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Feral Pigeon

Columba livia

Photo by Wild Things
Published on Project Noah
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22.5929, 71.4804

Field Notes

Description:

Seen on top of a well, in a rather good mood. It has a dark bluish-gray head, neck, and chest with glossy yellowish, greenish, and reddish-purple iridescence along its neck and wing feathers. The iris is orange, red or golden with a paler inner ring, and the bare skin round the eye is bluish-grey. The bill is grey-black with a conspicuous off-white cere, and the feet are purplish-red. The adult female is almost identical to the male, but the iridescence on the neck is less intense and more restricted to the rear and sides, while that on the breast is often very obscure. The white lower back of the pure Rock Dove is its best identification character, the two black bars on its pale grey wings are also distinctive. The tail has a black band on the end and the outer web of the tail feathers are margined with white. It is strong and quick on the wing, dashing out from sea caves, flying low over the water, its lighter grey rump showing well from above. Young birds show little lustre and are duller. Eye colour of the pigeon is generally orange but a few pigeons may have white-grey eyes. The eyelids are orange in colour and are encapsulated in a grey-white eye ring. The feet are red to pink-wikipedia

Habitat:

Seen in a cotton field.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (25)

Thanks for sharing the amazing fact Karen! Thanks Dez :-)
Congrats on the fun fact of the day spot Satyen!
Fun fact! In the 17th century, King George I of England, decreed all pigeon droppings to be property of the Crown! This rather strange edict was because pigeon manure was used in the making of gunpowder. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152775539405603&set=a.10152575329380603.958289.10150120463815603&type=1 https://twitter.com/projectnoah/status/328954595378360320
Thank you very much for your kind comments Maithili and flybeasley.
Changed the common name as suggested by an expert.
Hahaha, true Alex. As the saying goes "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach" :)
Thank you Antonio for your nice comments.
Thanks Karen! And thanks Yogesh for the suggestion. I've gifted a framed copy of this photo to my wife for Valentine's and she loved it. Thank you for the idea.
That is what the joke was about. The bird is expressing it's grievance to the therapist about the fact that it's mom puked in it's mouth when it was a baby.
Thanks for the info Yogesh, but there was no food around as far as I can remember. They were sitting on the wall of a well and were snuggling with each other so I think they might be a couple. Arushi, I was sitting on the well wall and when they arrived I was standing and taking some shots, since pigeons are not afraid of humans they venture very close. Thanks Emma, for the appreciation and info. I was never aware that birds birds puked in the mouths of adult birds, I knew only about small babies.
Beautiful!! Recently I saw a cartoon of a bird in who was lying on the couch in the therapists office. I'ts biggest grievance was that it's mom puked in it's mouth!! Related to the fact that mother birds feed the infants by regurgitating their food. Especially hummingbirds.
This is not love pair I guess....may be mother feeding to her son or doughter...
Lucky man, You find best valentine gift...... :-)
Thanks Yogesh, yes Valentine Day's Special. I will have to gift a big photo frame of this one to my wife.
Superb....... valentine day special.....

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