File talk:Patagioenas fasciata1.jpg
Buzz the Band Tailed Pigeon - A true story
In May of 2006, I was out in our back yard talking with my husband when a baby band tailed pigeon landed on top of my head. I leaned forward to get the bird to fly away, and the bird flew onto my shoulder for safety. It was apparent to me that the bird was very young - the feet looked very smooth and bright yellow in color which matched the beak. I walked into the house with the bird still on my shoulder and I placed it into a cage, giving it water and a sprinkling of corn grits for nourishment.
One year later, this band tailed pigeon has the run of our house, flies in through our patio door, circling around into the dining room, and spends much of the day on top of our china cabinet. We adore this bird whom we have named "Buzz", because when he is approached by a man, he sounds like an old-fashioned doorbell buzzer.
Buzz likes women, and when he hears a woman's voice, he will fly onto the head of almost any female. He allows women to touch him under his neck, balance him on their finger and in turn he nibbles the ear, earring or hair of the female. During the winter Buzz goes into a very impressive mating-ritual call whenever a female approaches him. Buzz follows me through our house, navigating around sharp corners from the dining room into the kitchen, from the den into the living room, and from the patio to the great outdoors.
Sometimes Buzz gets restless and stays outside from 17 to 48 hours until we see him next. He flies to the highest branch of the highest tree, and notifies us of his desire to return back into our home by swooping in front of our patio door until we open it and invite hm back in.
I have read that band tailed pigeons are not easily domesticated, and I believe that is true when they are born in the wild. However, this was a unique situation where this bird was obviously hand-raised by a female somewhere in our area, was set free, and only returned to seek out his "imprinted mother" finding me instead.
Although Buzz the Band Tailed Pigeon was initially raised and obviously imprinted with a human female somewhere in our neighborhood, we have simply come to be the people whom Buzz has decided to live with, and we have enjoyed the privilege of hosting a wild bird in and around our home since 2006.
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