The Wild Side

Think you know pigeons? Here are some facts that might surprise you.

Pigeons and doves have been around for a long time—longer than humans. Pigeons, also known as Rock Doves, are thought to have originated in southern Asia several million years ago. Compare this to modern humans, who first appeared about 120,000 years ago.


A pigeon usually constructs its nest on covered building ledges that resemble cliffs, a Rock Dove’s natural habitat. They also nest and roost on the support structures under bridges in cities and along highways. Pigeons build their nests with small twigs. A male pigeon brings the nesting material to his mate, one piece at a time, and she builds the nest. Nests are usually well hidden and hard to find.

Pigeons usually lay two white eggs. The parents take turns keeping their eggs warm (incubating). Males usually stay on the nest during the day; females at night. Eggs take about 18 days to hatch.

Both male and female parent pigeons produce a special substance called "pigeon milk," which they feed to their hatchlings during their first week of life. Pigeon milk is made in a special part of the bird’s digestive system called the crop. When hatchlings are about one week old, the parents start regurgitating seeds with crop milk; eventually seeds replace the pigeon milk.

Pigeons have excellent eyesight. Like humans, pigeons can see color, but they also can see ultraviolet light—part of the light spectrum that humans can’t see. Pigeons are sometimes used in human search-and-rescue missions because of their exceptional vision.

Pigeons can hear sounds at much lower frequencies than humans can, such as wind blowing across buildings and mountains, distant thunderstorms, and even far-away volcanoes. Sensitive hearing may explain why pigeons sometimes fly away for no apparent reason-- maybe they heard something you can’t.

Information taken from


www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Rock_Pigeon.html