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WE URBANITES have a blind spot when it comes to pigeons. Sometimes they hardly seem to count as birds. Often dismissed as rats with wings, they are reviled as feral escapees from former domestication. How could anything as unnatural as today鈥檚 urban pigeons, so sullied by their contact with humanity, tell us anything worth knowing?

Yet ever since Charles Darwin, a few trailblazing investigators have recognised the urban pigeon for the natural wonder that it is. In Superdove, science writer Courtney Humphries tells the stories of these scientific mavericks and the enthusiasts who race, breed or befriend them. She also skilfully weaves in personal stories of her encounters with pigeons in this accessible and well-researched account. As she discovered, we have much to learn from pigeons, especially about ourselves.

The pigeon was probably the first bird to be domesticated, in the Middle East around 3000 BC. North Americans imported the European rock pigeon, that lived wild on sea cliffs, to farm as an alternative to chicken 鈥� by 1900, they had hunted their native passenger pigeons to extinction. We denigrate 鈥渋nvasive species鈥�, Humphries points out, but forget that 鈥渢he perfect invasive species 鈥� one that is mobile, spreads quickly, modifies its ecosystem, and drives other species to extinction 鈥� is our own鈥�. Instead of scorning our street pigeons, she argues, we should marvel at their success, and ask how the ancestral wild rock dove managed to trade sea cliffs for apartment blocks.

According to Humphries, it is we who have reshaped the wild rock dove into today鈥檚 avian powerhouse. Unlike most other 鈥渄omesticated鈥� animals, far from undermining the species鈥� ability to live independently, contact with humanity seems to have sharpened its survival skills. Close contact with humans has given them the means to become 鈥渟uperdoves鈥�, she claims, able to breed early in life and year-round, and survive on the food we discard.

How has this happened? The secret lies in the fact that the domesticated birds were never captives, Humphries suspects. Over many centuries, pigeons 鈥� traditionally a delicacy destined for the lord鈥檚 table 鈥� were housed in purpose-built dovecotes, but left free to mate and forage for themselves in the peasants鈥� fields. As a result, urban pigeons retain most of the behaviours originally honed in the wild.

Today鈥檚 pigeons are 鈥渟ynanthropes鈥� 鈥� animals that can live with humans without ceasing to be wild, and are in fact so accustomed to living with people that they鈥檝e grown to prefer things that way, argues Humphries. 鈥淲hether the story is a tragedy, a comedy of error, or a tale of success depends on your perspective,鈥� she concludes. But most of all, Humphries says, it demonstrates that 鈥減igeons did not become 鈥榰nnatural鈥� through their association with us. Instead, our incredible influence on pigeons shows how much we truly are a force of nature.鈥�