No ducks but the pigeon floats

Remember the ducks? They never did return to the pond to eat their sack of premium food but worryeth not, we now have a swimming pigeon. The first time it happened I was about to rush out - rush being a relative term - to rescue what appeared to be a pigeon floundering after falling into the pond but it flapped its way out in ungainly fashion and was just regarded as a somewhat clumsy individual.

A couple of days later though and it was back. He, or she - my pigeon sexing skills are limited - waddles around the pond to a shallow area (designed to allow hedgehogs or anything else to crawl out) and wades in then launches itself into the water spreading wings and flapping around the pond for a few minutes before flapping out again and shaking the water off. I suppose a pond it beats those bird baths the size and depth of a decent soup plate that most gardens have. Given a few thousand years and his/her offspring might even develop webbed feet.

I have heard of pigeons swooping down on lakes and canals to scoop a mouthful of water but swimming? Wood pigeons do show some strange behaviour when it comes to water though. A couple of summers ago in a real cats and dogs downpour a wood pigeon arrived in the centre of the lawn, lay prostrate and then held out a wing and rolled almost sideways with the wing vertical in the pelting rain. After a while it rolled back and extended the other wing and repeated the process before lying flat on the lawn with both wings spread wide as the rain lashed down.

As the downpour abated the pigeon stood up, had a shake, waddled to the bird table and carried on as if nothing had happened.