I LOVE pigeons, I hang out with them at every available opportunity. I have been known to go to my local park, lie down, cover myself in birdseed, and let the pigeons walk all over me!
They are such special little animals with unique personalities. Some are really confident and land on my hand as soon as I arrive. Others will never be comfortable enough to approach me and that’s fine, I throw seeds away from myself so they can eat at a comfortable distance.
While there are loads of different types of pigeons, the ones we see most often in our gardens and parks are actually descendants of Rock Doves. They have adapted very well to urban living and because of this, these resilient and intelligent birds are often cruelly referred to as vermin or flying rats.
If you have read my blog about rats, you’ll know that I don’t see how being called a rat would be an insult. If you haven’t, click here to read it.
1. Pigeons are faster than they look
I have never looked at a pigeon and thought, “now there’s a super athlete”! But surprisingly the average pigeon can fly at a sustained speed of 60 miles per hour, (that’s 97 kilometres per hour for those of you who prefer using the metric system!) To give you an idea of how fast that is in the animal kingdom, the Guinness World Record has 43.97 miles per hour as the fastest speed run by a horse. So pigeons fly fast!
In fact, racing pigeons, who have been specially bred for speed, can fly even faster with a top recorded speed of 92.5 miles per hour!
2. Pigeons have saved human lives
Carrier pigeons were used a lot in both World Wars 1 and 2 to share top-secret messages that were attached to their legs or necks. These amazing animals have been known to find their way home from as far as 1,100 miles away.
On 3 October 1918, one homing pigeon named Cher Ami saved 194 soldiers in World War 1. They were trapped behind enemy lines and beginning to get hit with friendly fire. All the soldiers who tried to get out to call for help were captured or killed by the Germans, so they started sending carrier pigeons.
The first two pigeons were shot and killed, but the third, Cher Ami, managed to travel the 25 miles to division headquarters in 25 minutes, despite being shot through the breast, blinded in one eye, and had one leg hanging only by a tendon. She carried the message, “We are along the road paralell [sic] to 276.4. Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heaven’s sake stop it.”
She continued her service and was awarded the Croix de Guerre Medal for her heroic service in delivering 12 important messages in the Battle of Verdun.
She was tragically killed in battle at Fort Monmouth on 1 June 1919.
3. Pigeons have better eyesight than humans
Like humans, pigeons can see in colour, but they have the added advantage of being able to see even more colours than we can, in fact their eyesight is so good they can even see ultraviolet light!
They see in a much clearer way than we do and because their eyes are on the sides of their head, they can see nearly 360 degrees, making it difficult to sneak up on them. Their eyes are also more sensitive to light than ours so they have excellent night vision too.
Because of their great eyesight, pigeons have been used in human search-and-rescue missions. A team of navy researchers trained pigeons to save human lives at sea as part of “Project Sea Hunt.” They were taught to identify red or yellow life jackets.
They were taken up by helicopter and when they saw a lifejacket in the water, they pecked a keyboard which switched on a light. The pilot then knew to get closer to the water until the humans could see the life jacket.
The pigeons were not only more reliable at identifying the lifejackets than humans but were much faster.
4. Pigeons can hear things we can’t
Pigeons have good hearing but they also hear sound waves called “infrasounds” which we can’t hear, it is a much lower frequency than our ears can to detect. This may be why sometimes when you are feeding pigeons they suddenly all fly off at once, they could have heard something you couldn’t.
Research has shown that the individual neurons in their brains could relay crucial information about the earth’s magnetic field. That’s right, pigeons can detect the earth’s magnetic field! This is why pigeons perform such remarkable navigation feats and always find their way home. What superb animals!
5. Pigeons are smart
Pigeons are extremely intelligent animals. They are even able to perform some of the same tasks that primates can. In fact, scientific tests have shown pigeons are able to differentiate between photographs and even between different people shown in a photograph when rewarded with food for doing so.
They are also self-aware, they have passed the “mirror test”, which means they are able to recognise their reflection in a mirror.
Their memory is very good and they can recognise all 26 letters of the English language and can be taught complex actions and response sequences, the skill that enables them to help the search-and-rescue missions.
Be kind to pigeons
I hope you have enjoyed these five pigeon facts, although there is so much more to these fascinating birds, like the fact that, just like swans, they are monogamous and mate for life!
Pigeons are hated by many people and I can’t understand why. So please be kind to pigeons, if for no other reason than the fact they may one day save your life!
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Photo of pigeon peeping around the pole by Sneha Cecil on Unsplash.
