Pigeons in Our Environment

Most of the pigeons you see around a city, or any building, bridge or structure, are pigeons that were born and raised close by. A few may be "vagrants" and constantly on the move, but most of them are your neighbors. Pigeons might properly be called "rock doves," indeed, that's the natural place for them to be, in small rocky outcroppings. It's just that man's many artificial structures offer so many excellent nesting areas.

Pigeons are also used to people, who tend to feed them, contributing to their increased populations.  Pigeons can subsist on just about any kind of diet, and will crowd out songbirds that feed near them.  Pigeons are strictly diurnal, daytime animals, and they seek out a safe place to roost every night, and will only fly at night when disturbed.

In a local population of pigeons, there will be a few dominant birds, usually the breeding males, followed by the local population of fertile females, juveniles and mated pairs. The dominant birds are alphas, all the rest are omegas, and each breeding male can control many omegas, depending on the other resident populations.  The dominant males come and go, sometimes staying in the area.  The juveniles, if they survive a winter or two, become breeding males, or females, in their own territory, which can be yards or miles away from where they were born.  

Pigeons of any kind are creatures of habit.  They are not disturbed by replicas of owls or hawks, (for very long) and will even become used to moving doors or machinery after a few days.  A railroad line usually has a large building for the inside repair or inspection of railroad cars, and the pigeons will wait, very patiently, for the doors to open, when a car is brought in or removed.  They swoop in or out quickly as the doors open.  They have this routine down to a "T" and know they can get in by just waiting long enough.

FLYING RATS

In today's world, the common structure-dwelling pigeons have become the avian equivalents of city rodents. "Flying rats," as they have been described. Unfortunately, they have been forced into this role by man, as much as by their own natural instincts and habits. First and foremost to the problem of overpopulation are the numbers of nooks and crannies that modern man builds into the exterior of all of his structures, forming the basic home unit of a pigeon. This means that almost every bridge or large structure harbors a certain number of these (or other) birds. Not good.

DON'T FEED THE BIRDS

Pigeons have also become habituated to humans, by being extensively fed by humans, in almost every culture, which only aggravates the problem. Pigeons, domesticated for thousands of years, are easily tamed and handled by humans.  It is important to note that NO wild animals, including wild pigeons, should be fed, at any time, for any reason, by anyone.  This is MOTHER NATURE speaking.

EFFECTIVE PIGEON CONTROL

Probably the most effective control is exclusion.  You EXCLUDE them from the area. This, sometimes, is not an easy proposition.  Bridges and other superstructures offer many areas that pigeons enjoy roosting on, and depending on how these structures are built, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to exclude the pigeons.

A trained pest control technician should be called in to conduct an exclusion program that will prevent pigeon nesting by way of nets, spikes and irritant gels.