Does your city have pigeons?

[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.

[sopas ej]

I never thought about it, but yeah, I think I've seen pigeons in every city I've been to in the US, and also outside of the US.

Crows, hummingbirds, sparrows, occasional seagulls (I live in the San Gabriel Valley but seagulls do come inland from the coast, usually when there's a rainstorm, and of course I see them when I go to the beach), I see those too in my area.

Do any of you guys have feral parrots? They abound where I live in South Pasadena. They're loud, and almost sound human sometimes. I think they're cute birds, though. They often fly in flocks, but sometimes you'll see a pair of them flying around. I learned that when they find a mate, they pair up for life, which I find somehow romantic. :-P

I occasionally will see a stray or feral peacock or two, roaming the streets of South Pasadena. I assume they escaped from the Huntington Library and Gardens, which is nearby in San Marino. You also see peacocks at the LA County Arboretum in Arcadia, and I know that some of them escape too.

[JManc]

We have loads of peacocks all over town. Sound like dying cats mating. Usually in upscale neighborhoods where they roam from yard to yard...usually in groups of 10 or more. Brought over from from India by some rich oil guy in the 50's and then spread all over the city.

[jd3189]

This discussion reminds me of my orinthology class. I had to identify on the spot over 100 species of birds in Tennessee and Alabama. That's where I learned pigeons are more accurately named "rock dove".

Speaking of feral birds, there are feral chickens running around in Key West and Little Havana in Miami.

[dave8721]

Originally Posted by JManc

We have loads of peacocks all over town. Sound like dying cats mating. Usually in upscale neighborhoods where they roam from yard to yard...usually in groups of 10 or more. Brought over from from India by some rich oil guy in the 50's and then spread all over the city.

We have them in South Florida too. They are the worst.

[Citylover94]

I live about two hours from the ocean and there are often seagulls found around one of the main shopping strips eating stuff in the dumpsters and presumably nesting near the Connecticut River. There are also pigeons in the downtown of each of the small towns near me.

[the urban politician]

My city has an ostrich

[CastleScott]

My old home of Denver has loads of pigeons and plus there was a flock inside the Denver airport as well as some barn swallows and blue jays (heck people would feed them all the time which is why there were a lot of them).

Here in Sacramento I think there's a few more here than in Denver and yes people feed them here too!!

[austlar1]

Austin probably has a lot of pigeons, but the most visible and audible bird in these part is the grackle. There seem to be millions of them. Oh, we also have a huge colony of bats that has become a tourist attraction downtown.

[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.

[the urban politician]

We have no birds. They all left for the winter

[mousquet]

You guys might have noticed, birds are greedy, dirty and tough creatures.
Some species may sound nice like a charm in the trees, they can be super harsh and cruel to one another, for survival.

And they wake you up at 4 am in spring and summer when they sing load.

I find it disturbing. Moreover, they bastards shit everything and won't care at all.
Heck, they're annoying. But they're still a plus in the trees as long as they spare buildings from their excreta, I'll admit.
Lol, cats are obsessed with them.

[10023]

Originally Posted by JManc

We have loads of peacocks all over town. Sound like dying cats mating. Usually in upscale neighborhoods where they roam from yard to yard...usually in groups of 10 or more. Brought over from from India by some rich oil guy in the 50's and then spread all over the city.

Holland Park is full of them. They're annoying.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by JManc

We have loads of peacocks all over town.

Ha, it reminds me of a splendid historic label from Houston, Peacock Records.

They produced some great old blues and R&B harmony, both secular and religious.
Most noticeably the Sensational Nightingales led by Rev. Julius Cheeks.

It's a funny thing that people always think of birds as lucky flying singing creatures, when they merely poop on us.

[antinimby]

I saw pigeons pecking at and eating a discarded chicken leg on the street. Something about that just didn’t look right.

[Comrade]

Salt Lake City has a shit-ton of pigeons. But we're more known for our seagulls. The seagull is the state bird (California Gull). There's monuments to the seagull. You hear seagulls throughout the city. There used to be a minor league baseball team called the Salt Lake Gulls. Utahns worship the bird due to its Mormon-lore (when the pioneers came, and started farming, their crops were nearly wiped out by crickets - but what's that? The seagulls came and saved the day! The Miracle of the Gulls!

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by JManc

We have loads of peacocks all over town. Sound like dying cats mating. Usually in upscale neighborhoods where they roam from yard to yard...usually in groups of 10 or more. Brought over from from India by some rich oil guy in the 50's and then spread all over the city.

I hadn't heard that. Very interesting. They do make a horrifying sound. I've only seen them in zoos.

[AviationGuy]

Austin, being on a major bird migration route, is a birder's paradise. If you're into birding, this is a good place to be. We have purple martin parties in the middle of summer. Purple martins choose places to roost, and there can be many thousands that convene on just a few specific trees. Our purple martin parities tend to be in the area of the old Highland Mall. When they start to convene around sunset, the crowds tend to bring out their umbrellas for obvious reasons.

I guess we have pigeons downtown. Someone else mentioned the grackles, which are a nuisance, but they didn't choose to be grackles, so I don't hate them like so many people do.

I love owls. They're all over the neighborhoods here. Yesterday, a neighbor and I were watching an adult barn owl at the top of a tall pecan tree next door to me. We watched it for about 15 minutes, and then it flew away with characteristic silence. It had a wingspan of at least 3 feet, and its wings were white underneath.

Great Horned owls are also common here. They're beautiful, and huge, but they spook me when they wake me up with the sound they make. They're also predators for small pets.

[Chef]

Minneapolis does not have very many pigeons. What we do have are lots of crows. We also have bald eagles. They are common enough in the city now that it is no longer noteworthy to see them - they may be eating the pigeons. Around the lakes there are a lot of water birds - seagulls, herons, ducks and the aforementioned eagles. But mostly it is about the crows. In the winter when they roost communally at night it isn't uncommon to see 10,000 or more in one place.