Another bumblebee rescue... With a homing pigeon thrown in!

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mouse_chalk

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So, today I was feeling AWFUL. The antibiotics I'm on for my sinus infection have made me terribly sick, and my sinus pain hasn't gone away yet.

I was about to go and lie down this afternoon and feel sorry for myself. I was just shutting the back door to go upstairs, when I noticed a bumblebee on the skirting board near the doorway. Poor thing looked really terrible too- his wings all raggedy, and he was so tired he couldn't move much. I think he has an injury to his leg because he kept waving that in the air and randomly putting it on top of his head but I couldn't see any obvious damage.

Anyway, so I went to make up some honey water, like last time, and put him on the doorstep, with the honey water in a tiny puddle next to him. He wouldn't drink it :( He just kept stumbling around waving his leg about...

So I'm lying on the floor next to him taking a couple of pictures, when I notice a pigeon sat on the patio staring at 'us'. He starts pecking at the ground, and cooing at me, hopping about. He came and sat on the doorstep and almost knocked poor Mr. Bee flying (or not!), and then came and sat in the bunnies litter tray in the living room! Chalk wasn't a fan of this, so he flew back outside, pecked around a bit and then flew off. In the meantime, I noticed he had a band around his foot, so I made a note of the code, and googled 'lost homing pigeon'. I found out he's registered as a racing pigeon at a club near Bristol, but that nobody could come and collect him if he was just flying about- he had to be caught first, and it wasn't recommended to do that straight away, if he wasn't injured.

Anyway, he came back soon enough, so I scattered some bird seed out for him, and put a dish of water down. He ate LOADS of the seed, and hopped in the water dish, splashed around and drank loads of it. Then he sat on the patio and made all his feathers stick out on end, and then eventually flew up and sat on our roof! He sat there until about 6pm when I went to my scan appointment, but he was gone by the time we got back :(

I just hope he made it 'home' ok...

Meanwhile, the bee wasn't looking any better, and still wouldn't drink the honey water, so I put him in the sun on the patio, and picked some flowers off of the bush nearby and put them next to him. BIG HIT! He grabbed hold of them and drank the nectar out of each one, tumbling about and doing roly-poly's with the flower in his 'hands'! It was sooooo cute. At one point, he just rolled over onto his back, after drinking nectar, and wiggled his legs in the air- I'm not sure if that was a good thing or not, but he did seem quite happy!

He tried to fly away a few times, but I think that he's a worker bee and is just very old. He was still outside earlier when I checked, so I gave him plenty of flowers to drink from. I hope that if he doesn't make it, he'll at least have gone as a happy bee :nerves1


I'll end this ridiculously long post by saying that I'm uploading lots of cute pictures of both Mr. Bee and Mr. Pigeon! :D
 
Here's Mr. Pigeon- he's so cute!

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And, now for Mr. Bee...


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These are my favourite pictures- drunken bee!

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(you can just about see his tongue in this one if you look closely)

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'hiccup!'

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The quality is somewhat reduced using Photobucket sadly, you can see a lot more detail on him when I view the pictures on my laptop!



I promise I'm not crazy! Just popular with local bees it would seem! :D
 
Oh my gosh...you have the weirdest experiences!

The pictures of both are so cute, too. I love how you capture things in your pictures. :)

Hugs!
 
Thanks Rosie! :)

I always think that I can do a lot better in my 'photography', but I quite like the pictures I took today.

I feel sad for the bee, because I think he probably wont make it, but at least I tried to help him I guess.

I read that homing pigeons sometimes just get tired and need a drink and some food before they go on their way, and it's nothing really to be concerned about unless it's about 48hours or they look sick or injured. This guy looked really healthy and in great condition, so hopefully he made it back ok- although I guess he lost that race, lol!
 
May I simply say, Jen, you have a BEE-autiful soul!

I adore your bee rescuing threads... and now, a pigeon to boot!

Thank you for always helping the little bees :hug2:
 
Aww, thanks guys! You have all BEEn very kind to me! :D

Mr. Bee was gone this morning! I can't see him anywhere, so I can only assume that he got better and flew away!


Mr. Pigeon is back though :expressionless He's sat on our roof again today. I can tell he's been eating, as some of the seed is gone from the table and seed has fallen in the water dish, along with some pigeon-poop lol!

I don't know what to do about him :expressionless I'm not sure if I could get him into a carrier for him to be collected. Plus, my dad scared me by saying that the owners will usually PTS a racing pigeon that get lost and doesn't fly where it's supposed to? I don't want him to die, he's so cute! But I guess it's not up to me...

Mind you, I can't do anything if he just sits on our roof the whole time! :?
 
I told you that you'd be the buzz of the hive! Probably Queenie from before is sending all her sick little boys your way.

Jen! Queen of the Bees!
I wonder if Queenie will make an appearance at your wedding! It'd be the storybook ending if she came and rested in your bouquet!
 
Aw wow!!!
Thats so cool - hehe, bee rescuer and i guess the pigeon loves you now it doesn;'t want to leave! :p


xxx

Good for you Jen!
 
Thanks guys! :D

Oscar (the pigeon) is still there!

He flew down onto the table earlier, but Barney saw him from his cage and thumped, so scared him. I went out and got very close to him, but he flew back onto the roof:expressionless

I have a bunny carrier with the door open and seed scattered inside, sat on the garden table, but I'm certain I wont be able to catch him. I still have the water dish out and more seed scattered.

I also just went up and hung out of our spare-room window, waving a plate about with seed on it out the window near him, but he wouldn't come down. I chucked a bit of grain up there, and he ate it, so at least he's eating.

I read online that sometimes the owners will ink-stamp their name and address etc under their wings, so you can contact them, but I'd have to catch him to do that!


Not sure what to do now..... :?
 
Geez...I wish I knew what to do for him...puzzling!!

I wonder if word's gotten around the hive that you're a bee helper. I wonder if that guy that stopped at your place was older and possibly wanted someplace nice to pass on? I'm sure they can tell when they're nearing that time...

I think you're so wonderful. I love hearing about others that love animals as we do.

I thought you'd posted that you figured out where the pigeon lives...if that's the case, could you possibly source out their phone number and call, asking what to do? I dunno...maybe I misread. :blushan:

I hope Oscar goes home soon!!! It could be possible that he's just taking a good, long break...

:?
 
Wow how weird! It's like the bees are drawn to you! Well you are a very attractive pigeon. :D ---> I just realised I typed pigeon instead of person! :shock:

Homing pigeons are amazing. I have a good feeling about Oscar. Great pics! I love reading your bee rescue stories!


 

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