Why pigeons Amers Travels

WHY PIGEONS?

I didn't choose pigeons, they chose me...

One day last year we noticed a pigeon on the balcony railing. As time went on, we saw him/her more frequently. After a while I noticed the bird looking down at something on the floor of the balcony where my barbeque was. As my apartment complex has outlawed the use of barbeques, I had put a cloth over the barbeque to protect it from rain. When the pigeon left, I walked to the end of the balcony where the barbeque was and looked down where the bird had been looking. It was then that I noticed a baby bird. It was hard to see as it was wedged between the barbeque cover and the balcony wall. I was very excited as the only life on the balcony was my cacti garden on the box on the railing. The next day I went to check on the bird and I noticed a second bird. Now we knew why the pigeon was always sitting on the railing, that was her nest (or his, it could have been the father). The birds kept growing bigger and bigger. One day when we came back from a trip, I noticed one of the baby birds sitting on top of the barbeque. As the barbeque is 3 feet high, I knew it had to have flown. As I watched, the bird flew to the railing and back to the barbeque. Then the other baby, probably a female as it was smaller, joined its sibling on the barbeque. After a few more test flights, the male flew off the railing and I didn't see it again that day. Next it was the females turn. Having only known the balcony for its entire life, she was a bit more hesistant. But after some test flights and a few hours, she too left the balcony. Ever since then, we have had pigeons on the balcony. Sometimes I feed them birdseed. Other times I don't feed them for weeks at a time. I thought that by not feeding them, they would leave. I have noticed that that is not the case. There are 6 birds (3 couples) that stay here day in and day out. I think the 6 birds are related to each other, but I don't know, they might be the babies from last year and their parents. I have come to understand their schedule: At dawn: they wake up and sit a while waiting for it to warm up. Next they groom themselves. Then they go out for breakfast. During the day they will come to the balcony off and on and fight with each other or socialize. At sunset, they come back. If there is food in my feeder, they will eat it. All the birds have their places. One couple sits in the planter, where they successfully raised two kids. 3 birds sit on the barbeque. And the last one sits on the balcony light. As it gets dark, they will puff up their feathers and try to sleep, but I know the television bothers them and I doubt they really sleep until I turn the lights out when I go to bed at around midnight. What prevents more birds from staying on my balcony? For that, I am very fortunate. One of the males will chase away other pigeons. If they don't get the hint to leave, he will come up to them and hit them with his wing. So far I have been unable to get a picture of any fights because whenever I go on the balcony, all the birds stop whatever they are doing and stare at me.One day I saw some mourning doves eating in the feeder while the pigeons were out. Mourning doves are relatives of the pigeons, which are rock doves. I knew this wouldn't work out. The mourning doves are much smaller than the pigeons and I knew the pigeons wouldn't like them eating their food. Sure enough, the pigeons came back and scared them off. I haven't seen them since.