Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon (Columba livia)

One problem is that the species is represented by two very different strands of population. We are all familiar with the pigeons in our cities and towns, the ones that come to be fed at people’s feet at such celebrated sites as London’s Trafalgar Square of Venice’s St Mark’s Square; these are such icons of city life as to be overlooked as part of the scenery. But much less well known are the birds which live remote from people on sea-cliffs and precipitous mountains, the wild “Rock Doves”. That they are actually the same species, with the same origin, requires some explanation.

Originally all Feral Pigeons were Rock Doves, so to speak, and they all looked alike, and they lived in wild places. But some time between 5000 and 10,000 years ago they crossed paths with grain farmers, being attracted from their hideaways by the prospect of easy food on cultivated fields. People soon recognised that the young pigeons or “squabs” were highly edible, and encouraged them to breed near settlements. Little by little the Rock Dove was brought into domestication, aided by its ridiculously simple diet of grain, its liking for simple breeding ledges, and its phenomenal year-long reproductive rate. The population now flowed along two streams: the wild Rock Doves continued their lifestyle as they had before and remained unchanged, but the domesticated birds began to be selectively bred for desirable characteristics such as edibility, homing ability and attractive plumage. Thus a whole range of pigeon breeds arose – white pigeons (or doves), homing pigeons, pigeons with feathered feet, long tail plumes and curious head adornments; they became as diverse as breeds of dog. But at heart they were still all the same species.

The story turned full circle as domesticated birds escaped; some flew from dove-cotes, others did not return to their lofts. A significant newly-wild or “feral” population built up, made up from individuals of many colours and plumage patterns, metaphorically wearing their prison clothes on the outside. With their new found licence to roam these birds did not, as one might expect, return to their origin on the cliff-tops, but instead settled comfortably into built up areas, using building ledges instead of rocky cavities or caves, and feeding on bread and grain instead of wild seeds. Thus, under the same heading we have two camps – the Rock Doves with their ancestral plumage, and the Feral Pigeon with its new-fangled colour schemes – living well apart.

Until recently Feral Pigeons have rarely been studied in their semi-wild state, let alone censused. Clearly the population in towns and cities in Europe, and indeed elsewhere, is very large: in Barcelona, for example, a recent count came up with 2849 birds per km². This goes to show how remarkably well a shy bird living in remote places has been converted into a world-beater.

One aspect of Feral Pigeon biology is truly astonishing. Pigeons are renowned for their homing ability, accomplishing barely credible feats of pin-point navigation (flying from Guernsey, Channel Islands to the correct address in Brazil, for instance), and achieving enough reliability to be entrusted with carrying important human messages. Research has confirmed that they orientate by means of the sun’s position together with an accurate internal clock, and that they are highly sensitive to magnetic fields. In addition to this they use landmarks, low frequency sounds (infrasounds) and possibly smells, to find their way. They are also highly sensitive to atmospheric pressure, so they even have a built-in weather forecasting system to help them along the way. And yet this most famous of travelling birds is not actually a migrant. Most birds live within a very small area and never leave it.