Oh, it's September

Wow.

It's September and I'm going to be needing to return to (online school soon) I haven't posted a lab note all summer (it's been hectic)

I thought I would being filling everyone in on revised data, and a few updates on the people, places and pigeons I met over the course of last summer's road trip.

Due to travel restrictions, I have spent most of the summer writing. I have written a few poems (much better than the one at the start of the "return to castle Island" lab note) and short stories- but more importantly a manuscript. This 20+ page long document contains all of the information I have gathered pertaining to the morphologies of feral pigeons- and I have been forced to make a few tweaks to my results (as I had used a flawed statistical system in my last calculation). this will be coming out soon after I have a few more people take a look at it!

Now- for some other news:

The pair of fuzzy yellow baby pigeons posted about recently have since fledged, and have inherited the checkered markings of their dad rather than the barred markings of their mom- but they still beg her for food!

 

gimme de foods now mumther

Trapping site updates:

When cherry grove farm was revisited- there was no sign of "Nelson" or any other of the domestic pigeons that I had met during last winter's trapping.

Despite the efforts of livestock owners, the pigeons of Kinder farm park are as prevalent as ever and have continued to live in the park's barns and animal pens.

Despite the difficulties created by the pandemic, both Avian Haven and the Key West Wild Bird Center have continued rehabilitating and releasing wild birds. While the loss of visitors and their donations have put a squeeze on both organizations, they continue their vital work with wildlife.

After a (minor) shark attack and partial beach and parking closures for social distancing, Folly Beach has been a very different, much less crowded place. few reports have come in of pigeons crowding the pier as they had been last summer.

Freeport Wild Bird supply has continued to feed it's pigeons and has stayed afloat despite the small business crisis destroying similar establishments in the region. They still give free bird walks to their customers and fans in the region.

 

a rehabbed pigeon from avian haven being released, Avian haven has seen an influx of pigeon brought to them after dangerous encounters with commercial bird "repellents" such as bird-x

I have also compiled a fun little word-cloud of all of the species of wild vertebrates seen at trapping sites- name size indicate the proportion of sites at which where found, color indicates the group of organisms they belong to (green-birds, blue-reptiles, purple-fish, yellow-mammals)

how many have you seen?

 

Expect more updates soon!

Sarah