Everything about pigeons: next to a person and in the wild. Why pigeons don't sit in trees: possible reasons and interesting facts Bird reproduction in a dovecote

Here interesting topic which few people think about. It may seem to city dwellers that the number of pigeons is increasing in some magical way - all the birds that we see on the street are already adults, but nowhere and we never see chicks.

So where are they and do they exist at all?

Rest assured - chicks exist, and there is a good explanation for the fact that we do not see them.

Reason # 1. We don't see pigeon nests

Many urban birds nest openly enough, and without even noticing the chicks, we learn about their appearance by observing the behavior of birds near the nests. Buildings of crows and thrushes are clearly visible on tree branches, starlings fly into the nest boxes we hung with food, sparrows hide in cracks on the walls of houses or under roofs, from where bundles of straw and tow they brought in stick out. Sisari nest mainly in the attics of multi-storey buildings, flying there through cracks and dormer windows. Therefore, from the street, it is impossible to judge the presence of pigeon nests and their contents. Only occasionally can you see the cisar returning to the nest under construction with a dry twig in its beak. The dove's nest, like most of its relatives around the world, is a small platform built from dry twigs, and its construction does not require significant effort.

Blue dove nest with newly hatched chicks.

Wild doves inhabit places that are practically inaccessible to people - cornices and niches on high cliffs, sheer cliffs or on the walls of bottomless caves. Pigeon nests built in city attics are easier to inspect, but townspeople do not do it often, even if they manage to get under the roof of their house. Where pigeons breed for many years in a row, all the space they occupy is flooded with droppings, covered with nesting material, mixed with dead eggs and dried corpses of chicks. In such conditions, in the twilight of the attic, it is not easy to spy out a living nest, even if there are large chicks in it. A casual visitor would rather hasten to leave the attic inhabited by pigeons than wait for the adult birds to return to their offspring.

Grown up chicks in the nest.

The first two weeks after hatching, the chicks feed mainly on the secretions of the walls of the parents' goiter (bag-like expansion of the esophagus) - a kind of "bird's milk" with the consistency of thick sour cream and containing all the organic and mineral substances necessary for the development of the chicks. Later, the chicks gradually switch to grain and other roughage, which the parents also bring them to the crop. By the appearance of a flying pigeon, it is impossible to determine whether it is carrying food to chicks. That is why it is so difficult to notice the beginning of that period when the pigeons have offspring.

Reason # 2. We do not distinguish young pigeons from adults

How do young birds that have left their nests usually look like? In urban songbirds - crows, thrushes and sparrows - the so-called chick type of development, that is, their chicks are born completely helpless and sit in the nest almost until they fully mature, leaving it shortly before getting on the wing. Young birds capable of flying may differ little in size from their parents, however, they immediately give themselves away with short, not yet fully grown, tails, bright (yellow or red) corners of the mouth, as well as characteristic behavior: fledglings (chicks that have just begun to leave the nest) tremble shallowly wings and open their beaks, begging for food from their parents. In brood birds (for example, in the city mallard), in which the chicks leave the nest soon after hatching, they differ sharply from their parents in their appearance: the chicks are covered with down, not feathers, noticeably smaller than adults, and are colored differently.

A grown chick before the fluff finally changes to feathers; soon he will be able to fly. Pay attention to the color of the iris of the eye: it is brown, while in adult birds it is red or orange.

Olubi also belong to chicks, and all their development takes place in the nest. When, at the age of about a month, young pigeons leave their nests, their feather cover is already almost completely formed and they are very similar to adults (more than songbirds). Young pigeons are able to fly independently and search for food, although inexperience often leads them to death - for example, under the wheels of cars. Until they reach full independence, they find food in the craws of their parents, so the base of their beak remains unfeathered for a long time, otherwise their feathers could easily get dirty or quickly wear out when adolescent pigeons push their beak into the beak of their mother or father. The beaks of young pigeons, which are bare at the base, seem to us longer than the beaks of adults.

Adult pigeon chicks. The fact that these are young birds is evidenced by the remains of yellow fluff in their plumage.

In most birds, the plumage of young birds looks duller and less elegant than the plumage of the parents. This is also true for pigeons: on the neck and chest of young birds there is no metallic sheen, characteristic of wild cisars and many of their domesticated descendants. The absence of such brilliance does not make them less noticeable to predators, but, apparently, determines the nature of the relationship of pigeons with relatives, who immediately identify young individuals in dimly colored birds. A person can only notice the differences between young and adult saisars at close range.

On the left is an adult pigeon, on the right is a young one. Please note that the young bird does not have a metallic sheen in the plumage of the neck and chest, the iris is brown, not orange. Despite these differences, it is not so easy to spot such a pigeon in a flock of adults.

Young birds are often betrayed by the attitude of their parents towards them. Their parents are invariably found next to the chicks of hooded crows or field thrush - some of the most visible urban birds. They bring them food (in their beaks, like blackbirds, or in a special bag under the beak, like crows), cry excitedly when a person or a dog approaches the chicks, and often try to drive away a potential predator. For pigeons, such manifestations of anxiety are not typical. According to the literature, sisari continue to feed the young after their departure, but they do this for a short time - no more than a week. Chicks of pigeons nesting on Moscow rooftops, apparently, fly to the ground and completely independent - in any case, I have never been able to observe how a young pigeon begs for food from an adult. In this, doves resemble swifts, whose parents stop feeding the chicks even before they leave the nest.

Reason number 3. We rarely see young pigeons

No matter how similar young pigeons are to adult birds, we would inevitably pay attention to them if they appeared in large numbers at once, like fledglings of many of our songbirds that fill city squares in May and June.

A picture that is easy to see in spring in any park: an adult starling feeds fledglings. Starling is a songbird, fledglings are noticeably different in color from an adult bird and also have yellow corners of the mouth and short tails

However, pigeons do not breed as synchronously. Many sisari start building nests in February and March and manage to make four to five nesting attempts per year, but there is no simultaneous departure of young pigeons from neighboring nests. Different pairs start nesting at different times, in many sisars the clutches and chicks perish (for example, the nest is ruined by the hooded crow), and adult birds begin to re-nest, while in others the chicks successfully fly out. Chicks of late broods leave nests in November-December. There are known cases of successful breeding of the rock dove in other winter months.

The broods of the rock dove are small. The female lays only two eggs. The first chick is born almost a day earlier than the second and gets an advantage in development, so that the younger chicks sometimes die of exhaustion. By the time the chicks leave the nest, the female often already incubates the eggs of the next clutch, and then only the male feeds the grown offspring. Only he accompanies the young, if the care for them continues after departure.

The prolonged nesting period of urban cisars, the lack of synchronization of reproduction of different pairs, the relatively small number of surviving offspring, the lack of long-term communication of pigeons with their parents contribute to the fact that we rarely see young pigeons on our streets. However, with enough attention and patience, it is not so difficult to get acquainted with young saisars.

sources

More and more Moscow residents notice the unnatural behavior of city pigeons. The birds look sleepy, some are standing with their beaks on the asphalt, but most of them sit ruffled, not reacting to the approach of people and cars.

"U front door a pigeon is sitting in the entrance. Closely. I go up - he is sitting. I wave my hand - zero reaction. I open the door - continues to sit, only moved a centimeter.

I slowly open the door, about 30 centimeters, to enter the entrance - it just moves after the door and that's it. Doesn't fly, doesn't walk. But at the same time alive ", - wrote in social network Muscovite Olga. Her post quickly garnered over a hundred comments. People agreed that for the last week and a half, the city birds have been behaving very strangely. “Yesterday I drove one out from under the wheels of a neighbor's car. Half an hour later I saw a pigeon sitting on the asphalt, its beak resting on the ground. Apocalypse to pigeons, ”he wrote. “They are blunt and do not react to cars and other dangers. Yesterday my friend's dog was walking, they found such a dull pigeon - he didn't even twitch. I took the dog away from him and faster, ”she wrote. “There are unusually many dead and dying (birds),” he agreed.

Many birds fly with difficulty and sometimes even bump into passers-by.

If the pigeons get to the balconies and vents, then it is difficult for them to maintain balance on the railings and frames. “We are sitting in the kitchen, and here the little brother runs screaming, it turned out that a pigeon fell from the window on the window sill,” Twitter users wrote on Tuesday. “A dove has fallen onto our balcony and cannot fly,” another user said in a message. “A pigeon flew to my balcony the other day and beat against the glass, not realizing that the street was behind me. I went out to rescue, and he fell to the floor and lay staring, ”he writes.

“I also noticed that something strange has been going on with pigeons for the last week and a half,” Maria Vinokurova, press secretary of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), confirmed to Gazeta.Ru. - Many times I saw the dead at the house. Living ones sit, do not move, even if you walk a few centimeters away. " She explained that the foundation does not deal with urban birds, so they can only confirm the trend.

The townspeople unanimously decided that the birds were either poisoned by something or were dying from the heat. “No, well, what a heat it is now, it's not a heat. Even in 2010, when there was a heat, one cannot say that the pigeons were sweet then, but they did not fall on the fly, ”Viktor Zubakin, President of the Russian Bird Conservation Union, commented on the situation to Gazeta.Ru. - The behavior of pigeons - drowsiness, lethargy - is more like symptoms of a disease such as psittacosis. This is quite common among them. It is not excluded that now there is some kind of epizootic (mass disease) among birds. "

Many veterinary clinics in the capital, as it turned out, do not seek to treat bird diseases. “We do not accept birds, as their diseases are transmitted to humans,” a veterinary clinic explained to Gazeta.Ru.

“These are sick pigeons,” the Green Parrot bird hospital immediately told Gazeta.Ru. “Pigeons often develop various diseases of viral etiology, bacterial infections. Most often there is trichomoniasis, in second place - psittacosis and whirligig - this is such a popular name, caused by salmonellosis, Newcastle disease, - told "Gazeta.Ru" veterinarian of the hospital "Green Parrot" Lyudmila Korobkova. - A pigeon's lack of coordination is characteristic of a whirligig: it cannot fly, cannot eat, sits, loses weight and dies. Trichomoniasis has symptoms - lethargy and drowsiness. "

Chicks and young birds are highly susceptible to diseases, says the veterinarian.

“Now there are just a lot of chicks, apparently, they are sick. In winter, sick birds die quickly, and in summer they walk sluggishly along the streets for a long time, but it is difficult for them to look for food and water, "adds Korobkova. From the point of view of humanism, the townspeople should help sick birds, feed them, the doctor explains. But from the point of view of safety, it is better not to touch them - some diseases are transmitted to humans.

The birds will not be able to recover on their own. Muscovites can help sick pigeons and bring them to the veterinary clinic, where there is an ornithologist. “But the success of treatment depends on the stage of the disease. If the bird just got sick - it sits sad, but more or less normal, then it can be cured. And if she has a difficult stage, then there is little chance of helping, ”says Korobkova. According to her, at a severe stage of trichomoniasis in birds, the larynx and esophagus overgrow and begin to rot. Food does not pass and you have to feed through a tube. “The whole beak is covered with snot and saliva, and if you open the beak, then there is a white bloom, these are symptoms of trichomoniasis,” says Korobkova. - Sometimes sick pigeons are brought to us, mostly trichomoniasis, we treat them. If the beak is clean, then we make an analysis and establish the disease. "

Why aren't pigeons sitting in trees? On poles, cornices and roofs of buildings, on the ground, curbs and even on a person - please, as much as you like. So why are these urban birds ignoring tree branches, what are the reasons for this behavior?

It all depends on the place of residence and species species. The natural habitat of rock pigeons, the wild ancestors of our city pigeons, are rocky mountains. They are houses on rocks, and concrete buildings and bridges are suitable alternatives for them. There are other species of pigeons that have a tree house: wood pigeons in Europe, green pigeons in Africa, many species of pigeons in the tropics, and so on.

It is worth considering:

Why do pigeons prefer to nest in buildings instead of trees?
Why do pigeons never sit on trees and always on man-made structures?
If pigeons are so common in cities, why do we never see dead pigeons?

The point is that pigeons can sit in trees, but the problem is that there are more buildings in the city than trees. In addition, buildings provide a safer nesting site, while trees are often prey to rain and wind. Why pigeons do not perch on trees can be called normal adaptations to change, although it may cause evolution.

In the wild, pigeons make their nests on high rocky cliffs. Tall buildings remind pigeons of natural nesting sites. It is quite interesting to observe that pigeons never make nests in trees, since we know that birds build their houses or nests in trees. But there seems to be quite a few possible reasons for this.

Causes

Possible reasons why pigeons do not sit in trees are as follows:

In ancient times, people used pigeons to send messages through letters. The message was tied to their paws or to their back, and they just flew back to their home. Given the fact that they have a large number of natural enemies, pigeons in urban areas prefer to make their nests or houses inside buildings rather than in trees to protect themselves.
The pigeons we see in cities are actually rock pigeons. Therefore, buildings, cornices, bridges are closer to them as a dwelling. Cities with their capabilities fast food provide food for pigeons, unlike most rocky areas. Modern pigeons in cities are not as afraid of people as real wild ones, and they have adapted to city life.
There is a small chance that they may have lost muscle strength in their legs over the course of evolution and thus are unable to grip branches.

There are many interesting facts about humble pigeons, these feathered inhabitants with whom we share our cities, suburbs, and if they are lucky, even bread crumbs.

These are the first birds domesticated by humans. Humanity's relationship with pigeons dates back to the dawn of civilization and probably even earlier. Domesticated pigeons, also known as stone pigeons, were first depicted in pictographic writing on clay tablets during the Mesopotamian period, dating back over 5,000 years.
They do somersaults in the air, but no one knows why. Many birds are known to perform impressive aerial acrobatics in pursuit of prey or avoid being eaten by themselves, but few of these movements are more impressive than doves doing somersaults. No one really knows for sure why some types of pigeons roll backward in flight, although some suspect it is just for fun.
They have learned to ride the subway and are exemplary passengers. Train drivers say they have seen pigeons riding the subway regularly since the early 1990s and that they are, in fact, exemplary passengers.
They get to know people who treat them well. Pigeons remember the faces they encounter. In one study of birds in central Paris, two researchers offered food to the birds or chased them away, respectively. When this was repeated over several visits, the pigeons began to avoid the pursuer when pulled to the trough, even if they were wearing different clothes.
They see the world in a kaleidoscope of colors. Pigeons are known to have extraordinary vision and are able to distinguish nearly identical shades of color. Humans, for example, have a triple color perception system, while pigeon photosensors and filters can distinguish up to five spectral bands, making the world a virtual kaleidoscope of colors for them.
They are the only birds that can suck in water.
One of them saved nearly 200 American soldiers. In 1918, in the final weeks of World War I, a group of 194 American soldiers were captured behind enemy lines and were fired upon by both advancing German forces and their allies, who mistook them for enemy forces. Their only hope of getting word of their predicament was the few carrier pigeons they brought with them. When the first two birds were shot down, one pigeon named Sher Ami was the last hope for salvation. Although the brave bird was shot several times after leaving the bunker, she survived and delivered a life-saving note. For its valor, the pigeon was awarded the title of Croix-de-Guerra, an honor bestowed on foreign troops by the French army.
They can fly at speeds up to 160 km per hour. Some pigeons can fly incredibly fast and over long distances.
They were the first pioneers in aerial photography. Shortly after the pigeons left the news business, they entered the world of photography. In 1907, the German pharmacist Julius Neubronner developed special cameras mounted on birds. Prior to that, such images could only be captured using balloons or kites.
They are monogamous and seem to really love each other.
They are also good parents. Both male and female pigeons are equally involved in nesting, sharing responsibility for incubating their eggs to give others food and rest. Do pigeons sit in the trees? Rather than nesting in trees, pigeons prefer to create their families in the safety of rocky cliffs. In urban environments, they prefer to hide in buildings.
The little chicks are incredibly cute, but they are rarely seen as their caring parents only allow them to leave after they are almost fully grown.
Nikola Tesla loved pigeons and he was a genius. In addition to his research on electricity, the famous eccentric inventor had a strong obsession with pigeons. He was known to go to the park daily to feed them, and even took them home when he found wounded. And one white bird, in particular, won Tesla's love more than the rest, and remained with him as a friend and pet until her death.
Picasso also admired pigeons and even named his daughter Paloma after them, which means pigeon in Spanish. As a freak on the street scene, painter Pablo Picasso clearly drew a lot of inspiration from the feathered creatures at his feet. Pigeons are a frequent subject in his work.
The lovable but extinct Dodo looked like a large plump dove. DNA researchers say the pigeon is the closest living relative of the now extinct flightless bird, the Dodo.
They are almost everywhere people are. Today, about 260 million pigeons live in virtually every city in the world, living and interacting with people, perhaps more than any other animal on the planet.

Almost any bird of the pigeon family can fly well. Their entire body is built to make it easier to stay in the air. Small size internal organs and the absence of unnecessary weighting materials (such as teeth, bladder) makes them lightweight. The pigeon can reach speeds of up to 100 km per hour. The highest flight altitude is from 1 to 3 km. You will learn many other details from this article.

Speed and maneuverability in flight

We talked about the structure of the body, plumage and colors of the birds of this order in the article Now let's talk about other important points.

There are two types of flight of pigeons - sailing, rowing. They can alternate with each other. The birds use the first, taking off and gaining sufficient height in an area where air currents move continuously. Hovering in a circle, the bird from time to time connects its spread wings.

The rowing flight of a bird is the main mode of climb and movement. When the wing is raised, the flight feathers turn so that the air passes between them, and when lowering the wing becomes dense. Due to the generated wind, the pigeon flies.

Also, these birds can "fly" in place. At the same time, they make fluttering movements with their wings and spread their tail, which does not allow them to move forward. In normal flight, this part of the body is of great importance - it serves as a rudder.

Briefly about the physiology of pigeons

All pigeons have a strong but lightweight skeleton, almost entirely composed of hollow bones. Its mass is only 9% of the total body weight. Most of the vertebrae are spliced, which gives the body stability in flight. But the tail is very mobile. The muscles are best developed on the chest. They account for up to 25% of the total weight of the bird.

Representatives of this detachment spend almost their entire life in flight or on the ground, nesting among stones or in other shelters. That is why pigeons do not sit on trees, or rather, they do not like to do this. The land is dearer to them as a place of rest and nesting.

The skin of pigeons is completely devoid of sebaceous, sweat glands. But there are complex respiratory organs: air sacs, bronchi and lungs, lower larynx, trachea, upper larynx and nasal cavity.

There are some peculiarities in the digestive system of pigeons. Like other birds, they have a goiter, the stomach has two sections, but there is no gall bladder. However, the opinion that there is no bile is a delusion. It is there, but it is excreted directly into the intestines.

Stare into the sun and not go blind: the senses

Pigeons are adapted to a daytime lifestyle. In light, their eyes see very well, and the bird relies heavily on sight.

The iris, like the diaphragm, controls the amount of incoming light. And it’s so good that a pigeon can sit against the sun and look directly at it for long hours. Therefore, if you have this bird at home, and she loves to sit on the windowsill on a sunny day, you can be sure that the bright light will not harm her. However, with the onset of darkness, the acuity of pigeon vision decreases.

Also, pigeons have a very sensitive, keen hearing. At the same time, their ears, like most birds, are devoid of shells and are indicated on the outside by only a barely noticeable fold of skin.

Pigeons can distinguish all tastes - sweet, salty, bitter, sour. They feel bad smells, but they have a more or less developed sense of touch. Sensory nerve endings are found on the paws of the bird, around the eyes and on the beak.

Nesting and reproduction in nature

A pair of pigeons is created one for life. In this case, mating of birds is preceded by mating games. Interestingly, males come into conflict with each other, but even victory does not guarantee the female's favor. She makes a choice relying only on her own instinct.

Female pigeons are called pigeons. Before mating, the couple takes care of each other: they pinch feathers, huddle, “kiss” with their beaks. The male demonstrates plumage and strength by fluffing feathers, spreading his wings and dancing. Two weeks after mating, the dove begins laying, which lasts up to three days. Young birds usually lay two eggs, while older birds lay only one. The eggs weigh about 20 g. Both the female and the male hatch.

Pigeons nest between stones or in caves - where predators cannot reach the clutch. The nest itself is simple, looks like a bunch of branches and grass. It is used by birds several times.

Pigeon chicks hatch after 16-19 days. They hatch at different times. The male and female feed them in turn. In a month, the kids are ready to fly. They become sexually mature birds in six months.

Reproduction of birds in the dovecote

Artificial mating of pigeons is used in breeding work. At home, bird breeding begins in March-April. Before that, you need to carry out a general cleaning in the dovecote and put special houses there for birds to mate. The newlyweds will live there. Straw or hay is placed inside the houses for softness.

Females are allowed to fly longer before mating. Also, a month before the procedure, it is better to separate the boys from the girls in order to stimulate the pigeons' interest in each other and give them a rest.

Further, you can let the birds choose each other themselves, or you can force them to be brought together by planting them in one box. The latter is important when you need to mate strictly defined pigeons. However, fertilization in this case is more difficult to achieve, and males can be aggressive.

Sometimes two females and even males can form a pair. However, they behave in exactly the same way as ordinary pairs of pigeons of different sexes. Females even lay and incubate eggs, but chicks from them, of course, do not hatch. Such pigeons make excellent hens for other people's eggs, if the dove died or for some reason abandoned the clutch.

How long do birds live in nature and in captivity?

How old pigeons live depends on many factors. This is the climate, the usefulness and variety of the diet, free or home content. In the northern regions, birds live much less than their southern relatives. Cold climate, lack of food, and lack of sun also affect.

In nature, the lifespan of a bird does not exceed 8 years. Predators have an influence here, because many animals hunt pigeons. In addition, in the natural environment it is more difficult to hide from bad weather, to find good food, but it is easier to face infections. Even a simple neighborhood with a person prolongs the life of birds. Human habitation has fewer predators, you can always find food, shelter from the cold.

Domestic pigeons live much longer than savages - up to 20 years. A certain role in this is played by the works of breeders who breed physically strong, disease-resistant birds. This allows them to actively exist for many years.

Note that the breed also depends on how long pigeons live. Most often, centenarians are found among ornamental birds.

Domestication of wild species

Even in ancient times, people began to tame and breed pigeons. Most scientists are inclined to believe that the first bird that was tamed by man was the dove, familiar to us. It is impossible to establish the date, but according to rough estimates, it happened 5-10 thousand years ago.

According to one version, for the first time a pigeon became a close neighbor of man in the Middle East. Then agriculture flourished, birds were attracted by the availability of plants and seeds.

According to another assumption, birds settled in ancient temples that people erected on the sea coast. Finally, it is assumed that a person tamed and began to breed a pigeon at home for meat and eggs.

Today, these birds are less often kept for meat (there are special breeds for this). For many, breeding beautiful and peaceful pigeons is a pleasant hobby. It allows you to escape from the everyday hustle and bustle, because a flock of pigeons circling in the sky is a very beautiful, pacifying sight.

Pros and cons of living birds next to humans

In how closely pigeons coexist with people there are positive and negative sides for both.

So, in rural areas, it is easier for birds to find food, but sometimes they can harm plantings. Pigeons in the city can serve as decoration and even a kind of attraction. How can you imagine, for example, Trafalgar Square without flocks of pigeons. Or the Venetian Piazza San Marco.

However, when there are many birds, they cause serious harm:

pollute the surrounding space with droppings and feathers;
peck at plants;
destroying buildings and monuments, trying to pull out windblown seeds from small cracks with their beaks.

Some people try to avoid pigeon habitats for fear of contamination. Of course, birds can carry psittacosis, histoplasmosis and other infections, but in an ordinary city, the chance of infection from birds is small. It is even less than the ability to catch the disease from other pets.

Variety of breeds - from chicken to peacocks

Today, there are almost 800 breeds, not counting the wild birds, which include the pigeon-like order. They are divided into three groups: sports, decorative and meat. In our country, breeders and hobbyists keep pigeons of 200 breeds. As a rule, they live in dovecotes, but sometimes they are kept as pets in a cage, which is placed on a windowsill.

The largest group is decorative pigeons. These are puffers (they inflate the goiter like a ball), chicken (for example, a Modena pigeon), Asian (similar to peacocks), exhibition tumblers. Russians fell in love with colored breeds. These are the Saxon magic swallow, the Russian Arkhangelsk and starling pigeons, the Danish subian.

The main characteristic of sports pigeons is the ability to develop high speed and cover great distances. After the first competitions held in Belgium, professionals have bred the breed of pigeons "travelers", or "Voyageurs". From them came the modern high-speed birds. Some of them can fly at speeds up to 145 km per hour.

Meat pigeons - king, carno - are not widespread in Russia. In other countries, they are bred for food. The peculiarity of such birds is their large weight, up to a kilogram.

Continuing the topic, you will learn about the importance of the image of a dove in the culture of different peoples and the unusual abilities of these birds.

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Leave a comment so we can know your opinion.

Causes

Possible reasons why pigeons do not sit in trees are as follows:

In ancient times, people used pigeons to send messages through letters. The message was tied to their paws or to their back, and they just flew back to their home. Given the fact that they have a large number of natural enemies, pigeons in urban areas prefer to make their nests or houses inside buildings rather than in trees to protect themselves.
The pigeons we see in cities are actually rock pigeons. Therefore, buildings, cornices, bridges are closer to them as a dwelling. Cities, with their fast food options, provide food for pigeons, unlike most rocky areas. Modern pigeons in cities are not as afraid of people as real wild ones, and they have adapted to city life.
There is a small chance that they may have lost muscle strength in their legs over the course of evolution and thus are unable to grip branches.

There are many interesting facts about humble pigeons, these feathered inhabitants with whom we share our cities, suburbs, and if they are lucky, even bread crumbs.

These are the first birds domesticated by humans. Humanity's relationship with pigeons dates back to the dawn of civilization and probably even earlier. Domesticated pigeons, also known as stone pigeons, were first depicted in pictographic writing on clay tablets during the Mesopotamian period, dating back over 5,000 years.
They do somersaults in the air, but no one knows why. Many birds are known to perform impressive aerial acrobatics in pursuit of prey or avoid being eaten by themselves, but few of these movements are more impressive than doves doing somersaults. No one really knows for sure why some types of pigeons roll backward in flight, although some suspect it is just for fun.
They have learned to ride the subway and are exemplary passengers. Train drivers say they have seen pigeons riding the subway regularly since the early 1990s and that they are, in fact, exemplary passengers.
They get to know people who treat them well. Pigeons remember the faces they encounter. In one study of birds in central Paris, two researchers offered food to the birds or chased them away, respectively. When this was repeated over several visits, the pigeons began to avoid the pursuer when pulled to the trough, even if they were wearing different clothes.
They see the world in a kaleidoscope of colors. Pigeons are known to have extraordinary vision and are able to distinguish nearly identical shades of color. Humans, for example, have a triple color perception system, while pigeon photosensors and filters can distinguish up to five spectral bands, making the world a virtual kaleidoscope of colors for them.
They are the only birds that can suck in water.
One of them saved nearly 200 American soldiers. In 1918, in the final weeks of World War I, a group of 194 American soldiers were captured behind enemy lines and were fired upon by both advancing German forces and their allies, who mistook them for enemy forces. Their only hope of getting word of their predicament was the few carrier pigeons they brought with them. When the first two birds were shot down, one pigeon named Sher Ami was the last hope for salvation. Although the brave bird was shot several times after leaving the bunker, she survived and delivered a life-saving note. For its valor, the pigeon was awarded the title of Croix-de-Guerra, an honor bestowed on foreign troops by the French army.
They can fly at speeds up to 160 km per hour. Some pigeons can fly incredibly fast and over long distances.
They were the first pioneers in aerial photography. Shortly after the pigeons left the news business, they entered the world of photography. In 1907, the German pharmacist Julius Neubronner developed special cameras mounted on birds. Prior to that, such images could only be shot with balloons or kites.
They are monogamous and seem to really love each other.
They are also good parents. Both male and female pigeons are equally involved in nesting, sharing responsibility for incubating their eggs to give others food and rest. Do pigeons sit in the trees? Rather than nesting in trees, pigeons prefer to create their families in the safety of rocky cliffs. In urban environments, they prefer to hide in buildings.
The little chicks are incredibly cute, but they are rarely seen as their caring parents only allow them to leave after they are almost fully grown.
Nikola Tesla loved pigeons and he was a genius. In addition to his research on electricity, the famous eccentric inventor had a strong obsession with pigeons. He was known to go to the park daily to feed them, and even took them home when he found wounded. And one white bird, in particular, won Tesla's love more than the rest, and remained with him as a friend and pet until her death.
Picasso also admired pigeons and even named his daughter Paloma after them, which means pigeon in Spanish. As a freak on the street scene, painter Pablo Picasso clearly drew a lot of inspiration from the feathered creatures at his feet. Pigeons are a frequent subject in his work.
The lovable but extinct Dodo looked like a large plump dove. DNA researchers say the pigeon is the closest living relative of the now extinct flightless bird, the Dodo.
They are almost everywhere people are. Today, about 260 million pigeons live in virtually every city in the world, living and interacting with people, perhaps more than any other animal on the planet.