Band-Tailed Pigeons On Oaks
Each fall, Band-tailed Pigeons visit Hastings, and this year we have an unusually large number. This might be related to the curiously abundant late-fall acorn crop here in many coast live oaks. Very nervous, the pigeons clatter to the air at the slightest disturbance and often fly a long distance up the steep canyons and take up to 5 minutes to settle down again. Thus, we have these early morning flights around and around the steep canyons below the Arnold Place.
Well over 500 birds are wheeling around most of these cold January mornings. (And yes, we did have a few pipes burst, but Jaime needed nothing more than a little truck inner tube and a few hose clamps to get us going again. We are replacing these with permanent repairs and insulation as things warm up.)

A small percentage of the pigeons each year just sit on the road, and we often find them dead on the roads, or in the brush. Often we only find a pile of feathers. In checking these recently dead pigeons, their crops are empty and inflamed. They probably have an infection of Trichomonas gallinae*. This infection is spread between birds at feeders and can also be spread to hawks or owls that feed on the dying or infected pigeons. If you have a feeder with Band-tailed Pigeons, be sure to keep it clean and disinfect it often with a mild chlorine bleach solution.

Stabler, R. M., and C. E. Braun. 1979. Effects of a California derived strain of Trichomonas gallinae on Colorado USA Band-Tailed Pigeons. California Fish and Game 65:56-58.