mouse_chalk
Well-Known Member
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!
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!