Start loving pigeons!

Pepi

Source: You Tube (scattycats) Key Words: Benny hill pigeons

In my opinion pigeons have an undeserved, bad reputation. They are thought of as disease-carrying pests. I find them fascinating creatures and I think it's time we saw them in a different light. I love feeding them, usually much to the annoyance of people nearby. I find it relaxing and it amuses me how they behave. I even find their cooing a pleasant sound.

Consider the following the next time you see one:

In both World Wars the pigeon saved countless human lives by carrying messages across enemy lines. Pigeons were carried on ships in convoys and in the event of a U-boat attack, a messenger pigeon was released with details of the location of the sinking ship. As a result, many survivors were rescued. Mobile pigeon lofts were set up behind the trenches in the First World War from which pigeons often had to fly through enemy fire and poison gas to get their messages home. The birds played a vital role in intelligence gathering.

The earliest large scale communication network using pigeons as messengers was established in Syria and Persia about 5th Century BC. Much later in the 12th Century AD the city of Baghdad and all the main towns and cities in Syria and Egypt were linked by messages carried by pigeons. This was the sole source of communication. In Roman times the pigeon was used to carry results of sporting events such as the Olympic Games, and this is why white doves are released at the start of the Games today. In England, prior to the days of telegraphs, pigeons were often taken to soccer matches and released to carry home the result of the game.

Many religious groups including Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs feed pigeons for religious reasons. Some Sikhs feed pigeons because they believe that when they are reincarnated they will never go hungry if they have fed pigeons in their previous life. Other religious groups in India believe that when a person dies, his or her soul assumes the form of a bird (normally a pigeon) and by feeding birds they are caring for the souls of their departed ancestors. The pigeon is revered in India with huge flocks numbering many thousands of birds being fed daily at Hindu temples in town and city centres throughout the country. In the Christian religion the pigeon is both a symbol of peace and of the Holy Spirit.

The feral pigeon mates for life and can breed up to 8 times a year, bringing two young into the world each time. The frequency of breeding is dictated by the abundance of food. The eggs take 18/19 days to hatch with both parents incubating the eggs. Both parents feed the young with a special ‘pigeon milk’ that is regurgitated and fed to the young. At approximately 2 months of age the young are ready to leave the nest. This gives the young pigeon an advantage over many other species of bird which abandon the nest after 2 or 3 weeks. The pigeon leaves the nest as a relatively mature juvenile, allowing the bird to cope better in the first few days of its life outside of the nest. So this is why you have probably never seen a baby pigeon.

Source: You Tube (South China Morning Post) Kew Words: Most expensive pigeon

A 10-year study carried out by Oxford University concluded that, rather than rely on their in-built compass. Pigeons use roads and motorways to navigate. In some cases, they even changed direction at motorway junctions.

The US coastguard found that pigeons can be trained to save human lives at sea with high success rates. Project Sea Hunt trained a number of pigeons to identify red or yellow life jackets when floating in the water. The pigeons were not only found to be more reliable than humans but they were also much quicker at spotting survivors from a sinking boat.

The pigeon is able to recognise its reflection in a mirror.

For many years, the pigeons in Trafalgar Square were considered a tourist attraction, with street vendors selling packets of seeds for visitors to feed the pigeons. The feeding of the Trafalgar Square pigeons was controversially banned in 2003 by London mayor Ken Livingstone. However, activist groups such as Save the Trafalgar Square Pigeons flouted the ban, feeding the pigeons from a small part of the square that is under the control of Westminster City Council, not the mayor.

A similar controversy ban was imposed in Piazza San Marco in Venice.


What bird or animal amazes you? Or which one annoys you?