bracket included in the lighting kit may be able to add a couple inches.

How long the light should be on
Many have had success with 12-hour cycles: On 12 hours, off 12 hours. Make sure that the time the light is off is at least 12 hours so that your bird has enough time to rest. You can use a light timer or smart plug to avoid having to remember to manually turn it on and off every day.

What to watch for
Although uncommon, sometimes UV lighting has caused skin and eye irritation in parrots and reptiles. Watch for squinting, face rubbing, or redness of the skin around the eyes. If you notice any of these, discontinue use of the light.

When and why to replace your UV lighting
All UV bulbs have a limited lifespan; their UV output decreases over time until it’s no longer enough to give your birds the UV dose they need. For compact fluorescent lights such as the ZooMed Avian Sun, replace the bulb at least every 6 months. For linear fluorescent lights such as the Arcadia PureSun Midi, replace the bulb at least every 12 months.

Considerations when choosing a light
If you decide to do your own research on what light to use, here are some considerations to take into account. I highly recommend downloading and reading the PDFs on UV lighting needs by Laura Wade, DVM and the Psittacine Welfare Institute.

Psittacine Welfare Institute Lighting-UV.pdf

1 file(s) 2.80 MB

Download

Wade, Laura (2018 revised) UV lighting (1).pdf

1 file(s) 550.20 KB

Download

Bulb type: Choose either linear fluorescent or compact fluorescent. Avoid mercury vapor bulbs. While CFL bulbs are a more common light fixture, they also need to be replaced more often, have a less diffuse light gradient (quicker fall-off), and you still need to finagle the fixture so that the bulb is horizontal over the cage and at the correct height. IMO, you might as well just get the Arcadia linear fluorescent kits mentioned above.

UV output: This is tricky, as it can be difficult to verify manufacturer claims. If you can afford a UVB solarmeter, you can test the light yourself. In general, look for a light that has adequate UVB output and isn’t known to have a high amount of short-wavelength UVB output (can be dangerous). Be cautious of high UVB reptile lighting that may be excessive for birds.

CRI: The color rendering index refers to how closely the light approximates the colors of natural light. It should be a minimum of 91 for birds (some sources cite 88, but higher is better.)

Here are some other options on the market you can consider. You may want to check if your avian vet has a solarmeter and whether they advise for/against a specific bulb. If you can get access to a solarmeter, this also helps with knowing when a bulb needs replacing.

Currently, I don’t recommend experimenting with unknown brands. Good avian-safe bulbs are difficult to make and research on them is already scarce; you don’t want to increase risk any further.

ZooMed Avian Sun: This bulb has weak output, which can be remedied by placing it closer (4-8″), but watch for signs of irritation (see above: “What to watch for”). Replace at least every 6 months.

According to the manufacturer, the bulb is 6800K and has a CRI of 93 and 900 lumens. The UVB is 5% of the bulb’s total energy output and UVA is 30%.

Hagen Exo-Terra UVB 100/ReptiGlo 5.0: These reptile bulbs come in compact fluorescent (CFL) and linear fluorescent. There are multiple lamps in the Exo-Terra range–if you decide to get one, be careful you are buying the right one! Some do not have UVB, while others have too much. The Exo-Terra UVB 100 bulb should be 9-15″ from the top of the bird’s head.

References

Association of Avian Veterinarians. (2018). ULTRAVIOLET LIGHTING FOR COMPANION BIRDS: BENEFITS & RISKS.

Bauck, L. (n.d.). Benefits of UVB Lighting for companion birds. Hari. Retrieved January 5, 2023, from https://hari.ca/avian-care/housing-environments/benefits-uvb-lighting-companion-birds/

Costanzo, G., & Armendaris, A. (n.d.). Lighting for Pet Birds. PetSmart. Retrieved January 5, 2023, from https://www.petsmart.com/learning-center/bird-care/lighting-for-pet-birds/A0364.html

Lupu, C., & Robins, S. (2013). Determination of a safe and effective ultraviolet B radiant dose in budgerigars (melopsittacus undulatus): A pilot study. Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery, 27(4), 269–279. https://doi.org/10.1647/2011-0291

Nightengale, M., Stout, R. W., & Tully, T. N. (2022). Plasma vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D) levels in Hispaniolan amazon parrots (Amazona ventralis) housed indoors over time. Avian Diseases, 66(2). https://doi.org/10.1637/aviandiseases-d-21-00117

Psittacine Welfare Institute. (2022). Parrot (Psittaciformes) Lighting & UV. Retrieved January 5, 2023.

Stanford, M. (2006). Effects of UVB radiation on calcium metabolism in Psittacine Birds. Veterinary Record, 159(8), 236–241. https://doi.org/10.1136/vr.159.8.236

Stanford, M. (2006). Provision of Ultraviolet Light for Captive Grey Parrots. Avian Examiner. Retrieved January 5, 2023, from https://avianmedicine.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ae29.pdf.

Stanford, M. (n.d.). INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EXOTICS 2004.

Wissman, M. A. (n.d.). Hypocalcemia in Birds. Hypocalcemia in birds. Retrieved January 5, 2023, from https://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/hypocalcemia.html

Woodhouse, S. J., & Rick, M. (2016). The effect of UVB radiation on serum vitamin D and ionized calcium in the African spoonbill (platalea alba). Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine, 47(2), 447–456. https://doi.org/10.1638/2014-0239.1

Jiu took in a lost pigeon as a student after a “dove release” on the UC Berkeley campus and has been part of Palomacy ever since. They spend their free time getting pecked by Pidge for peeping on his married life with his adorable pigeon wife, Meringue.

February 26, 2023
by Elizabeth
Comments Off on A Life Worth Saving: Moose’s Story

A Life Worth Saving: Moose’s Story

Guest Post by Jenna Close

“Human beings are a part of the animal kingdom, not apart from it. The separation of “us” and “them” creates a false picture and is responsible for much suffering.” ― Marc Bekoff, Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect

“When animals express their feelings they pour out like water from a spout. Animals’ emotions are raw, unfiltered, and uncontrolled. Their joy is the purest and most contagious of joys and their grief the deepest and most devastating. Their passions bring us to our knees in delight and sorrow.”
― Marc Bekoff, The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy – and Why They Matter

My soul-bird Moose slipped the surly bonds of earth on December 19th, 2022. Despite years of anticipatory grief, I was not at all prepared for how I felt once he was gone. But I was even less prepared – for the sorrow, the beauty, the rawness and the respect – of Moose’s Flock.

I have a 14 pigeon aviary. They are all rescues, all bonded pairs, and they all have their frenemies and territories and daily habits. Half of them have experienced the only other death I’ve had here so far – Moose’s first wife Mercedes a few years ago. From that, I felt like I understood how eloquently and gracefully these birds grieve. I was wrong.

Moose was Home for 1,177 days. He was part of the first group of pigeons I adopted after catching 2 lost racers near my house and building them an aviary. By default – of both longevity and largeness of character – Moose was never at the bottom of the pecking order, but he also never cared much about being at the very top. Nico is The Boss and Moose was The Sheriff. He was always on patrol and no one ever messed with him or his space for very long. In response, he didn’t randomly push others around, but everyone knew he would if provoked.

Moose was ill – even before I brought him home – with a disease called mycobacteriosis. Mycobacteriosis is so difficult and expensive to put in remission that a diagnosis often results in humane euthanasia. Once we figured out what was going on there was no question – I wanted to treat him. The next 18 months of being medicated four times a day, of trial and error, hope and failure AND success were not ignored by his wife or his flock even though I always thought they were simply wondering why I was torturing their compatriot and for so long. They knew. They definitely knew.

The day Moose left us he went downhill quickly. Sometimes as hard as you look for signs, they are hidden until it’s too late. Pigeons are tenacious creatures who can withstand SO MUCH. If they decide they are ready to go, there is nothing on earth that can stop them. Moose’s departure started overnight but was only known to me early the next morning. I brought him and his wife Nike inside where it was warmer and started calling my vet. In that time, Nike had wrapped herself around him with one wing over his back so his head was in her wing pit, just as he liked it. Moose was always a big one for snuggling. She didn’t eat, she didn’t drink, she just sat there. This actually scared me, because they have spent a lot of time together on trips to the vet and Nike would always make him hold off on cuddling until she had some treats. Not that day.

Moose rallied once, enough to stand up, drink some water and say a few words to her. He said them loud and clear and he was so normal in that moment that I had a flash of hope that I was just overreacting. She responded by preening his whole face and then, when he lay back down, by pressing her body to his side and resting her head next to his. It was then that I knew for sure he was dying. Their closeness was different this time – it felt private and brave and final. It felt like a loving goodbye. I took two birds to the vet that day and came home with only one.

Nike had her time for closure after Moose passed, which is of the utmost importance for pigeons. When we arrived back home it was after dark. I walked into the aviary, looked at his night roost and saw no one was on it. This was highly unusual because Moose’s throne was the envy of all the flock. Whenever he wasn’t there, someone (usually Mo) would sneak onto it until they were discovered. But that night, every single flock member who slept next to him was lined up, equidistant, on either side of his spot. I lifted Nike up and placed her where he would have been. No one moved or made a sound. They looked like sentinels – an honor guard sending off one of their own. There is no other way to describe how unusual and moving it was except that it lifted and it broke me. I sat down right there, in the poop and discarded peas, and cried. I have thought back to that extraordinary moment often and it still blows me away.

The flock kept up their vigil for 3 days and nights. 3 seems to be an important number in grieving rituals throughout the world (so why not pigeons too?) but still I was astounded that the honor guard went on that long. On the 4th day, Mo gently and respectfully stepped onto Moose’s roost and quietly claimed the spot. If you know Mo, you know he is never quiet and is usually on a bragging parade somewhere. Very unusual yet understandable behavior for him.

I was very worried about Nike and how she was faring. She didn’t abandon her feggs but she did tell me what comfort she needed. I was out on the patio the day after Moose died, crying to my doves who live in an aviary nearby. I heard Nike coo, and it was the coo she always made for Moose when she wanted him to come into their box. I went in to see what was up and she raised her head, looked at me and cooed again. When she and Moose were together I was never allowed to put my hand in their box without getting an enthusiastic wing wacking, but I felt so strongly that I needed to comfort her that I put my hand in there and cupped her chest in my palm. Not only did she let me do that, she started preening my fingers. In that instant I realized that she knew everything – she knew what I was doing all those years medicating Moose, she knew how deeply I loved him, how hard I was grieving – and she was letting me know that together we would eventually be OK.

Nike and I kept up our special relationship for 4 weeks…the entire time she was sitting on her and Moose’s last clutch of feggs (she held onto them longer than usual). During that time, I adopted a potential mate for her, but he initially showed no interest in her or her him. Eventually she abandoned her feggs and called me into her nest box. I put my hand over her and snuggled her and she made a series of loud coos. The minute I left her, Titan (her new prospective mate) flew down to the porch, did a few dance moves, and walked right into her box. She came out for a second, then went back in, and that was that. As soon as she married Titan our relationship returned to normal (play fighting, no entry to the nest box without a bite), and I’m fine with that. She’s happy, Titan is happy, and I will be happy again someday too.

The flock has also returned to their regular antics. It is taking me a lot longer to find joy without my Moose, but I am overwhelmed and incredulous at how his flock behaved in the days after his death. I knew that pigeons grieve, that they are smart and emotional beings, but I had not myself witnessed such a tender and caring expression of love before. They knew that Moose and I had a special and complex relationship, and they honored that.

The grief of a family member, especially one that is so often misunderstood and maligned, is a unique and excruciating experience. I don’t really have words to explain how dark life becomes, how fraught it is with unexpected reactions and emotions. Perhaps that is because I haven’t come out the other side yet. But, as a friend said to me…the only way out is through. I have learned that you have to trust and accept whatever you are feeling when you feel it. Cry. Scream. Burn sage. Drink whisky. Get mad. Write a eulogy. Take a walk. Get a tattoo. Lean on your flock –– they will understand. And it will get better. It will never be the same, but it will get better.

“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief…and of unspeakable love.”
Washington Irving

I love you Moose. Always.

Instagram.com/moosethepigeon

Jenna is a commercial photographer and filmmaker based in San Diego. 5 years ago a ringneck dove self rescued in her yard, which led her to Palomacy. She is a moderator on the Palomacy Help Group, runs the Palomacy YouTube Channel and now has an aviary with 2 doves (the original self rescue and his mate) and another aviary with 14 pigeons.

February 19, 2023
by Elizabeth
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Palomacy Is Preparing for Launch!

Pomelo by Adrienne Ruork. Pomelo embodies the true nature of pigeon and doves—reverence, and resilience. He was found surrounded by not one, but five outdoor cats on someone’s porch.

On March 2nd, Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Adoptions will, after being fiscally sponsored for 15 years (three by Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue & twelve with Community Initiatives), become the independent nonprofit public charity that we have always aspired to be!

Closer to our start date, as we get all the new connections connected and switches switched, we will share special blog post and newsletter editions laying out all the info you’ll need. No action required at this time, just stay tuned…

Pomelo by Adrienne Ruork.

Palomacy Is Growing!

January 5, 2023

By Clare Malone Prichard, Palomacy Board Chair with Elizabeth Young, Founder

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been fifteen years since Elizabeth Young met and rescued Gurumina, the lovely King pigeon who exposed the unmet need of domestic and unreleasable pigeons for adoption. Initially named MickaCoo and hosted under the experienced wing of Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue, our first major growth spurt led us to become a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives in 2011. The transition to our Palomacy name followed not long thereafter.

We find the need for our services continuing to grow. Once just a local organization serving pigeons and doves in the San Francisco Bay Area, we now provide valuable advice and guidance to rescuers across the nation and worldwide through our Facebook help group. We are grateful to Community Initiatives for their support over the years. We have been able to legally operate as a charitable organization under Community Initiatives’ 501(c)3 status.

A long held goal and our next milestone is establishing Palomacy as an independent nonprofit. Having our own 501(c)3 status means we can better serve the rescue community, fundraise in additional ways and explore new opportunities.

Our application for 501(c)(3) status has been approved by the IRS, and our FTB application for state tax exemption is due for approval any day. We have written our bylaws and established our board of directors. Now we transition from Community Initiatives’ fiscal administration to our own. We need to continue with all we are doing- our website, newsletters, rescuing, fostering, adopting, developing partners and aviaries, coaching, providing humane education and PR and now take over our banking, insurance, bookkeeping, accounting, HR and payroll, benefits, accounts payable and receivable, compliance, audits, reporting and more. Our plan is to start as a standalone nonprofit March 1, 2023! We need lots of help (including a new Board Treasurer) and you are invited to join us as we soar.

Please email Elizabeth@pigeonrescue.org to spread your wings & soar with us.

January 24, 2023
by Elizabeth
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Then Two Became One

Guest Post by Madalene Cordero

Madalene, Aiyanna, Peanut +2 Jan 24 2023

It was late March 2022 when my four year old granddaughter, Aiyanna, spotted a white King pigeon from the window of our house, walking across a very busy street. My daughter took her across the street to rescue it. They were afraid it would get run over by a bus or car since it appeared it couldn’t fly. We noticed the right wing was hanging from its side touching the ground and figured that was the reason why. Aiyanna named her Lily, she thought it must be a girl since she was so beautiful.

Well, Lily grew on us and after a week or so, her wing healed and she began flying around the house. Lily loved being around us and quickly became a part of the family. She followed us all around the house and her favorite spot was perching on the door of where we were.

Around the end of April we noticed her behavior began to change and she was not able to fly as far as she did before and became unbalanced. She began walking in circles and her head began to twist under her body. It saddened us to watch her lose control of her functions so Aiyanna would hold Lily in a blanket and just love on her.

We tried calling vets in the area and the one we found said their exotic pet vet was on vacation. I was informed to take her to Peninsula Humane Society-SPCA wildlife rescue. They transfered her to their exotics department (Palomacy was too full) but despite a week of supportive care and tube feeding, she was losing weight and growing weaker. There wasn’t much else they could do and informed me if that with no improvement, she needed to be rescued or they would have to euthanize her.

At Peninsula Humane Society SPCA

Elizabeth from Palomacy came to the rescue and picked Lily up, took her home and for the next three months would nurse Lily, who ended up turning into Willy, back to health. (See Willy Wonky)

Willy started trying to self-feed immediately after transferring from the shelter clinic to Elizabeth’s home

While Willy was in Elizabeth’s care, we communicated back and forth and she made me aware of the need for homes for rescued pigeons. So about the second week of June, Elizabeth connected me with a rescue in need of a home: an eight week old couch pigeon named Squeak, who loved watching his tablet and his favorite show on YouTube with birds flying and chirping and sounds of running water. (Squeak is a Homer pigeon, like they use for dove releases, that was found lost or dumped at only three weeks old.)

Squeak

Watching YouTube on the tablet

When he arrived, we tried to make him feel at home so we did the same but put a cage next to the couch and he ended up exchanging the couch for a padded perch and comfy bed. It wasn’t long before he was a part of the family and became very attached to us.

Aiyanna & Squeak

Squeak glow up!

Meanwhile, Elizabeth took such amazing care of Willy. Giving him his meds, taking him back and forth to the vet for tests, loving on him and nursing him back to health. She would always send me pics of his improvement and about three months later, Elizabeth brought a much recovered but still wonky Willy back home to us.

Willy’s return

Willy was still a little off balance, didn’t fly and would walk in circles at times, mostly when he was nervous. We had his cage on the ground so he could walk in and out of it by himself. Squeak’s cage was higher but next to Willy’s. Squeak was used to being the main attraction so he was aggressive and territorial around Willy in the beginning.

As time went on Willy began following Squeak around the house and mimicking him. When Squeak flew out of the cage and stretched his wings, Willy would walk out of his and do the same and follow him around. The time they spent together in the aviary helped them bond. Willy stayed on lower ground while Squeak flew back and forth to higher levels. Willy loves water and when he takes his bath, you’ll find Squeak right behind him taking turns in the water.

Willy shadowing Squeak

Post-bath pals

Today, Willy’s cage is as high as Squeaks and they are connected together so they can walk into each other’s cage. Both of them used to give warnings when they walked in the other’s cage but they are no longer territorial and share everything. Willy rarely walks in circles anymore and he can fly higher than Squeak (just needs a little practice landing)! Now I find them together as Squeak coos and arouses Willy to come over to preen him for a time. We don’t know what all Willy was sick with. His symptoms were strange and tests inconclusive but Elizabeth says that, as so often happens, time and supportive care kept him alive long enough to recover.

Fluoroscopy showed a weirdly enlarged crop

Home together

What an amazing journey to see Willy’s progress while watching them bond. Everytime I look at them now, they are inseparable. It’s amazing how these gentle, loving, peace-filled companions fill your life with love and joy. Our hearts are filled with joy to watch them grow closer together. It’s only the beginning and we’re still not sure if Squeak is a boy or girl. Needless to say, we’ve adopted them both. They are home.

January 24th 2023 Update:

Squeak’s a lady bird and she married Willy! They are such a happy, sweet couple. Squeak laid their first egg (swapped out with a fake for hatch prevention) but they are still figuring out nestbuilding and sitting.

Madalene Cordero lives in Daly City, CA; is a retired Service Delivery Coordinator; a mother, wife, sister, daughter and her 99 year old mother’s caregiver. She says, Through having Willy and Squeak in my life, I find a place of comfort and peace.

January 16, 2023
by Elizabeth
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All That Crouton Was

Guest Post by Anonymous

I don’t know how to share all that Crouton was with you.

In mid-December, I started writing the story of my foster bird, Crouton. While writing the story, I realized that Crouton’s story was inextricable from those of her best friend Sprout, me and my partner, and the community that supported her, including and not limited to Elizabeth and Jill and the wonderful vets that cared for her. Crouton was a bird that changed minds, inspired love, and received love so strongly.

Crouton has since passed. We now know that he was a boy. I am still unable to say his name without crying. Mourning is just one manifestation of love. I’ll be manifesting my love for Crouton in a million ways for a long time to come and the tears are part of that. Another part is reflecting. And I want another part to be sharing, so I am now revisiting the story that I started writing in December. I will not edit the part that I had already written, just pick up where I left off.

Sprouton’s Story

On Monday, October 31, 2021, at Medical Center for Birds in Oakley, a very special foster family was formed. Two young Palomacy birds, both ready for discharge after their hospital stays, would meet for the first time and their future foster mom, me, would arrive for totally unrelated reasons and end up taking them home with her.

Since that day, Crouton and Sprout have healed together. Sprout, who had been reliant on tube feeding and had not vocalized while in the hospital, immediately began self-feeding and vocalizing cheerily. I was able to decrease Crouton’s tube feeding amounts and let her self-feed with her new best friend. They snuggled together, flapped together, slept together, and ate together. While Sprout recovered from malaria and put on much needed weight, Crouton kept him warm and cozy. When Crouton needed help getting from one part of the cage to another, she pushed against Sprout to move around.

Despite their progress together, Crouton began having seizures. After the second one, I realized what was going on and immediately got her to Medical Center for Birds where she was started on an anti-seizure medication. The next day though, around 9pm, she had a seizure that would not stop. My partner, Chris, and I tried everything we could think of. Jill tried contacting Crouton’s vet after hours while Elizabeth reassured us and looked for help from knowledgeable friends. We turned off the lights in our house and I held Crouton and Sprout in their little bed together to try to allow Crouton to relax, but after an hour had gone by and Crouton started heating up and breathing hard, I knew we had to do something fast. I texted friend of Palomacy and animal superhero Dr. Tino Leuhman and she immediately told me to rush her over to her. Chris quickly drove us to Tino while Elizabeth, Jill, and I sent Tino all of the information and history we could on Crouton. Crouton continued to seize in the car while Sprout sat alarmed and quiet through all the stress. Tino immediately sedated Crouton and began checking her over. Once Crouton was sedated and no longer seizing, Tino propped her up against Sprout in a natural position to rest. She monitored her, administering tiny amounts of sedative, to keep her from returning to seizing. Sweet Sprout was very still and gentle, supporting his best friend physically and me emotionally as I pet him anxiously.

Tino saved Crouton’s life that night. Tino kept Crouton and Sprout together while she continued their care for the next couple days. I got to visit and give Crouton some gentle snuggles. Even in her sedated state, she responded happily to my holding and petting her. While I held Crouton, Tino and I noticed Sprout wandering over, peering curiously at little Crouton in my arms.

Once the two of them were back home with me, Sprout’s worried gaze never went away whenever I had to take Crouton out for her medications and tube feedings. It was touch and go for a little while, and an emotionally challenging period.

Crouton’s seizures are now effectively managed by her medications.

And at this point I stopped writing. I remember getting distracted because I turned around and saw Sprout and Crouton lying, pressed up against each other, preening each other and themselves, looking so comfy and happy.

Crouton had lots of wins. He learned to take steps (with my help for balance). He met the big king pigeons in the big aviary and ate some lunches there. He did happy duck tail wiggles while bathing and even stood on his own in the bath. He learned to walk around in a makeshift tinker toy wheelchair I made him, and to hang out in a sling I sewed to fit him just right and to give Sprout tall bird preenies. He responded to his name with happy wing twitches, even popping up on both legs when I greeted him one morning.

He had beautiful coonversations with Sprout and received many a feather from him, always accompanied by a beautiful dance. He explored the world, with Sprout always right next to him, on walks and trips in a cat backpack. He happy flapped, he locomoted, he preened, he played. His seizures suddenly became more frequent, so we started giving an extra dose of his seizure medication, and then we found him dead.

His new wheelchair will arrive in the mail any day now. And he won’t be here to use it. I know he would have loved it.

Sprout and I are hurting, and Sprout is ready to make new pigeon friends. In the short time I have volunteered for Palomacy, I have had the chance to learn that pigeons heal, and when they heal, they can heal the hearts of those around them as well.

There’s no other kind of pain I’d rather have, than to have known and loved and then to no longer have and still love. I miss him. I want him back. I want to continue to watch him explore the world and learn new things, maybe even become more mobile with the help of his little chair.

There is no “but.” It’s just tough. It’s the right kind of tough.

Crouton was home on October 31st. He had no doubt about it. He made himself permanently, essentially, inextricably part of our family.

Crouton loved without reservation, and I loved him back in the same way.