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by Kevin Strauss
Rock doves, sometimes know derisively as “pigeons” range across the continental United States including the northland. They are common residents of large cities, but also frequent smaller towns and rural areas, where some view them with contempt. Perhaps because they share our cities with us, we don’t give them as much respect as we affort to yellow-rumped warblers or screech owls. But in the northwoods, a rock dove is just another community bird.
Rock doves are highly variable in color, but most rock doves around here are gray with a dark gray head and neck and a white rump. Their “wing-clapping” flight sounds leave no doubt that a rock dove has flown by.
Our resident rock doves got to the northland by a circutious route. Researchers think that their ancestors actually nested on rocky cliffs on the nothern shores of the Mederteranian Sea. Europeans domesticated some of these birds for food or compeitions. When Europeans emigrated to North America, they brought their rock doves with them. Some of these birds escaped and turned feral. Where they couldn’t find their native cliffs for nesting, the birds chose protected ledges on houses and tall buildings. Safe from most predators in these big cities, pigeon numbers have balooned.
These birds feed on seeds or insects during the day in parks and meadows. They have long been symbols for love and fidelity for humans, and for good reason. Rock doves exhibit long courtship rituals and are monogomus birds. The pair cooperates to build their nest and to incubate the eggs. After 18 days when the young hatch, the parent birds feed the nestlings “dove milk” a soft cheese-like product they form in their crops (throat). About 10 days later, the chicks learn to eat seeds and insects. About 70 percent of city-born chicks survive and pigeons can live up to 15 years. Adult pigeons can raise 2-3 broods between February and August.
Like many birds, pigeons have excellent vision, including good color vision. In a study by the U.S. Coast Guard, pigeons in a rescue helicopter spotted a simulated life jacked in the ocean 96 percent of the time at distances of up to 700 meters. Human spotters from the coast guard saw the life jackets only 35 percent of the time.
While some people think of rock doves as “stupid” because of how they fall prey to nets and snares, researchers aren’t so sure. Dr. Edward Wasserman of the University of Iowa reports that pigeons can commit new images to memory at lightning speed, faster than a computer and the bird’s brain organizes these images in much the same way that human brains do. So maybe pigeons are more like us that we realize.
The Ely Timberjay
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