Feral Pigeon

[RobinP]

Hi all

I suspect this is just a feral pigeon but would like confirmation, looks unlike the mixed assortment I see in town centres. Anyway, a new one for the garden nonetheless!



Cheers

Robin

[ron1863]

I would say it's a feral or town pigeon and certainly not a racing pigeon as it would be ringed.

[Pippa]

It's still a bonny bird though.

[KeenTeen17]

youll probably have a swarm of them anytime soon. This guy will be telling all the others about your garden and theyll swoop in for food.

[big bill]

Definately a feral Pigeon and a pain in the rear,i have a flock of at least 25+ coming into the garden and chasing the birds away from feeders and ground feeding stations every day and they are getting on my nerves short of getting a shot gun to them I am at ny wits end on what to do any ideas folks

[Pam_M]

Originally Posted by big bill

Definately a feral Pigeon and a pain in the rear,i have a flock of at least 25+ coming into the garden and chasing the birds away from feeders and ground feeding stations every day and they are getting on my nerves short of getting a shot gun to them I am at ny wits end on what to do any ideas folks

The only suggestion I can make is to cease with the ground feeding for a while until the pigeons get fed up of waiting for spills from the feeders! Though with all this cold wintry weather your ground feeding garden birds will miss out! A hard choice given the weather conditions.

[colincurry]

It is a blue checker - at least that is what my pigeon racing father would have called it. (He didn't personally race against pigeons....)

One of our neighbours has a large black cut-out of a spread winged sparrowhawk attached to his television aerial to deter pigeons and collared doves. Trinity College in Cambridge has a coloured cut-out of a kestrel suspended on a wire over the main gate. I don't know how effective they are. The only problem might be that the cut-out might also frighten away the very birds you are trying to attract.

Colin

[aeshna5]

I would also call it a blue chequer type of Feral Pigeon, which is one of the commonest plumage types to be encountered in mixed flocks. Though they can undoubtedly be a pest at times, I find some of them very attractive birds + interesting to observe.

[JeffH]

Originally Posted by big bill

Definately a feral Pigeon and a pain in the rear,i have a flock of at least 25+ coming into the garden and chasing the birds away from feeders and ground feeding stations every day and they are getting on my nerves short of getting a shot gun to them I am at my wits end on what to do any ideas folks

I know what you mean Bill! We've got a similar (but somewhat larger ) problem in our garden at the moment.

What started as a small visiting flock of a few pure white doves a couple of years ago has grown into a mixed flock of doves and feral pigeons now numbering more than 60!

They are becoming a real problem in our neighbourhood and, on the advice of our local Environmental Health Dept, my next door neighbour has taken to scaring them off his roof/out of his garden at every opportunity.

The EH Dept has also suggested stopping ground feeding and the placing of a dummy Owl/Hawk but in this current spell of very cold weather these two options could have a serious detrimental effect on our other garden birds, especially the ground feeders like our visiting Pheasants, Moorhens, etc

In any case, some of the pigeons have developed the skill of clinging onto hanging feeders and flapping around so as to shake out the food, so simply stopping ground feeding isn't going to stop them.

As in your garden Bill the Pigeons have become rather dominant and intimidating and chase off other birds feeding near them. They're also consuming vast quantities of food - a couple of scoops of mixed seed disappears within minutes.

Much as I hate the idea of having to do so (and at the risk of being condemned by some members for even contemplating it), I'm afraid I'm now resigned to having to cull quite a few of them by some careful shooting. Fortunately we have sufficient ground to be able to do so safely and legally. Indeed, this is another option suggested by Environmental Health.

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers and Barn Owls)

[Soupdragon]

Originally Posted by big bill

Definately a feral Pigeon and a pain in the rear,i have a flock of at least 25+ coming into the garden and chasing the birds away from feeders and ground feeding stations every day and they are getting on my nerves short of getting a shot gun to them I am at ny wits end on what to do any ideas folks

Could you cover one corner of the garden with mesh that the small birds can get through, but larger ones cannot? If you were to only feed inside the mesh for the winter, the larger birds might decide to go elsewhere...perhaps put food that larger birds prefer somewhere away from your garden as well, to train them to settle somewhere else.