Does anyone actually study pigeon behaviour?

[955i]

Might seem like a daft question given how long people on here spend looking at them, but I got to wondering about what they ACTUALLY do yesterday while out.

 

Does anyone really pay attention to how they behave?

 

I know that shape of the pattern, movement etc can be a factor, but has anyone noted (in general small flocks) how many birds feed while X amount watch and female to male ratio.

 

Started thinking about it as most birds came in to the decoys nicely, but a few passed and had a good look but decided against it, some looked and settled in nearby small trees looking at the decoys, and some looked and passed by but landed and started feeding a short distance away and I was trying to figure out what in particular it might be that made a small number of birds behave this way.

 

Were they groups of males on the prowl for females and all my decoys resemble males so they were not interested (or vice versa)?

 

Was it that the ratio of feeding to watching birds was wrong so they did not feel it was a safe place to feed?

 

Or was it something else totally random and I should stop thinking about rubbish like this and concentrate on knocking them out of the sky?

 

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955i

The Field

Probably Spending Too Much Time On Your Own Lane

Derbyshire

PI6 30N

[Blunderbuss]

Good post. I'm quite interested in facts and figures. UK breeding population, migrant population (if any - controversial), numbers shot each year etc. Not done any serious academic research on this, but whenever I have looked on t'internet, the info is sparse, contradictory and often outdated. It would be nice to see a comprehensive, up to date and authoritative study on the British Woodpigeon. Isn't it now our commonest, or one of the commonest garden birds?

[nommo]

This looks like a good study - fairly recent too http://www.jstor.org/pss/3682950

 

Not sure if you can get the full one for free though

[anser2]

I should not worry about sexng your decoys. It is possible to pick out adult males if you have close views of a flock of wood pigeons , but its almost impossible to tell an individual birds sex.

If you look closely at a group of birds the males tend to be larger and bolder , frequently on guard while the smaller and very slightly duller females feed. Catch them and a wing measurement can help to sex some ( males have longer wings on average , but there an overlap.

 

You also have to think about the birds likely to come in or not to your decoys. Breeding adults once having fed will be thinking about getting back to the nest rather than one final top up of food. As such are likely to ignore your decoys if they have already fed. Some males will also be more intent on attracting a female with their display flight than feeding. Many of the birds comming into your decoys will be non breeders and young birds. They have the time to wander from food source to food source and as such are likely to be attracted to a decoy spred. Also young birds are not so experianced in the ways of pigeon shooters and more guliable.

 

If you are set up in the right place and the birds want to feed then half the battle is over , all you have to do is hit them. If the birds have fed elsewhere and just loafing about the trees digesting their last meal they are going to be a lot harder to pull into your decoys . You also have to think some of the birds that ignore your decoys may well have been in a flock that has been recently shot at. As such they are going to be wary about diving into the next lot of decoys.

[anser2]

I am always surprised that DEFRA has never undertook a major study of wood pigeons as they are such a major farmland pest. . Very few wood pigeons are ever ringed and the majority of those were squabs in the nest. Do we have migrant wood pigeons in this country. According to DEFRA and the BTO we do not. I have seen thousands of pigeons comming in off the sea some years yet according to the BTO they are birds lost after flying out to sea. Pigeons certantly do move about within the country. Most years we get thousands in my area of Norfolk all winter only for the flocks to disapear at the end of March usually within a day or two. Like wise we can have huge increases in late winter over night. This past winter has been classic. We had large numbers of pigeons about until the cold weather hit. For the remainder of the winter birds were scarce until early March pigeons were very scarce . but on at least 2 days when i have been out huge numbers have passed over . They were not there the day before and not seen the following day. Last Sunday was an example. Despite covering 7,000 acres I never found any numbers of pigeons worth setting up for on the previous 2 days. Sunday we had a west movement involving 3-4,000 birds. the following day again i could only find a hand full of birds despite 5 hours searching .

 

Pigeons do migrate on the European mainland ( its well documented ) so is their any reason why some do not come here ?

Edited April 2, 2010 by anser2

[955i]

Pigeons do migrate on the European mainland ( its well documented ) so is their any reason why some do not come here ?

 

It may be a two way swap kind of thing. Would be interesting to find out if there were any morphological differences between UK birds and ones from mainland Europe. Otherwise how can the BTO be so convinced that this doen't happen when even Red Admiral butterflies migrate across the Channel?