Showing posts with label Pigeons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pigeons. Show all posts

A Bird's Eye View.


When we look at a bird, we say “Oh there’s a crow,” or maybe a magpie or a mockingbird or whatever the species is. As we go out into our local environment everyday we see the same birds who, quite naturally, regard it as their environment. If we have a bird feeder, then we note the birds that come to feed. We may get a noisy crow who seems to be waiting and starts screeching as soon as it sees us coming.

We assume that it is the same crow because it happens at the same place, but could we pick him or her out of a police line up? I would wager that the answer would be a resounding “No.” All crows look the same to us, but all us don’t look the same to a crow, or a mockingbird as has been well documented in the past.

There are two reports this month in the journal Animal Cognition on birds recognizing specific humans (1, 2). The first shows that magpies can recognize people who have climbed to peer into their nest and will explain to them the error of their ways in livid magpie every time they see them (1). The other deals with pigeons in the park who quickly learn who are nice and who are nasty in terms of sharing food. Even swopping overcoats doesn’t fool them (2).

I am surprised at the surprise of the researchers who find this surprising. Birds spend a deal of their time in the air looking at the bigger scheme of things from an elevated viewpoint. They obviously have both sharp eyes and an extraordinary good pattern recognition and rapid processing ability, otherwise they would miss the lurking ground-based predator or the little snippet of food, or even worse that small entrance amongst the leaves to their nest site as the approach rapidly from a height.

The other point which I feel is almost too obvious to mention is that one crow, for example, recognizes other individual crows in spite of none of them wearing name-tags. The question that I would like answered is does that magpie recognize individual crows? Or would he say, if asked, “Oh crows, they all look alike to me.”

  1. http://www.springerlink.com/content/906q30818lv87592/
  2. http://www.springerlink.com/content/h4570207731l47h6/

Dissonant Notes


If someone said that you looked pale or pasty, it was usually meant to indicate that they were worried about your state of health. If it was your mom, then perhaps it was good news and meant a day off school. But it seems that the same observation applies to Gallic pigeons in Paris parks. Jacquin et al (1,2) have published a study showing that paler pigeons have a weaker immune system and are more prone to pigeon parasites.

Melanin seems to be the key to pigeon prosperity. There is apparently a genetic link between melanin production and the strength of their immune systems. More melanin means darker feathers and healthier birds.

Being French and in Paris parks, the inevitable questions arise about the romantic consequences. Well pigeon moms have taught their daughters not to participate in parades in Paris parks with pale pasty pigeon potential paramours.

On an entirely different matter, there is news of the protest at the Bronx Zoo. This was a one-snake protest by an Egyptian Cobra. She went on the slither for several days. Whilst she was on the Downlow, there was a Tweet or two from her, but they proved to be fictitious. Nevertheless there were hundreds of thousands of followers eager for news.

A week later, she is no longer on the Downlow but is back inside doing time. The “Found” Tweet went chirping round the Tweetisphere on Friday.



1. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600048X.2010.05120.x/abstract
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9442000/9442210.stm