Ecological Studies of the Feral Pigeon Columba livia Var. II. Flock Behaviour and Social Organization

Murton, R. K.; Coombs, CR; Thearle, R. J. P.

doi:10.2307/2401910

Cited by 73 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Perches, on the other hand, tend to be parapets, window ledges, cornices and other architectural elements (Pike et al 2016b). As these sites are being used for a considerable period of time by a large number of birds with the same birds returning to the same roosts (Murton et al 1972a), the accumulation of droppings can be significant. Examples are on record where such deposits …”

Section: How Often and When Do Pigeons Defecate?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dietary habits of urban pigeons (Columba livia) and implications of excreta pH – a review

Spennemann¹,

Watson²

2017

European Journal of Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pigeons are considered to be urban pests, causing untold damage to buildings and potentially impacting the health of humans who come into contact with them or their faeces. Pigeon faecal matter has been implicated in both health impacts and building damage, with the acidity of the excreta playing an important role. Purpose of the Review. This paper is a wide-ranging review of the chemical processes of excreta in the pigeon to aid our understanding of the potential problems of pigeons to buildings and human amenity in the urban space. The natural pH of pigeons is shown to vary based on the bird's and age as well as reproductive stage. Key findings of the review. The influences of the altered diet between the rock dove (the wild progenitor of the feral pigeon) and the feral pigeon are detailed, indicating that the human-based diet of urban pigeons most likely causes the feral pigeon excreta to be more acidic than the rock dove excreta. This higher acidity is due in part to diet, but also to potential increases in faecal and/or uric acid volumes due to the low quality of humanbased diets. Again, this area of interest is highly data deficient due to the few number of studies and unspecified dietary intake before pH measurement. Implications of the review. Humans are increasingly concerned about pigeon populations (and presumably their accumulated faeces) in the urban space, and control comprises a large part of the interaction between humans and feral pigeons. This review provides a greater understanding of feral pigeons and the true effects of their excreta. INTRODUCTION ABSTRACTColumba livia; pH; Foraging; Diet; Excreta KEYWORDS

show abstract

Section: How Often and When Do Pigeons Defecate?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dietary habits of urban pigeons (Columba livia) and implications of excreta pH – a review

Spennemann¹,

Watson²

2017

European Journal of Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In summer, they spent on average 20.4% of the day outside and did not really profit from the longer days. In September, Murton et al (1972b) observed some pigeons waiting for 6 h at the feeding place (46% of daytime). In December, this amount increased to 88%.…”

Section: Common Flightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatio-temporal use of the urban habitat by feral pigeons (Columba livia )

Rose

Nagel

Haag‐Wackernagel

2006

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Feral pigeons are descendants of wild rock pigeons that have adapted to the urban habitat. They have partially conserved the foraging behaviour of their wild ancestors (flights to agricultural areas) but have also developed new habits. Previous studies on the foraging strategies of feral pigeons have given various results, e.g. maximum distances reached by the pigeons (measured in a straight line from the resting places) differed between 0.3-0.5 km and 18-25 km. This study focuses on the spatiotemporal activity of feral pigeons in the urban habitat. We equipped 80 free-living feral pigeons from Basel, Switzerland with GPS receivers. We found three different foraging strategies for pigeons in Basel: (1) in the streets, squares and parks near the home loft, (2) in agricultural areas surrounding the city, (3) on docks and railway lines in harbours. The maximum distance reached by a pigeon was 5.29 km. More than 32% of the pigeons remained within 0.3 km of the home lofts and only 7.5% flew distances of more than 2 km. Females covered significantly longer distances than males, preferring to fly to more abundant and predictable food sources. Temporal activity patterns showed to be influenced by sex, breeding state and season. In contrast to wild rock pigeons and to feral pigeons in other cities, pigeons in Basel showed a clear bimodal activity pattern for breeding birds only. The differences between our results and those of other studies seem to be partly methoddependent, as the GPS-technique allows to record the pigeons' localisations continuously in contrast to other methods. Other differences might be due to different kinds of food supply in the various cities. Our study shows that feral pigeons have individual foraging strategies and are flexible enough to adapt to different urban environments.

show abstract

“…Another reason why pigeons spend more time outside the loft during autumn is the limited access to the food resources in conjunction with the shortest foraging time (Hetmański 2004); thus, they gather around feeding grounds (Murton et al 1972a, b). Moreover, Murton et al (1972a) as well as Hetmański and Misiec (2008) showed that the tourists increase the food availability for pigeons in spring and summer but not during autumn.…”

Section: Pigeons Countingmentioning

confidence: 94%

The effect of habitat and number of inhabitants on the population sizes of feral pigeons around towns in northern Poland

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Most studies on factors influencing density of the feral pigeons Columba livia var. domestica were carried out in large cities and agglomerations. However, also in small towns, pigeons are important epidemiological and sanitary problem. In our studies, feral pigeons were censused in 33 towns located in the Pomeranian Province (northern Poland) during 2006-2008. These birds occurred in 19 (57.6%) towns. The number of pigeons was positively correlated with the area of the town, and it was significantly higher in towns localized in agricultural landscape than in towns surrounded by forests. We also found a significant effect of interactions between type of a landscape surrounding a town and residual number of inhabitants on the abundance of pigeons. In the largest towns of the Pomeranian Province, feral pigeons were concentrated mainly in central quarters. In smaller towns, they were noted in central parts or in areas with blocks of flats and even the suburbs. The obtained results suggest that food conditions in small and middle towns may be not sufficient for colonization by pigeons.

show abstract

Ecological Studies of the Feral Pigeon Columba livia Var. II. Flock Behaviour and Social Organization

Cited by 73 publications

References 6 publications

Dietary habits of urban pigeons (Columba livia) and implications of excreta pH – a review

Dietary habits of urban pigeons (Columba livia) and implications of excreta pH – a review

Spatio-temporal use of the urban habitat by feral pigeons (Columba livia )

The effect of habitat and number of inhabitants on the population sizes of feral pigeons around towns in northern Poland

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About