# Pigeons



## wind1 (Oct 24, 2010)

We have a pair of pigeons who have visited our garden for a number of years, not sure if it's the same pair each year but they always sit in the same place on the fence and in the tree. This year we were worried as one was always on its own sitting on the fence, this went on for a few weeks, but eventually another one joined it again. We wondered if maybe one was on the nest all this time, or the other option could have been one had died and then a new mate had come along. We now have what appears to be one adult and 4 young visiting daily. I have looked online about pigeons and it says they only ever lay 2 eggs at a time. The young ones look quite big. How long do the young stay with the parents once out of the nest? And is it unusual to see 4 young? Also yesterday they were in the tree and two of them had their wings over one another as if they were cuddling, a third one then jumped on top and spread it's wings over both of them. What is this behaviour?


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

I'm assuming you are talking about woodpigeons?

It's likely that during the period where you only saw one bird that the other was indeed sat on the nest.

Woodpigeons are prolific breeders and will carry on nesting throughout the year, only stopping briefly, it seems, during the coldest winter months (though they supposedly only rear two broods a year per pair). They do only lay two eggs at a time, and often only one of those chicks will survive to fledge. 

It's possible that perhaps two young from a previous brood are still hanging around the territory, or perhaps young from a nearby pair are also hanging around. I have three pairs that regularly use our garden, and often see chicks from different broods in the garden at the same time. At the moment there are two well grown youngsters that seem to be loosely following one set of adult birds around, and another pair have a much younger baby still begging off them.

It's also possible, judging by what you have described, that one particularly successful male has landed himself two females, and has sired two young per female at the same time. I can't say for certain that this is as yet unheard of, perhaps its been seen before - but if so its very rare because from what is generally known about woodpigeons is that they are monogamous, and pairs can stay together for many years. They are also quite territorial and do fight with each other when their territories overlap (as mine do).

The other possibility is that you were watching two males fighting over a female, with one male trying to guard her by shielding her with his wings (the other male trying to but in perhaps underneath).


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