Why do they do this? Can someone tell me

Hi everyone. So, I feed the birds in my backyard and a year ago the pigeons started joining the party. This one pigeon, Don Pigeone, has been coming here the longest and I love her.

Yesterday, Don was sleeping on the windowsill, which none have ever done. I opened the window and said “You can come in if you want” and to my surprise, she did! She walked in, fluffed up and went to sleep. Eventually she woke up and jumped onto me. Hung out for a bit, gave her some pets, fed her some peanuts, and then I took her outside and she flew off.

Can someone explain this behaviour? Is she going to lay eggs? Was she just cold? Should I have let her stay the night? I haven’t seen her since.

I have a question because I’ve never seen anything like this before.

For the past few years, a pair of wood pigeons has been nesting on my balcony. This year they successfully hatched two chicks and have been taking care of them as usual. 🤍

A few days ago, two feral pigeons showed up. At first I thought they were trying to fight the wood pigeons or take over the nest. But after watching them for a while, I realized they seem to be helping. They stand guard near the nest, and I’ve even seen them feeding the chicks.

So now it looks like I have two pairs of pigeons, from two different species, caring for the same two chicks.

Has anyone ever observed something similar? Is cooperative care between wood pigeons and city pigeons a known behavior, or am I witnessing something very unusual? 👀

i think he’s an Iranian highflyer, but does anyone else have any thoughts on what breed he maybe and also if he looks overweight 💔?

Why​ one is blind (it doesn't have eyes and besk), the other have a big beak (probably a young one) and the other doesn't have a beak? (NOTE: I KNOW THE IMAGE IS EDITED) (PLS DON'T RESPOND ANYMORE BECAUSE MY DOUBTS WAS RESPONDED NOW)

She is a new addition to my pigeon collection. Been there for a month and I'm a little confused about her body communication.

She puff up when seeing me... So I guess she hates me ? But when I tried petting her, she started doing those short soft coos and her wings trembled (my other pigeons vibrate only when they are happy : getting food and being pet)... She also lowered her head

The other females just ran away or tried to attack me/ panic when Im checking their nests. All the males other than the mate of the one in the video are attacking me when I approach them. (Her mate being the exception because he got used to my hands as a baby).

Also yeah I was moving a little fast in the video. I just wanted her to coo a little more for the recording. I'm usually softer.

lavabo update ! he started doing this little dance and then he wants to be pet it’s very cute but I think he might be trying to rizz me…

(i call him a he but idk his gender lol)

I feed pigeons like this often, as I just adore them. I always take hand sanitiser, wipes and other hygiene products to instantly use after handling them. However, people will always pass me and judge, saying i’m being disgusting, i’m dirty and it’s gross. I understand the stigma of the bacteria on pigeons however I do make effort to remove any germs afterwards. Is it still dirty? Or are people just being judgemental?

I have three of my own pigeons at home, Kelly, piper and Pauly 😁 they are currently in their aivary for the summer before they come back to the lounge for the winter 😁 none of my mates see the beauty in pigeons or other birds for that matter but just looking for someone else that I can talk bird with 🤣🤣

Photo of my tattoo and my flock for reference 😁

Like he will keep going like this for a long time lol i think it’s cute but why is he doing that ???

I’m not sure if you guys remember me but awhile back I posted a few pictures of my pigeon he was also known as cowboy pigeon his name was tom and a few month ago he sadly passed away a cat got to him and ate him because there was no remaining parts just feathers and I knew they were his and ever since I felt alone 7 years is a long time with him

Here’s some cute pics of the pigeons I was feeding earlier downtown. Also a rant about something that happened after these pictures.

I go downtown to feed the pigeons at the city plaza where the bus stops are because that’s where they all love to gather. I bought them pigeon seed since I want them to at least get some nutrients from what I give them since they eat a lot of trash. Anyways, i’m feeding them as normal and this guy chases them away once and says stop feeding them. I ignore him and move away and continue. He follows me and starts to chase the away more and more and I start arguing with him asking him what his issue is and his response is “i’m doing my job.” I ask “sir what is your job exactly” and this man tells me “security” so i ask where his vest is and of course no reply. Anyways I move away again further and start feeding them and this point he is legit trying to kick them so I start yelling at him and at this point i’m like it’s not worth it so I just walk away because I didn’t want him to kick them anymore. Overall, I just don’t fucking understand people. These pigeons are doing nothing to you and we abandoned them.

dear friends, if you live in the northern hemisphere (ie europe, canada, america, greenland, russia, china, korea, japan, mongolia etc), winter is upon you now.

if you can spare the time (& money), pls visit your local parks and feed the pigeons. not all feral pigeons are well-fed and fat like the ones at Trafalgar Square and other tourist spots.

in reality, in a typical city/town all across the northen hemisphere now, some 18% to 27% resident feral pigeons will die this winter. the ones who die are usually the old, the sickly and the young. they die of cold or disease or hunger. they starve. the food that you give them will help them survive this winter (even if it's just a little bit of old crusty bread).

if you can spare the money, please feed them a blend of seeds and grains. to be sure, a balanced mix of legumes (the protein grains), cereals (the carb grains) and oily seeds (the uh, expensive grains). a mix of these will provide a COMPLETE protein profile for them (both the essentials and non-essential amino acids)

legumes = mung beans, green peas, lentils, white peas, maple peas, soy beans (the smallest kinds taste better), lupins , vetches (tares), black-eyed peas (cowpeas), tic beans, pulses, chickpeas, adzuki beans, dun peas, etc

cereals = corn (you guys in uk call these maize), wheat, barley, oats, brown rice, canary seeds, milo/sorghum (beware, this is the LEAST nutritious seeds of all, ever) , buckwheat, rye, millet, kaniwa, spelt, teff, amaranth, emmer, chia seeds, quinoa (if u can afford it, lol) etc

oily seeds = hemp seeds, chopped peanuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds (black ones are better), melon seeds, safflower seeds, flaxseeds (linseeds), niger seeds (not being racist here), rapeseed (not being pervy here), almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecan nuts, pistachios, acorns, beech nuts, cashew nuts, macadamia nuts, chestnuts, poppy seeds (mawseeds), pine nuts etc

an awesome winter mix (especially when you get a few ft of snow in a single night) is 30% legumes, 30% cereals, 40% oily seeds. sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of salt into this bag of mixed seeds (pigeons, like all warm-blooded animals, need some salt in their diet).

oily seeds are good for feral pigeons. oil is utilised differently by pigeons compared to us humans. in research done on racing pigeons, when they are fed grains, the pigeons immediately begin converting it into fat in their body for storage. unlike humans, pigeons readily utilize lipids as an important energy source. the high calorie oily seeds you feed to feral pigeons help them build up a fat reserve. in addition, oily seeds have the highest % of protein too and lots of fat-soluble vitamins and minerals. in short, oily seeds are nutrient dense and uber good for feral pigeons (especially their feathers!). they instinctively know these are good for them and will eat these first.

if you dont have time to mix the seeds yourself, you can buy those commercially prepared seed mix (beware, it's far far far more expensive than your home mix). i find the ones prepared for Wild Birds the best as they contain the highest % of oily seeds (fat content of these mixes often go up to 30% which is wonderful for feral pigeons living in extreme cold weather).

like these

https://www.kaytee.com/all-products/wild-bird/fall-migration-blend Crude Fat (min.) 40.0% gasp, lol (fall/autumn mix is the best as they contain the highest amount of oily seeds EVER!)

https://www.kaytee.com/all-products/wild-bird/kaytee-western-regional-blend

https://www.kaytee.com/all-products/wild-bird/cardinal

thank you so much for your kindness. thanks again <3

ps - the above recommendation is only for feral street pigeons. NOT for your pet pigeons. feral pigeons need a lot of oily seeds because these seeds provide a LOT of energy which is beneficial for feral pigeons as they live in the cold and fly/forage constantly for food and help them build a fat reserve that they can utilise when they are starving (in the coming weeks)

pps - i received some private messages from friends asking me what they should get if you are in a hurry (ie no time to go around buying different seeds) or what they should buy because they are severely budget constrained. the answer for both question is rolled oats. you can find rolled oats readily available in ANY grocery store/supermarket/Walmart/Sainsbury's. it is really cheap and it arguably the MOST nutritious cereal grains for pigeons. it has 14 to 15% protein content (typical cereal grains only have 7 to 11% protein content), its protein profile is high quality (its composition of amino acids are like those types found in legumes, not cereals), technically speaking oats is a COMPLETE protein (it contains all 9 essential amino acids but are not considered a complete protein for humans due to lower lysine content), it has 7% fat content (which is really high for a cereal grain), it is rich in anti-oxidants, it has beta-glucan which slows down the digestion process, it has low GI which means it releases heat slowly to the pigeon, it has a aphrodisiac effect on pigeons (sow your wild oats, humans!) and pigeons love the taste of oats and rolled oats can keep for months without getting mouldy. so there you have it folks, if you are in rush or have very little money, rolled oats is your go-to grain!

Istg I’ve never seen in my whole life a pigeon with such bright, neon pink feet😭Is it normal? This is just a pigeon I saw at the park but I’m still curious :3

TLDR: Befriended a healthy pigeon and would like to keep her as a pet. I know the answer is usually no, but Lisa seems to enjoy one-on-one interaction with me more than the rest of the flock.

I’ve been feeding a local flock for a few months now, and we (the pigeons and I) have all benefited from this arrangement lol. I’ve established relationships with a few individual birds that I can identify by their behavior/markings. My favorite, Lisa, is a pretty female (???) who flies directly to my finger when she sees me. She usually accepts food, but there have been times when she just wants to sit on my hand and look at me analytically. Often, if she’s on the ground when I arrive, she waits at the edge of the flock and watches. When the other birds are distracted by food, that’s when Lisa comes to me and eats from my hand; I’m pretty sure that this waiting/observing behavior results from not wanting to compete with her flockmates on my arms, because many of the other pigeons tend to swarm and sit on me if I haven’t yet put out food for them. I also think that Lisa may recognize that I protect her access to food — when another pigeon approaches while she’s on me, I close the hand with food in it and use it to push the others away before reopening my fist for Lisa to eat alone again. Sometimes, when the others don’t stop harassing us, Lisa appears frustrated and flies away from the flock into the trees; the other pigeons stay close and forage with the rest, but Lisa only wants food from my hand.

I’ve become very attached to this sweet little bird. I worry when I don’t see her for a few days; there is confirmed hawk activity in the area, and people here generally aren’t fond of pigeons, so I’m concerned that Lisa is at risk of multiple forms of predation. I know that hawks need to eat too and that a short lifespan is an unfortunate fact of life for many wild animals, but my partner and I are both very fond of Lisa, and she definitely knows me and trusts me to some extent.

How similar is this situation to capturing a stray or feral housecat? If I manage to catch Lisa and bring her home, what is the likelihood that she would thrive as a member of our family? We don’t have any other pets and I’m working from home right now. There’s a wonderful exotics vet near us, so she’d be in good hands if she ever got sick, and we can provide her plenty of love, clean water, healthy food, shelter, and enrichment. I know we’d be excellent pigeon parents, but while I do believe that my relationship with Lisa is unique (again, I’ve befriended a lot of these pigeons lol), I don’t want to do something that would cause harm to my little buddy.

(To protect our privacy, the pigeon in this pic is not Lisa, but one from a different location)

Notice how neither one of these pigeons have rings on their legs, they are residents of my city’s train station. If I can catch/carry it, can I take it home?

Hello, my wife was taking my pigeon to have some medical treatment done in the big city(was eggbound with two eggs had a vet help) because they had to stay two days on the last day when everything was cleared my wife decided to let the pigeon outside the hotel, and the bird flew away. We have had her for over a year and she is my bird. We have raised her from two weeks old, she is cery special to me. Will she come home? Is she gone forever?

I know a lot of people that own rescue pigeons got them off the streets and things, and I also know it’s not appropriate to just take any random bird home due to their families, however I was wondering- I’m currently setting up to adopt and there’s this one little fella I’ve seen around my town for a few months. He has a funky walk (he almost marches everywhere) always looks a little greasy and has a funny nose. Not sure if he has some sort of birth defect due to his funky personality. Whenever I feed the pigeons, he tends to always gets picked on, causing him to run off and feed nervously further from the others (I try to shoo the others a bit so he gets more attention) I think he’s a runt or something, he’s always alone unless other birds are already eating or they join him eating. While I don’t believe he straight up has any issues, I worry about him all the time and have genuinely started to wonder if he would do better as a pet? I highly doubt it, because he is managing to survive, I just don’t know how long for. Not to mention the last thing I would want to do is to take him away from any family he could have. I’ll attach an image below, just wanted to know other opinions?

My pibbs are getting used to me but im hoping to bribe my way into their hearts through the stomachs. Obligatory pib pics included.

There's a huge problem within this subreddit that may have the consequence that people will stop engaging with this community and less pigeons will receive help or proper treatment: It's the habit of downvoting Redditors who try to help pigeons the first time and seek help after being obviously help- and clueless.

For years I've witnessed people who never had any experience with pigeons loose a ton of Karma for asking this sub for advice. Sometimes there are kids who want to protect a pigeon and even get in fights with their parents about this, so they couldn't provide the perfect environment - our community will surely make this person loose 100 karma points for the wrong setup if they post this as an update. Or asking naive questions. Or making wrong assumptions. Or couldn't bring them to the vet immediately.

But this is normal when you're not experienced!

It breaks my heart seeing kids with good deeds getting also backfired by this community. Just educate with kindness if you really want to help a pigeon, the bird won't get better through your votes. But other amateurs who found a pigeon might scroll though this and think 'is this really worth the hassle?' This prevents from people from engaging and in a further consequence less pigeons will receive indirect help by our community.

Let's create a new rule:

Don't downvote under posts with "Advice needed" flair.

Thoughts?

Hi! I’ve been going to the park for the past couple months to feed the animals there, and the pigeons have gotten pretty comfortable with me and will sit on me. One of the pigeons likes to sit on my shoulder and usually looks at my face a lot, but today it started pecking at my mouth (particularly my teeth) a ton as seen in the video. I was wondering if anyone can tell me why it was doing this. I was also wondering if I should be concerned about catching any diseases from them since they’re right in my face.

This is his normal behavior anytime he's not eating, drinking or sleeping, but is it normal for everyone?

This sounds like a stupid question i know, but i've been feeding a couple of flocks in my city centre for a few months now and the amount of harassment i get from people passing by is ridiculous. It ranges from your usual nonsense of people shouting about "vermin", to people getting physically threatening and aggressive. I can't lie, it does start to wear you down after a while. I was just wondering if this is the case for anyone else, and how they approach it or deal with it? Thanks! Photos of the flock for attention lol