There’s a lot more going on with pigeons than you might imagine.
I have always had ambivalent feelings towards pigeons. Pigeons are everywhere in London, where I live, so for me they had faded into the background. I didn’t hate them, but I wasn’t particularly interested in them either.
Then a chance encounter made me wonder if it was possible to love this humble Pidge, and I spent part of this year digging into that question. Once I started researching, I came across many facts about pigeons that really surprised me. Here are some of these facts. These facts may change the way you think about these much-maligned urban birds.
1. Pigeons produce “milk”
It’s strange to think that pigeons produce milk, but it’s true. It comes not from the mammary gland, but from a special cell area in the lower esophagus called the crop, which adult pigeons regurgitate for their young during the first 10 days after hatching. It’s more yellow and harder than what we think of as cow’s milk, but it contains similar nutrients and immune-boosting properties. Several other bird species, such as penguins and flamingos, also produce this “crop milk.”
2. They build laughably bad nests.
Probably the thing I love most about pigeons is that they build really bad nests. Think of several sticks placed near the eggs. X even has an account documenting them called Bad Pigeon Nests. Outside of cities, pigeons would naturally nest among rocks, so that wouldn’t be the case…
(Tag translation) Animals
