What is in a Name?

text and photos : Norma A. Hubbard  (October 2022)

Years ago, when I was attending John Abbott College there were a lot of pigeons on campus. In fact, there were so many most people considered them a nuisance and often referred to them as “rats with wings”. One friend even wrote a poem for the campus paper entitled ‘Those F*** Pigeons!’ complaining about the pigeons. On the other hand, my mom loved pigeons and even try to tame one, much to the dismay of my nephew, Chad, who on more than one occasion had Grandma’s pigeon land on his head! Most individuals seem to either love ‘em or hate ‘em. Perhaps if more people realized that pigeons are part of the Dove family (Columbidae), they might like them more.

Rock Pigeons (Columba livia) are also called Common Pigeons or Feral Pigeons, but they were once known as Rock Doves. Although most of us are familiar with the term ‘pigeon’, there seems to be a bit of a debate about the name. Around 2001, the British birding societies decided to change the name Rock Dove to Rock Pigeon because Rock Doves had mated with other birds therefore only a pure Rock Dove was a dove. By 2003 North American bird associations went with the name change. Unfortunately, Australia already has another bird known as a Rock Pigeon. In 2014 eBird, which is part of Cornell University stated, “Rock Pigeon will disappear from most checklists […] and Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) will remain as the option to use in most of the world.” On the other hand, if we do see a real Rock Pigeon, we can list it as Rock Pigeon (Wild). Confused yet? Cornell University currently uses the term Rock Pigeon on its site, so let’s go with that name.

Due to breeding between wild and domestic pigeons, Rock Pigeons come in a variety of colours between pure white to almost black. Most pigeons are shades of grey with iridescent feathers on the neck. Pure Rock Doves have two distinct bands of black on the wings. All have reddish eyes and feet. Pigeons make cooing sounds both to defend against other birds and to court while mating. When threatened pigeons will spread their wings to appear larger. It is believed that pigeons mate for life. Males usually select a nest site and sit there cooing for a female. After a female selects a male, she then sits on the nest site while the male brings the nest materials. Pigeons reuse their nests and unlike many other birds, they do not clean away the feces. It becomes part of the nesting material, along with any shells or dead baby birds, making them not the best of housekeepers to us, but it is natural and provides a solid nest for them. Pigeons are excellent parents who raise their chicks together and would defend them at all costs. Pigeons may have 1-3 eggs per clutch and can have up to 6 broods a season which is a lot of pigeon chicks.

Rock Pigeons are ground eaters that are often seen under birdfeeders and around barns, especially around corn silos as they like corn. Seeds and fruit are their main diet with the occasional bug. Pigeons have adapted to urban living and eat too much garbage, such as bread or fries, which is not a good diet for anyone. Pigeons use their bills like a straw to drink water by sucking it up.

It is true that pigeons will find their way home. Pigeons can travel great distances to return home by using the earth’s magnetic field, the sun, along with smells and sounds. And they did indeed carried messages during the wars making them spies. One US army pigeon named Levi lived for 31 years. Most Rock Pigeons (Feral) have short lives, only about two to three years. Darwin and many other scientists used pigeons for studies and much of what we know about birds comes from pigeons. In fact, Egyptian hieroglyphics show that our relationship with pigeons goes back over 5,000 years. It is believed that pigeons were introduced to North America in the 1600’s.

Regardless of when or how pigeons arrived, they are here to stay, so perhaps we should not care as much as we do about whether they are pigeons or doves. Instead, we should take a lesson from Shakespeare’s Juliet and ask ourselves, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet”, and just enjoy these very friendly birds.

Sources: All About Birds, Cornell University [online); eBird [online]; Waters, H., Audubon Magazine [online]