Pigeons are an interesting breed of bird. They easily fit into our urban habitat and have learnt some tricks from us like differentiating between numbers and letters as well as other weird and wonderful tricks. I looked online to try and find more information and facts on them
We have become accustomed to living with pigeons for many years since they came with the sailors to America. Pigeons have reproduced and made a world of their own, they have a couple of interesting traits such as bobbing their head when walking, mating kisses, back flipping in the air and other weird and wacky things.
Why do pigeons bob their head?
This occurs while the pigeon is walking and happens for a number of reasons. It aids with balance, it also provides depth perception to pigeons and has a way of sharpening division
More often than not it is seen as something that helps to stabilize their surroundings. Because they rely on their head movements and not their eye movement this is how they hold images while in motion. To try and understand this theory try standing with your head not moving on a treadmill, your head would need to move in order to stabilize images in front of you
Art snobs
Pigeons can be trained to do a variety of things. One of these tricks had been demonstrated in 1995 where pigeons were trained to recognize classic paintings of Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet as well as other artists in the cubism and impressionism movement.
They are able to identify and distinguish watercolor from pastel images. They were also taught to distinguish between a painting that was given either a good or a bad score. Later the pigeons were shown new paintings and could identify which got a good score and a bad score.
Why do pigeons kiss?
A “pigeon kiss” is when to pigeons put their beaks together in a very passionate kiss. This is a part of the courtship ritual that pigeons perform when it’s mating season, they then coo after the kiss
Fuzzy legs
Some pigeons have fuzzy legs, these legs are called “muffs” they differ from the natural look of pigeons legs which have scales. According to biologists these interesting type of feet are partially wings
Why do pigeon’s back flip in the air?
Pigeons seem to enjoy flaunting their ability to fly by showing off their aerobatic skills to each other, to avoid being eaten or when they’re trying to pursue their prey. We don’t know if they do this for fun or have a reason to.
Parenting together
Pigeons share the responsibility of parenting equally. Splitting time between the two parents when incubating the eggs, dividing responsibility and offering each other time to rest and eat. Making the situation easier on both parents and enabling the chick to grow up in a very attentive home.
Flying at top speed
Certain pigeon breeds are able to fly at up to 100 mph, yet they can only fly in brief bursts. It is difficult to believe as the regular pigeon seems to lounge around and take it easy.
Natural straws
Unlike other birds which take water into their mouths, tip their head back leaning back to let water run down their throat, pigeons suck water. They suck water with their heads down, drinking the water as though through a straw pulling it up. This is possible as a result of the structure of the back of the beak and esophagus.
Does that pigeon recognize me?
Pigeons are smart enough to remember faces that they’ve encountered in their life. Studies have been done where pigeons were given food or chased away. When this experiment was redone the pigeons could tell which people chased them away and who fed them by avoiding the former and being friendlier towards the latter. The participants where all females, had similar skin color, build and age so the pigeons recognize them by their faces only.
A dodo
The dodo, was a part of the pigeon group. These flightless birds made their habitat in Madagascar having no natural predators until humans came into the picture. New predators such as cats, dogs, rats and pigs resulted in the dodo’s dying out eventually. This link connection was confirmed by DNA testing.
Ping pong champion
If you know how to play ping pong then a pigeon might be a great opponent. In the fifties a psychologist wanted to use pigeons as an example to prove that animal behavior was directed by external factors not simply by instinct as previously assumed. He did this by using several pigeons in these experiments and taught them how to play Ping-Pong.
Abc’s
Pigeons are quite clever and can be taught a variety of things. One of these is how to distinguish between each letter of the alphabet. They can distinguish one letter from all others in the alphabet. It is said that they recognize them in the same way that humans do even getting the same alphabets wrong that human’s do.
123’s
Mathematics can be difficult for some people but not to pigeons. A variety of animals have been taught it and it has been established through studies that pigeons have the same math competencies as non-human primates. Pigeons have been taught abstract math concepts. They can differentiate between a number of amounts and order pairs. In the animal kingdom this is only been seen in rhesus monkeys apart from humans.
Taking the train
Don’t be surprised when you see a pigeon riding the Subway. This is been happening since the 1990’s. I don’t know if they prefer not to fly but they’ve been great passengers ever since.
Kaleidoscope eyes
Pigeons are revered for the brilliant ability to differentiate between colors which are nearly identical. Pigeons see colors better than humans as they can differentiate between 5 Spectra bands using light filters enabling them to see a kaleidoscope of colors. Humans can only see three bands of color
Aerial photographers
A German pharmacist created a lightweight timer bird camera which could be strapped to pigeons and could take photographs while the bird was in flight
Before the development of the camera these types of photos only possible by hot air balloons
Multitasking marvels
Humans might think they’re good at multitasking but pigeons are one to be reckoned with. When compared to humans studies show that pigeons were able to multitask at the same speed as humans.
When tested on switching tasks they proved that they were better at this than humans were. A reason for this is that because pigeons have their nerve cells tightly packed it might be easier for them to process information.
Pigeons and Tesla
The genius known as Nikola Tesla hand an obsession with pigeons. He loved them so much he took daily walks in the park to feed them, if he found that one was injured he will bring them back to his home to care for. Tesla had a particular love for one of the pigeons and this one stayed with him as both a pet and a friend until Tesla died
The genius has been quoted saying “I love that pigeon as a man loves a woman and she loves me as long as I had her there was purpose of my life””
Pigeons and Picasso
So enamored with pigeons he often took inspiration from these feathered friends and often used them in his paintings as subjects. An example of a pigeon in his work is le pigeon aux petit pois which means the pigeon with green peas, it was completed in 1911. He had such a fascination with pigeons that he named his daughter Paloma this translates into pigeon in Spanish
Pigeon milk
Mammals provide the young with milk to sustain themselves. I assumed that pigeons as like other birds would chew up food and then give it to the young. In reality pigeons feed their young with a whitish liquid that contains fats, oxygen, nutrients and healthy proteins, this is called crop milk
The milk is produced by both the male and the female and is secreted by the esophagus. It is regulated by the hormone prolactin, this will feed newly hatched pigeons for 4 weeks or so.
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