My mother, sister and I would have special afternoons together in Connecticut when we went to the dentist’s office in downtown Hartford. We would all get on the city bus, arrive near the dentist’s office, and after our appointments would walk to G. Fox and Company and do a bit of Nancy Drew shopping on the mezzanine level. After that we would walk to Woolworth’s for an ice cream treat.
In all this buzzing about town, we saw many people and many pigeons. I always was fascinated with the shiny multi-colors that seemed to reflect off the pigeons’ gray feathers.
My great grandmother, Nanny, used to warn my sister and me to never to touch a pigeon; my mother did the same. Nanny professed that they carried germs that didn’t bother the pigeons but could make people sick. I can’t remember what that disease was, but her words worked on me. I never touched a pigeon. I did watch and study them. Never did I see a baby pigeon, like I had often seen baby Robins and ducklings and such. And I grew up.
As an adult I never saw any pigeons in the country. Once I thought I did, but I was probably wrong, as they must only live in urban areas. Living in Florida now, I was driving under I-95 on Palm Bay Road and there were many pigeons sitting (roosting?) on the ledges underneath the interstate bridge. I had found pigeons again! And this is not a noisy, crowded downtown city; it is a town.
Wanting to learn more I did a search on Yahoo Voices! to see if any writers there had my answer about where are all the baby pigeons. No luck. I did find a wonderful article by Elizabeth Knight who found herself caring for a wee pigeon who grew up to become a therapy bird. This is a must read for all animal lovers.
Onward to straightdope.com where I chuckled when I read an answer about hatchlings by Laura M. of Tempe, AZ. Laura had found two huge baby pigeons who looked like their adult mom. She professed that the “reason you’ve never seen any is that they stay in the nest until they are old enough to drink, drive, [and] vote.” I love this answer, but can’t stop here.
When all else fails, turn to Popular Science, and I did. In 2008 Danny Freedman wrote an article called “Why Don’t I Ever See Baby Pigeons?” I learned city pigeons are also called rock doves due to their tendency to build nests in the concrete habitat of a city. Eggs hatch in about 18 days and babies are called squabs and live in the nest for about a month after which they fly the coop looking as big as mom and pop. Very interesting.
Pigeonwatch.org has a wealth of information about pigeons including videos and tips about how to spot a young pigeon, however large it may be. Watch its eyes. Less than six months old means gray-brown eyes. Older means orange or red eyes. How on earth had I forgotten the red eyes which ranked right up there on the fear factor with Nanny’s omen of dreadful diseases.
I do remember pigeons often seemed to aim for and make deposits, lots of them, on statues in the city (I cleaned that up instead of saying poop). We were not allowed to touch statues if there were droppings.I do recall people feeding pigeons from park benches. I learned that the babies eat “pigeon milk” which is sort of a cottage cheese dinner made from the mom and pop’s crop. Yes, dad makes food for baby too.
Was my great grandmother right about disease and pigeons? Yes and no. If I were a pigeon roost cleaner with a weak immune system perhaps something could be transmitted by a pigeon because Nanny was right that they do carry human pathogens, but I still have no idea what those are. Techletter.com confirms my suspicions though that it is okay to be around pigeons, to feed them, and to talk with them. It is okay to admire their many feathery coats and iridescent colors. Good.
Perhaps someday I will track down some info on their ancestral origin since pigeons have been part of prose and poetry for hundreds of years at least and were symbols of fertility in ancient Mesopotamia. Even I have seen enough World War II movies to know that some types of pigeons served our military well but probably not the city dwelling variety. That would be another article for another day.
Today I am happy that Palm Bay Boulevard has pigeons here on the Space Coast of Florida and that the hatchlings grow up before they leave the nest. Maybe one day I will see a baby pigeon although I don’t think I want to since that might mean something bad happened to mom and pop. Squeak on little hatchlings and eat your cottage cheese!
