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The sick Pigeon sitting at my door at the beginning of the month is still alive. Initially I thought it was suffering from Salmonellosis a bacterial disease. However after 10 days of antibiotics it had not improved. The symptoms are very similar to Paramyxovirus which I now believe to be the real illness it is suffering from. As with most viruses there is no real treatment available. I have seen pigeons suffering from this before and it is pretty lethal. Around 70% of pigeons die but 30% can spontaneously recover after a month or so.
This one has survived nearly 3 weeks so far, but still has torsion of the neck and tends to hover / fly backwards. I have been hand feeding it 3 times a day, and it now preens itself and seems reasonable healthy. It will be interesting to see if it can overcome this virus. Short movie clip below.
Hardest winter frost yet, woke up to pretty thick ice on the duck pond, birds ravenous and thirsty today.
Fairly dense freezing fog blanket earlier this morning. Penny and Duke still have the 2 orphan cygnets tagging along.
The latest one from the Dunbar golf course appears to have been shot as well.
Had a close look at it today and noticed a few shotgun pellet holes in it's feet, looks like one of the cowboys has let loose with a small bird shot shell as it flew over. There's no excuse for shooting at a Swan, young or old it is illegal !
Was so cold today that droplets of water were frozen on the cygnets back, my feet were numb as well !
I think the local pigeons are putting the word around that medical attention can be had at my door ! On opening the door the other day I found a pigeon huddled at the step, I picked it up and gave it a quick look see.
Later after examination of it's poop it appears to be suffering from Salmonellosis, a deadly bacterial infection. I have started treatment with antibiotics, but it may be too late to save it, time will tell.
The other 2 shot pigeons have survived, which is quite a surprise considering one of them was so very badly wounded.
