The Humble Pigeon: A Curious Enigma.
Before I begin, I would like to first of all dedicate this article to my new friend Percy the Pigeon, a Racing Pigeon that briefly stopped at our house for a couple of days rest. This one’s for you, Percy!
Where to begin for my first wildlife-focused blog post? Lions, Tigers, Bears? Something exotic, ferocious and magnificent, surely?
No. In fact, I recommend that we stay slightly closer to home with this one, and address the noble creature who has been right under our noses all along.
The humble pigeon, of course.
The pigeon, I feel, has suffered an unfair level of defamation across its lifetime. I have before heard these birds referred to as “sky rats”- a phrase that I feel conjures quite disturbing visions of some 21st century version of the Exodus plagues- an image which pigeons certainly do not deserve.
Perhaps this is down to general complacency — why would we treasure something that is so ubiquitous in our lives? After all, whether you live in the big city or in the remotest corner of the countryside, there is probably a pigeon residing not too far away. We see them every day, wandering around the city streets nibbling crumbs, searching for stray chips at the beach and cooing in the trees in our garden. It’s not exactly akin to seeing a flamingo in the dappled olive lagoons of West Africa when you spy your twentieth pigeon of the day waddling past Tesco Express.
However, I argue that just because pigeons have become our little chubby urban friends does not make them any less exciting. In fact, I believe that this can only work in their favour — I certainly think the streets of Birmingham would feel lonely and grey without them (I know pigeons themselves are grey, but speaking metaphorically.) So allow me to delve into the reasons why I personally find pigeons so delightful.
I was at the beach recently, and contrary to what Steven Spielberg would have you believe, it was not a viciously insatiable Great White who was terrorising the local beach goers. The villains of the day were a lot more ‘Alfred Hitchcock’ in their style. That is to say, the entire beach was relentlessly tormented by the infamous seaside antagonist: the Seagull. Those who had made the mistake of buying fish and chips were brutally ambushed from above: one woman’s young son was fiercely pecked as another woman tragically fell victim, a seagull knocking her brand new (literally, she was in the process of leaving the chip shop at this moment) box of chips onto the floor. What followed was what I can only describe as a frenzied swarm of Seagulls flocking to the floor and completely annihilating the steaming hot chips within less than ten seconds. Many were traumatised.
But there was another chip-interested party there that day, who were much more polite and sociable in their approach, and it was, of course, the pigeons. As the Seagull-incited chaos unfolded, the little pigeons continued to waddle around, picking up a chip here and there, and pecking at it gratefully. There was no harassment involved in their chip pursuit, they just waited for those that were discarded, and then engaged in their own litter picking service. A mutually beneficial exchange between human and pigeon — an emblem of harmonious coexistence. If only the Seagulls could behave with such decorum.
Moving onto some more technical points- because I should mention some more functional reasons that pigeons are an asset to our eco-system, other than their impeccable manners. For example, did you know that pigeons are at the core of the evolutionary understanding we have today? Yes, pigeons played a pivotal role in Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection, contained in his famous work: On The Origin of Species. So, not to be over dramatic, but you really shouldn’t ignore that next pigeon on the pavement, because they are technically the celebrities of the natural world. In the words of The Natural History Museum, the pigeons studied by Darwin “helped to inspire a global change in thought”, and yet, they never boast about their revolutionary pioneering of such prolific research.
In 1855, Darwin immersed himself within the world of pigeon breeding: identifying pigeons with different physical characteristics, and examining the offspring that different combinations of characteristics produced. Astonishingly, pigeon breeders have created over 350 breeds with dozens of extravagant features such as ornate crests, feathered feet, fantails, and frillbacks. Such endless possibilities. By artificially selecting in this way, he gathered valuable evidence for his theory of evolution by natural selection.
Drawing on this, I would like to point out the fascinating diversity that exists amongst pigeons- they aren’t all just plain grey! The next time you see a group of pigeons, take a moment to study how different each of them looks; you will soon be able to appreciate their spectral variety. Even on one of the most common of pigeons: The Rock Dove (or the feral pigeon) it is easy to overlook the striking iridescent shimmer on their neck, where their feathers fade from ocean blue to a vivid violet. Objectively, they really are beautiful, and their colours are arresting if you take a moment to observe. My personal favourites are the occasional brown speckled ones that you can find in some of the flocks- they are slightly less common than they grey ones, but you can often see one waddling around! The RSPB has a great page on identifying pigeons and doves, cataloguing the sounds that they make and also the differences between those we see in the city and those that tend to dwell in the countryside and in our gardens.
Perhaps what I have laid out here in this blog is not the most interesting of subject matter, and perhaps you are not feeling a frantic urge to go onto the internet and look up different types of pigeon. However, if you are to take anything at all from reading this article, I wanted to share a small reminder of the simple joys that we have in every corner of the world around us, that in today’s busy reality are so easy to overlook. Sometimes things can become overwhelming, we can feel down or stressed, and I really do think that the best remedy for that is sometimes just to step outside for a quiet moment and take a minute or so to interact with the natural world, and the tiny little intricacies that make it so beautiful. Maybe having a look at some pink blossom trees in the sun, or dappled light on a river’s surface (or even just a puddle after the rain).
So, if on a relentlessly rainy day where you are trudging reluctantly to work, Starbucks ran out of your usual coffee order, and everyone on the streets looks as miserable as the gloomy clouds above, I hope that now a chirpy little pigeon will be able to brighten your morning. If you look across at the pigeon on the pavement who just found a stray chip, their happy little head bob (you know, the Micheal Jackson-esque walk that they do) will hopefully bring a smile into your day. We really are lucky to have our little chubby friends! (oh, and also consider how much litter picking they do — for absolutely no charge.)
So, to address my contemplations at the beginning of this article — If you are ever asked which creature is at the forefront of our plethora of diverse wildlife here in the UK, which creature most nobly emblemises the curious harmony between man and nature; the wonders of coexistence and the glorious conjunction of urban and wild, then there is only one answer you can really give:
The pigeon, of course. Who else?
