Does your city have pigeons?

[llamaorama]

As the thread title suggests, are there pigeons in your city or not?

I've found pigeons to be uncommon where I live, which is a smaller mostly suburban city. Grackles, sure, but no pigeons.

I was in Houston a few days ago, and sure enough, there were pigeons. But only in downtown, you don't see them in the suburbs much. I wonder where the colonies live and breed and how far they get outside conventionally urban areas?

Any pigeon stories to tell?

[dubu]

I saw a pigeon at my dads house in the cascade mountains in Oregon. It was the only one and I think it was eating food from someone feeding squirrels because it would hang ot next to a squirrel. I saw a pretty tropical bird too. Someone lost a pet bird or something. The ravens there are cool.

[jd3189]

In every single major or midsize city's downtown I have been to, I have seen pigeons. But only a few had them outside the city center. NYC has them beyond Manhattan. I remember one pooped on my dad's car when I was in 5th grade in Brooklyn.

Don't know about anywhere else, but some New Yorkers call them "flying rats".

[Steely Dan]

Chicago has pigeons, both in downtown and throughout the neighborhoods.

I've also seen plenty of pigeons in evanston, so that's at least one burb with pigeons.

[Sun Belt]

I'm trying to think of a city where I haven't seen pigeons. They seem to be everywhere, hot, cold, wet, dry.

[The North One]

But does your city have falcons?

[woodrow]

Originally Posted by The North One

But does your city have falcons?

Oooh...yes! My office building has peregrine falcons. We have very deep set ledges (3 feet?) on the 47th floor and the falcon's sit.....and watch....and dive. They don't nest here, just use it as a launching pad, and diner. I have a picture somewhere of a falcon, tearing into a pigeon, gulping down the chunks.

[LMich]

I rarely see pigeons in my city. But sparrows and starlings are everywhere. A few months back I saw two starlings work as a team to kill a sparrow. It was horrifying. Doves are also fairly common. But, no, I don't see a lot of pigeons in Michigan's capital city.

One of my earliest memories down the road in Detroit, however, are the aggressive-ass seagulls anywhere along the riverfront. Ugh.

[10023]

Doesn't every city have pigeons? At least in temperate climates.

[kool maudit]

Lotta magpies here.

[niwell]

All of the pigeons. And I'm pretty sure that the main concentration in the city is the plaza outside my office building. Vagrants like to feed them despite signage telling you not to so they often flock by the hundreds and it's quite terrifying.

Nearby Queen's Park is relatively pigeon free due to the residency of a red tailed hawk. You occasionally see pigeon carcasses on the grass before they are removed.

[JManc]

Can't recall a city where I haven't seen a pigeon. Houston turns into a Hitchcock movie every November/December when millions of grackles migrate here:

[pdxtex]

portland has lots of urban birds. pigeons, seagulls, falcons and CROWS!! lots of crows for some reason. they congregate at sunset in the trees downtown near waterfront. thousands and thousands of crows.

[10023]

"Does your city have seagulls?" might make for a more interesting thread.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by 10023

"Does your city have seagulls?"

chicago definitely has seagulls.

most famousy, the seagulls that descend on wrigely near the end of day games.


Why Gulls Love Wrigley Field, Especially After 4 PM

• Video Link


what a noisy, noisy bird.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by 10023

"Does your city have seagulls?" might make for a more interesting thread.

they go further inland than people imagine...you see them up and down the mississippi valley right along the mississippi river and the illinois/desplaines waterways into chicago of course.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Centropolis

they go further inland than people imagine...you see them up and down the mississippi valley right along the mississippi river and the illinois/desplaines waterways into chicago of course.

the name "sea gull" is very misleading because many species of gulls take to fresh water just as easily as they do to salt water. so really, you can find gulls near just about any body of water, be it a lake or river or pond or sea.

[Vlajos]

Yes, we have pigeons, seagulls, cardinals, crows, black birds, robins, sparrows, falcons and bald eagles now, which is crazy.

[iheartthed]

I thought pigeons are like rats in that they are everywhere people go. I would like to know of a major urban area that doesn't have pigeons.

[Cirrus]

The original name for the birds we call pigeons was "rock dove." Their natural habitat is very rocky places. Thus they love concrete/granite urban centers but don't care much for grassy suburbs. You see them downtown and in very dense neighborhoods, but not in single-family neighborhoods.