Baby pigeon died

Question
I have a pair of wild pigeons that have now had their third generation of babies on one of my 2nd floor patios.  They have nested in various flower pots, and seem very devoted to one another and calm when I am out there watering plants.  On their first two trys, the Momma laid two eggs both times, but only one hatched each time.  They took good care of each baby and they matured to adulthood.  This third time, both eggs hatched, although the first one hatched several days before the second one.  The first baby seemed to be growing much faster than the second one--he was significantly larger.  Both parents would let the birds feed from their beaks at the same time, instead of feeding one baby at a time.  I don't know if the littler one just wasn't getting enough to eat.  She was very active though, just small.  She and the bigger baby seemed to get along very well, snuggled up together when the parents weren't there.  It's been about 12 days since the first one hatched.  This morning when I woke up, the little one was dead in the nest.  I waited until the Daddy bird showed up for daytime daycare duty to see what he would do.  He didn't enter the nest for a long time, which is unusual.  When he did finally enter, he fed the live baby, and sat on the dead one for a long time.  I didn't know what to do, so when he left, I gently pulled out the dead baby from the nest and buried her.  She didn't have any broken skin like she had been pecked.  We live in Houston where it is warm, I don't think she got too cold.  What could she have died from?  And did I do the right thing by removing her?  I have grown very attached to these birds!

Answer
Hi, Rudy,

I'm sorry for responding late to your question(s).  I was hospitalized and trying to catch up.

Pigeons are great birds!  This baby probably died as a result of illness.  Pigeons are great parents and Mother Nature's rule is survival of the fittest.  It is not unusual for 1 baby in a clutch of 2 to die.  The second baby is often less healthy and/or the older one gets fed better, etc.  Pigeon babies in the wild can acquire many illnesses/disease from contaminated droppings on the feet of their parents, from the nesting material itself depending on what it consists of, etc.  Could be one of the parents isn't completely well themselves, embryos can become ill inside their shell before hatching and hatch with sickness....lots of reasons why this baby passed.  You did good by removing the baby, as the parents would eventually have discarded it themselves.

Keep up the good work and enjoy the birds!

Chrys