pigeons...

also known as "rats with wings"... 

we used to have pigeons who would make their nests upon our roof... they even somehow got into the room and fell into our furnace closet... i was at work one day and my husband was working from home when he sent me a franctic IM that there was a pigeon in the furnace closet.... i asked him how he knew and he said he heard scratching, opened the door, and he was eye to eye with a pigeon... so i had to come home from work and do a catch and release... birds are always more afraid of you... and a handy pillow case always does the trick to stun them... then you can pick them up and release them outside... 

moving on, our first nesting couple had a baby (possibly more) but it was brutally attacked by some crows... it was sad... i used to be able to hear the baby cry and i peeked on occasion in the nest to see what he looked like... he was maybe a few weeks old and started to grow his feathers when he was attacked... wasn't a pleasant sight to come out of the house and have a dead baby bird at your feet with its back full of peck holes... 

the second nesting couple were kind of dingy... all the eggs that they laid rolled off of the roof and of course perished... 

and now no pigeons this year... i thought i heard some the other day but the nest has been empty for a long time... 

pigeon from 2007:

pigeon from 2008:

empty, lonely nest: