Question Hi I returned home on Friday to a knocking sound. I discovered what turns out to be a Fantail pigeon tapping on the patio door. I put out some bread & seed & water out and it seemed to be content. The bird is very tame. It has no rings.What should I do to look after it bearing in mind there are a few cats around?
Answer Hi, Paul,
This is interesting. Fantails don't just fly freely in most places. This bird may be from someone's loft and happened to get loose, there could be a bird show in your area somewhere and the bird escaped, etc.
Depends on whether you want to keep this bird for a pet. Pigeons make nice pets, since they are quiet, don't bite, can be very tame. Otherwise, you need to somehow advertise the fact that you found this bird and see if anyone responds. You can put flyers up in neighborhood store windows, put an ad in the paper, contact your local humane society, local pigeon clubs, etc. Fantails are usually considered fancy pigeons, so if there was a local pigeon show, this bird may have escaped its cage and got outside or it could be that someone in your neighborhood raises fancy pigeons. You can do some research on the internet for pigeon shows in your area. You can also contact the ARPU, www.pigeon.org (American Racing Pigeon Union) to see if they can help. However, without identifying data on leg bands, they probably can't be of much assistance. Your best bet here is that this bird is a pet of someone in your area, particularly since it doesn't have leg bands.
Since you've fed and watered the bird, it may stick around. Pigeons are usually very aware of what's happening around them, so the bird may be able to escape fairly quickly from cats. However, its worst enemies are hawks and falcons....they LOVE to eat pigeons! You can house this bird in a large cage/box or other until you can locate the owner, turn the bird over to your local humane society, and/or find a pigeon-person in your area who might want the bird. The ARPU website above can provide some contacts. Look under the icon "Lost Birds" or "Finding Lost Birds" or whatever terms they are using now. You'll find listings by year of racing pigeon clubs in various states in the USA. You can look down the listings to see if you can find a club in your area. Although these clubs race homing pigeons, many pigeoners also keep fancy pigeons and/or know others who might be interested.
