At the end of the year in the UK the pigeons stop singing as they leave their summer territories in gardens and copses to band together in the fields as winter flocks. Sometimes up to 300 birds strong. There must be some survival advantage in these winter meetings, food or safety from predators, but they are silent. You no longer hear the familiar song, and won't do again till around Valentine's Day in the spring when they pair up again for mating. So here's a short video to remind us of summer, till February comes around again And remember, if you see a pigeon and he's not singing, he's not sulking, just taking a winter break
There was a time I tried to help pigeons. They need as much help as they can get, so I thought, as they're a bit thick. I sat out on the grass watching some collect sticks to make their untidy nests with. As it seemed like hard work I thought I'd lend a hand and stumped up a load of sticks I thought would be suitable. They came to the pile I'd made and sorted out the ones they wanted - not the ones I thought were best. Time after time I've found dead hatchlings laying under a tree where the nest has collapsed. Pigeons definitely don't sulk, they are far too smart for that
I did not know that about pigeons Zigs. They don't frequent our yard... Maybe we're too far from the city? I can't even say I know what a pigeon sounds like! Well I do now. I just listen to your video. Thanks.
We have pigeons around here and I've hadn't noticed that they stop singing in the winter, great video Zigs.
That was a nice vid to watch. Those wood pigeons are big eaters on our allotment complex. Their favourite here are all brassica’s. The Turkse Tortel (Streptopelia decaocto), is a common sort here and do not decimate our veggies. These chaps get a bit of seed from me from time to time. Yeah, that vid showed off the wood pigeon really well.
Those collared doves you mention Sjoerd are definitely a bit more refined, and even have a slightly different language to the more common stroppy ''teddy boys'' of the pigeon world. I think Zig's children all believed he was the real Dr Doolittle as he convinced them he could talk to the animals - in this case Dr Coolittle
Cheers Cayuga In the cities there's a different sort of pigeon, (think they're descended from the ones that used to nest on cliffs) they look like a cross between a pigeon and anything else that fancies a pigeon They have learned to ride the subway when they've eaten everything on one platform they hop on a train and go to the next...
Poppy thought I could speak Guinea Pig The Wood Pigeons sings | "A stupid pigeon, a stupid pigeon, a stupid pigeon, a." The Collared Dove sings | A pigeon, a pigeon, a pigeon."
If he does it'll be the first time, we don't bother with valentine, it's bad enough him remembering our anniversary.
