Russell the Pigeon is more like a dog than a bird, says Sherry Turner Teas, co-founder of Happinest, a local nonprofit organization that rehabs raptors, songbirds and small mammals. Since 2012, Teas has helped rehabilitate and release around 1,000 songbirds and waterfowl, including more than 50 pigeons.
“Russell is the only pigeon I’ve ever hand-raised that never got wild,” Teas says.
In 2012, Russell came to Teas as a squab, his small downy-feathered body covered in sores. Teas thinks he either fell out of his nest or was attacked by a predator. The bird was too young to feed himself, so Teas made a “seed bottle” using a pill canister and vet bandaging.
“Even after Russell was weaned and eating on his own, he still carried his empty bottle around and slept with it,” Teas remembers.
Then, one day, Russell was ready to be released.