I had always felt ambivalent towards pigeons. The birds are everywhere in London, where I live, and that made them fade into the background for me. I didn鈥檛 hate them, but neither did I take any particular interest in them.
Then a chance encounter set me wondering if I could learn to love the humble pidge, a question that I spent some of this year delving into. As I started my research, I stumbled upon pigeon fact after pigeon fact that really surprised me. Here are a few of those facts 鈥� they just might change the way you think about these much-maligned city birds.
1. Pigeons produce 鈥榤ilk鈥�
It is odd to think of pigeons producing milk, but it鈥檚 true. It doesn鈥檛 come from a mammary gland, but instead a special area of cells in the lower oesophagus called the crop, and adult pigeons regurgitate it for their young for the first 10 days after they hatch. Although it is yellower and more solid than what we might think of as milk, it has a similar blend of nutrients and immune-boosting properties. A few other species of bird produce this too, including penguins and flamingos.
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2. They make hilariously bad nests
Perhaps my favourite thing about pigeons is that they make truly awful nests 鈥� think a few sticks placed in the approximate vicinity of an egg. There is even an account on X that documents them called . Outside of cities, pigeons would naturally have nested among rocks, so wouldn鈥檛 have needed much of a nest to speak of.
3. Pigeon-guided missiles almost became a thing
Since pigeons are so good at recognising landmarks, the psychologist during the second world war. The idea was to train pigeons to recognise an aerial view of a military target, then place them inside the nose cone of a missile and guide it using pecks. The plan was thankfully canned before it was ever put into action.
4. Males clap for themselves after sex
After pigeons mate, the male 鈥� and only the male 鈥� sometimes takes off into a celebratory flight. He will alternate between holding his wings in a V shape and smacking them together over his back in . No one knows why they do this 鈥� perhaps just to show off?
5. Darwin and Tesla loved pigeons 鈥� and so does Mike Tyson
As well as finches, Charles Darwin doted on pigeons. He kept many exotic varieties and studied them extensively as he was developing his theory of evolution. The first chapter of On the Origin of Species is filled with references to pigeons. The inventor , though for different reasons. In his later years, he had many pigeons in his rooms and loved one in particular, saying he could communicate with it 鈥渕ind to mind鈥�. And it was a pigeon that launched Mike Tyson鈥檚 legendary boxing career: the story goes that at 10 years old, he swung his first punch at the boy who killed his pet pigeon. Tyson has since gone on and even supplies them with bottled water to drink.
