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Why are pigeons so tame compared to other wild bird?

  • 29-08-2019 4:56pm
    #1
    Crock Rock
    Closed Accounts Posts: 616 ✭✭✭


    I occasionally go for a walk in St. Stepehen's Green Park in town and I usually bring a bag of seed with me to feed the pigeons. I throw some on the ground and within moments, I will have gotten their trust and they begin eating out of my hand.

    Even seagulls (however aggressive and brazen they are), are not as brave as pigeons and would never fly onto your hand to receive food.

    There are often some crows and blackbirds (I can't tell them apart for the life of me) and they aren't as brave as the pigeons, despite living in an urban area with a lot of footfall side-by-side with the pigeons.

    Srameen, I would appreciate your knowledge and input here :)


Comments

  • #2
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    Firstly, because they are feral pigeons more than a wild species. They rely almost exclusively in urban areas on humans feeding them directly or indirectly and have learned that veering towards less timidity gets them fed. Other species are inherently wild, have retained more flight reflex and a human as a food source is secondary to them


  • #3
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 50,171 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    i guess (uninformed opinion alert) that one way of phrasing a response is 'why does any bird have a particular behaviour?'
    e.g. you could ask 'why are robins so brazen?' - i've had robins perch on me while gardening. it's a behaviour shaped by fitting an evolutionary niche which we may or may not have a clear explanation for.


  • #4
    TopTec
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,167 ✭✭✭TopTec


    You can't get within several hundred meters of wood pigeons here in rural Mayo. They never come to my garden feeders. I don't think I have ever seen a feral pigeon here.


    TT


  • #5
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    TopTec wrote: »
    You can't get within several hundred meters of wood pigeons here in rural Mayo. They never come to my garden feeders. I don't think I have ever seen a feral pigeon here.


    TT

    That's kind of the point. It's feral pigeons in urban areas that are, almost by nature, tamer. Wood Pigeon have to keep the flight response to survive. We rural people are often confused when people talk about pigeons, only to realise they don't mean wild Woodpigeon.


  • #6
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    magicbastarder wrote: »
    i guess (uninformed opinion alert) that one way of phrasing a response is 'why does any bird have a particular behaviour?'
    e.g. you could ask 'why are robins so brazen?' - i've had robins perch on me while gardening. it's a behaviour shaped by fitting an evolutionary niche which we may or may not have a clear explanation for.

    Evolutionary niches bother me, but that's another debate. It's a learned behaviour more than anything else for feral pigeons.


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  • #7
    Mickeroo
    Administrators, Computer Games Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 32,395 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Mickeroo


    TopTec wrote: »
    You can't get within several hundred meters of wood pigeons here in rural Mayo. They never come to my garden feeders. I don't think I have ever seen a feral pigeon here.


    TT

    Yeah I see wood pigeons in the field behind or house every day, only a few metres from our feeders really but they never come into the back garden. We do have a pair of collared doves that visit regularly though.


  • #8
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    magicbastarder wrote: »
    i guess (uninformed opinion alert) that one way of phrasing a response is 'why does any bird have a particular behaviour?'
    e.g. you could ask 'why are robins so brazen?' - i've had robins perch on me while gardening. it's a behaviour shaped by fitting an evolutionary niche which we may or may not have a clear explanation for.

    Just on the Robins. They have always followed large mammals that flush out insects. You'll see them often following deer in the hope the deer disturb insects.
    They are a woodland edge bird and therefore have lived near humans for many generations. In Britain and Ireland they have never been persecuted and therefore don't associate us with any more danger than any other mammal. Go to France however, where small birds were killed and eaten, and the Robins are noticeably more reticent.
    In addition, they display a natural curiosity that enables them to take advantage of new or temporary food sources.


  • #9
    Crock Rock
    Closed Accounts Posts: 616 ✭✭✭Crock Rock


    Thanks Srameen. Interesting as always.

    How come the other birds that live in the park haven't learnt that humans = food and most humans =\= harm?

    I don't know how intelligent crows and blackbirds are so I don't know if they can learn that behaviour.


  • #10
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    Crock Rock wrote: »
    Thanks Srameen. Interesting as always.

    How come the other birds that live in the park haven't learnt that humans = food and most humans =\= harm?

    I don't know how intelligent crows and blackbirds are so I don't know if they can learn that behaviour.

    They're more intelligent than feral pigeons. ;)

    Again, you're comparing feral pigeons with wild species by and large. A feral cat will be less flighty than a wild cat.

    The pigeons more or less rely on humans, either deliberately feeding them or discarding food for them. This would be secondary feeding for the other species.


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