25 July 2024
The question sounds foolish but … Can pigeons play Wordle?
Seven years ago a pigeon behavioral study found that the birds can recognize 4-letter English words and tell the difference between real words and mere jumbles of letters. This was the first time anyone knew that a non-primate species had this ability.
Their 4-letter prowess is described in the vintage article below. Do you think they can they deal with 5 letters? Can they play Wordle?
27 June 2024
Statewide, wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) in Pennsylvania declined again last year. Did their status improve in the last 12 months? To answer that question, the PA Game Commission (PGC) is conducting their Annual Pennsylvania Wild Turkey Sighting Survey from July 1 through August 31 and is asking the public to help. Right now this link shows prior results. Click here to enter data after July 1.
In the survey press release PGC reported:
The Statewide reproductive success last summer, which is measured by the number of young turkeys (poults) seen per all hens seen, was 2.9 poults per hen, compared to 3.1 poults per hen in 2022 and 2021.”
— PGC press release, 20 June 2024
Allegheny County’s predominant Wildlife Management Unit, WMU 2B below, had mixed results. Overall, there were fewer turkeys but reproductive success was higher than in 2022. However, our WMU contributed to the downward spiral as we had only 2.24 poults per hen.
There are many factors that contribute to wild turkey population swings. This 4.5 minute video describes them.
In the next two months count turkeys when you can.
16 June 2024
Rock pigeons nest on cliffs in the wild, or on high buildings and bridges in feral settings. They will even nest inside chimneys if the chimney has a ledge. Years ago I had no idea this was possible until I heard cooing in the living room and finally took time to investigate.
We used to own a house built in 1907 with two brick chimneys. After we replaced the furnace, the main chimney went completely unused. There was no exhaust from the furnace and no smoke from a fireplace so I ignored chimney maintenance. I didn’t realize that my negligence left the chimney open to new tenants.
Gosh, I was naive. A brick fell down the chimney but it only happened once and I procrastinated until I forgot about it. (The missing brick probably created a ledge.) One spring I heard starling voices coming down the chimney, but I heard them only twice and I forgot about it. Then one year I heard cooing in the chimney. It happened often enough that I could not ignore it. I went outside to look at the chimney. What was going on?
As I watched from the street, a pigeon landed on the chimney and disappeared. Hmmm! When it reappeared the pigeon flew to some brush, picked up a twig, flew back to the chimney and disappeared. The chimney had no cap. He was building a nest!
Rock pigeon nests are very bare bones, mostly substrate with a few twigs and dried grasses. The male gathers material while she stays at the nest and coos when he brings new bits and pieces. I was hearing them build the nest.
I quickly hired a critter control company who removed the pigeon nest and capped the chimney. The cap was a simple wire mesh like this one. Problem solved! (This is not a photo of my old house but the cap is similar.)
So now you know. When you hear pigeons cooing in the chimney they are setting up housekeeping. It’s never safe to assume they aren’t nesting. Rock pigeons breed all year long if there is adequate food on hand.
p.s. Have you ever seen a baby pigeon? They don’t look like their parents.
3 April 2024
City folks often see pigeons but all the birds are adults. Have you ever seen a baby pigeon?
Rock pigeons nest on cliffs in the wild or in nooks on high buildings or bridges in feral settings. This puts their nests high above our field of view and, since the young won’t leave the nest until they can fly, they don’t look like babies anymore when we finally see them. They look like their parents.
Every once in a while a pair of pigeons will choose a balcony or window ledge where the resident can see the nest. This happened for @LostInTheWildCanada who documented the pigeon family on YouTube.
Who knew that rock pigeon nestlings are covered in yellow-orange down? Who knew their eyes didn’t open for a week? Who knew they were so … ugly?
Now you know.
(credits are in the captions)
28 March 2024
Peregrines hang out where their food is plentiful so they’re often in places with lots of pigeons. Watching peregrines, as I often do, means waiting (bored) for them to choose the perfect moment to catch a bird. Inevitably I watch pigeons while I wait for peregrines so I’ve seen a lot of pigeon courtship.
Most birds have a breeding season for a few months per year in spring and summer but rock pigeons, like humans, breed over and over all year long if there’s enough food to sustain their families. You can tell when they’re starting a new family because they court conspicuously.
Birds of the World’s rock pigeon account, quoted in the list below, explains the steps of courtship that escalate to the moment of copulation.
After mating the male may do a post copulatory display. Sometimes they fly together.
While you’re observing pigeon courtship there’s one more thing to notice. The male and female do not have the same plumage patterns because they choose mates that don’t look like themselves.
23 November 2023
Wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) are thriving in Pittsburgh’s suburbs. This flock of 14 feels right at home in a Kathy Saunders’ backyard.
Meanwhile, where have all the city turkeys gone? A decade ago they were easy to find in Schenley Park and Oakland but I haven’t seen one here in three years. This vintage article describes an impromptu Turkey Day at WQED when six came for a visit in November 2011.
Happy Thanksgiving!
(credits are in the captions)
4 September 2023, Labor Day
On Labor Day, when I honor working birds, homing pigeons come to mind because they’re willing to try almost anything their keepers invent.
For centuries homing pigeons made themselves extremely useful by carrying messages, especially during wartime. The messages were carried in a pack strapped to the bird’s chest or inserted in a message tube strapped to the bird’s leg.
Then in 1907, German apothecary Julius Neubronner, who used pigeons to deliver medications, decided to try aerial pigeon photography. He designed an aluminum breast harness and a lightweight time-delayed miniature camera to fit on a homing pigeon. It worked so well with his own pigeons that he applied for a German patent.
But, as Wikipedia explains, the patent office rejected his claim until he sent them pigeon-made aerial photos. They granted his patent in December 1908.
Pigeon photography held great promise for World War I but was overshadowed by the invention of portable dovecoats to improve messaging and airplanes from which humans could do their own surveillance. So the fleets of camera-carrying pigeons just didn’t take off.
After World War II the CIA briefly flirted with the idea of pigeon photography but it, too, went nowhere. Now they have drones.
I wonder if people realize that pigeons were the original drones.
Read more about Pigeon photography at Wikipedia. Happy Labor Day.
(photos from Wikimedia; click on the captions to see the originals)
15 August 2023
Last Sunday while Bob Donnan was at the Pirates’ game, two young birds nestled in the windshield wiper well of his car.
Yesterday [13 August] when our Chevy Bolt was parked at the South Hills Village – Public Rapid Transit garage, two young [Mourning] Doves nestled into the lower windshield area. We didn’t even notice them until exiting the garage into brighter light!
The car is so quiet that their short ride didn’t alarm them. After I stopped the car and waited for all traffic to pass, I waved my hand toward them and they flew off, back toward the parking garage.
— email from Bob Donnan, 14 August 2023
I could tell by the birds’ appearance that they are juvenile mourning doves because they look spotty rather than smooth. Juvenile body feathers are so new that each one has a pale tip, giving the bird a scalloped look. Compare the top photo of a juvenile with this one of an adult.
Why did the two birds hang out together?
Mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) nest multiple times per season and at each nesting the female lays two eggs that hatch in 14 days and fledge 12-15 days later. Just before they fledge the father completely takes over feeding duty so his mate can cycle and lay a new clutch.
The siblings are dependent on their father for 12-15 days after they fledge (26-30 days old). During this period they stay together in the same area during the day, never straying far, waiting for dad to show up. In the nest they learned to associate his voice with a feeding so if he calls they come.
Interestingly they have good homing skills even at this young age. If juveniles are forced from their “reference area” before they are 21 days old — i.e. while still dependent on their father — they always return within 24 hours.
Why at the parking garage?
Mourning doves nest in trees, shrubs and even on the ground but they have no problem nesting near humans and, according to Birds of the World, “may use unusual human-made substrates for nest sites, e.g. rain spouts, mops hanging on walls, immobile car accessories.”
Hmmm. “Immobile car accessories.” These two are probably not the only baby doves who’ve been taken for a ride.
(photos from Wikimedia Commons, video by Bob Donnan)
Wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) are declining statewide in Pennsylvania and the PA Game Commission is working to find out why.
Their wild turkey population study continues this year with PGC asking folks to count and report wild turkeys in PA from July 1 through August 31. Use this link to make your report https://pgcdatacollection.pa.gov/TurkeyBroodSurvey.
Last year’s article provides all the details at …
p.s. Wild turkeys have declined a lot in my patch with a complete absence of wild turkeys in Schenley Park for the past two years. I used to see as many as 8.
(photo credits and links are in the caption)
2 March 2023
It’s spring and our local pigeons (Columba livia) are prancing in courtship. The males bow and coo to their chosen mates and accompany their ladies in flight. When their courtship is successful the males clap their wings.
You can hear cooing and wing clapping in this audio clip …
… and see it as they fly in this video.
video from @MrMattperry on YouTube
Learn their courtship moves in this vintage article. Keep track of the pairs you see on the pavement. Pigeons mate for life!
(photo from Wikimedia Commons, video from @MrMattperry on YouTube, click on the captions to see the original)
