Would you do anything about this wood pigeon sitting on her dead chick?

[justanotherneighinparadise]

We’ve got a wood pigeon who built a nest in a really open part of our garden pretty close the the window. She built this nest in the spring, had an egg that either didn’t hatch or was predated and (understandably) abandoned the nest. In the autumn she was back sitting on it again and we’ve watched her for three weeks or so just sit there. I’ve never personally seen her off of it but I always make sure there’s food and water in the garden.

Anyhow today she got off and we excitedly got the binoculars out to see if the egg had hatched. Unfortunately the chick was dead and there are a lot of flies around the nest. We assumed she’d abandoned the nest again and my partner was going to go out later and just remove the nest as it’s in a terrible position. The last few days she’s had no shelter from the sun and was panting furiously on the nest.

My question is would you just leave be entirely? Would you leave it until she abandons the nest completely and then remove that nest in the hope she joins all the pigeons next year who successfully nest in our absolutely huge conifer hedge on the opposite side of the garden? Would you just remove the dead chick but leave the nest? I just worry about her health as she’s just sitting there endlessly and I never see her eat anything! I also never see a male bird with her. I feel sorry for her!

Oh no op, that is so sad. I probably wouldn’t do anything because I think the poor mum pigeon will surely work it out in the end. If you want advice you could call one of the fledgling wildlife rescue places (even though I appreciate this little chick is dead).

I would move the nest to a better position- not to make it viable, but so she moves somewhere less exposed and/or breaks the association with her nest. You'd be giving her a choice, if you see what I mean. Stick with the nest and be somewhere a bit more comfortable, or move on completely.

@picklemewalnuts

I would move the nest to a better position- not to make it viable, but so she moves somewhere less exposed and/or breaks the association with her nest. You'd be giving her a choice, if you see what I mean. Stick with the nest and be somewhere a bit more comfortable, or move on completely.

They’d what I was thinking. She needs to give up on this nest as it’s on a crappy old place and we’ve been here seven years now and have never seen a nest in the place she built it. I don’t want her to come back to it next year.

I like pickles advice. Gosh watching that would make me tear up!

I don't think intervening is helpful. And actually if you're feeding her you're preventing her from "learning" (not sure on the learning capacity of wood pigeons) why this was not a good place to nest.

Are wood pigeons capable of making choices or are they just responding to instincts and environmental stimuli?

Move the nest. She is learning but it will be a slow process as they only have tiny brains. Next year dash out and knock down any attempt to build a nest in an unsuitable place.

Poor pigeon. I don’t know but I think this is a bit like watching a cat kill a mouse. It’s horrible because you feel bad but it’s just nature. I’d leave it and like a pp said try to discourage from further nest building, although I don’t know if that’s possible for you.

I’m not feeding her directly. I’m putting food in the garden for the birds, as does my neighbour and water when it’s very hot.

Bless her, she could be a young bird with her first nest perhaps.

But I agree with perhaps moving the nest so it's not there. She will move on and find somewhere else.

We've had a pair of wood pigeons nesting in our garden this year...they've just raised their third chick and it's been lovely to watch.

Equally I took a young wood pigeon to a wildlife hospital yesterday who clearly had Avian Pox and was struggling to breathe. Don't know the outcome but gather it's a pretty fatal disease for wild birds.

I would remove the chick and nest now. She will then leave and try again. In nature it happens all the time. Maybe she is inexperienced. Letting her sit on a decomposing chick is not healthy.

Ooooh I have an update! My partners managed to get a good look as she was off her nest feeding and then another pigeon frightened her off into next doors garden. There’s one dead chick and one live one! She’s obviously tried to turf the dead one out and that’s the one we’ve seen. So fingers crossed she might be able to raise the live one successfully 😬

Ooh, you can get the dead one out next time she goes!

Would you believe she seems to have abandoned the nest now. Last night after she flew off with what seemed like a male pigeon (judging from how he was harrassing her) she seemingly hasn’t returned. She wasn’t there yesterday evening when the sun was setting and she wasn’t there this morning either. So I suspect the second chick will now also be dead. I know it’s nature but what a bloody waste of time all round. I hate the thought that the chicks might have been in distress 😖

Oh dear. That's upsetting. I get upset too, we have blackbird nests that the magpies raid. I'm busy all summer shouting at the mags to leave the chicks alone. Mr and Mrs blackbird shout, and I dash out flapping.

🤣. Oh bless you! I’d be exactly the same. My garden is now a safe haven from local cats as me and the kids spent lockdown furiously shooing them away. We have a sparrow crèche on the flat roof of the next door neighbours shed that I can see from my bedroom window. We have pigeons, jackdaws a family of starlings, robins and various finches. Plus two squirrels and a hedgehog that lives at the top of the garden under a pile of sticks 😍