Pigeons feed their young with “pigeon’s milk”, a liquid that is fairly similar in composition to Rabbit’s milk. The hatchling inserts its beak into the parent pigeon’s mouth. This stimulates the release of the nourishing fluid from the crop of parent pigeon (Crop is a storage bag of food in the upper part of the digestive system). The young pigeon is nursed by parent birds, which maintain long-term pair bonds. The
pigeon nests and raises
young for ten months in a year, having six broods. The pigeon lays two eggs at a time and the parent birds take turns to incubate.
Normans who invaded England in 1066 introduced the word “Pigeon”. The common pigeon that has adapted to our city life so well was once called the Rock dove, now renamed as Rock pigeon. There is no marked difference between pigeons and doves. The doves are smaller in size.
The pigeon is credited with being the only bird that man releases at a wedding or other function. The release of only white pigeons that are trained to return home are permitted, and the White Dove Release Association and International Dove Society have to certify This is the least respect that man pays to this bird in compensation for his atrocious killing of millions of Passenger pigeons during colonial times for sport and food.
Pigeons have served man in many ways. Their association with postal service is still inseparable in certain parts of the world. Called carrier pigeons, their services were used extensively in wartimes.
During World War II, a pigeon named G.I.Joe saved the lives of a thousand British troops. The bird carried a message to the US airbase at the right time to cancel bombing operation. If the bird had failed, the US bombers would have strafed the City of Colvi (Italy) and killed their own allied troops instead of the enemy who had already left the place and the allied troops had entered the city.
Pigeons quickly learn landmarks. Besides, they have their own built in navigational system that helps the bird navigate itself over long distances. No other pet bird has this special feature.
Pigeons are able to discriminate colors and patterns the way we are capable of. Art students, in their experiments found, that the pigeons were able to tell the difference between the paintings of Monet and Picasso with least difficulty.
Pigeons keep cool by loosing water and heat from the throat area by vibrating and flapping of the upper throat skin. This is” Gular fluttering” that produces a characteristic
Sound.
Can a man keep cool at times of difficulty? |
