Pigeons, you either love them or hate them. One man’s beloved source of amusement is another man’s flying rat. Your feelings toward pigeons pretty much boils down to whether you’re feeding them popcorn in the park or scraping their doo-doo off your Italian loafers.
I’m referring, of course, to the pigeons that inundate our cities and take residence in our farm buildings. This bird is entirely man made.
The ancestor of all these birds is the Rock Pigeon, previously called the Rock Dove until its official name was changed from dove to pigeon in 2004. The Rock Pigeon is native to Europe, North Africa and West Asia and is the world’s oldest domesticated bird. Evidence shows they partnered with man at least 5,000 years ago. Today’s pigeons come in an endless variety of color combinations but the Rock Pigeon is the classic shades of bluish-gray with iridescent neck feathers and black wing and tail bars. Today, pure Rock Pigeons are rare and only exist in the wildest of places in northern Europe and Asia.
Over the 5,000-year span of domestication we have bred pigeons to be just about anything our hearts desired. We have bred them to enhance their natural homing instincts and flying speed for racing. For amusement we have created pigeons that turn somersaults in the air or have outlandish feather colors and sizes. Whether they be homing pigeons, tumblers, rollers or fancies they are all lumped under the category Domestic Pigeon.
Of course, these birds routinely escaped captivity and readily interbred. That resulted in the wide color variations we now see. These birds are called Feral Pigeons. Today, other than the handful of pure Rock Pigeons, every wild roaming pigeon is a Feral Pigeon, universally referred to as just a plain, old pigeon.
They are attracted to our cities because their common ancestor, the Rock Pigeon, is a cliff dweller. What better imitates a craggy cliff than high rise buildings and bridges with all their ledges, nooks and crannies? Of course, a tall barn with plenty of rafters serves well, too, especially with the side benefit of grain for dinner. Big, airy barns and open grain storage are all but a thing of the past so there are few rural pigeons these days but their urban counterparts flourish in our nearly predator free cities, sometimes in epidemic numbers.
Cities spend enormous amounts of money on pigeon control. A while back this meant poison but that indiscriminant method is becoming less popular. All sorts of ingenious things are now used to make structures less pigeon friendly. Commonly employed are sharp spikes on ledges and other roosting areas and netting to block access. There are chemical repellants and, in a few places, nature’s pigeon terror, introduced peregrine falcons. However, pigeons rank quite high in bird intelligence and seem to always figure a way to deal with deterrents so the pigeon wars are continually ongoing.
Much of the justification for “flying rat” control is the fear of them spreading human diseases. However, pigeons have gotten somewhat of a bum rap as disease carriers. They can host West Nile Virus but studies indicate they can’t transfer it. They can contract several forms of fairly benign bird flu but not the dangerous H5N1. About the only thing the bird itself is guilty of is sometimes carrying various forms of bird lice and mites.
Of more concern is their droppings. It’s mostly an aesthetic issue. Whitewash streaked buildings and pigeon doo between our toes has no redeeming qualities. There is a slight risk of disease in their droppings. Despite wild warnings by pest control companies of dozens of diseases in pigeon droppings there are only three of serious concern, all of which infect the lungs. Two are fungi and the other a bacterium. Of lesser consequence is salmonella, which is present in all fecal matter regardless of source. However, less than 50 people a year are diagnosed with pigeon related diseases and most of these come from dealing with domestic pigeons.
Carpe diem.
Larry Lyons writes a weekly outdoor column for Leader Publications. He can be reached at larry@lyonsgunworks.com
Source: Niles Daily Star
