They’ve been driven from Trafalgar square for being a nuisance, derided as rats with wings and maligned as a risk to public health. But now pigeons could play a small part in helping Londoners overcome one of the capital’s biggest health problems – its illegal levels of air pollution blamed for thousands of deaths a […]
Tag: Pigeons
POLL: Should raptors be culled to protect racing pigeons?
Feathers are flying in the bird world. Potential changes to the law, following a campaign by pigeon fanciers to reduce attacks on their pets by raptors, have met with opposition from the RSPB. The Raptor Alliance, a body representing many of the UK’s 42,000 pigeon owners, is writing to MPs warning that an “iconic traditional […]
Study shows one reason why pigeons so rarely crash
A pair of researchers with Harvard University has uncovered one of the secrets behind pigeons’ impressive flight abilities. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, David Williams and Andrew Biewener describe how they videotaped some of the birds flying through an obstacle course they made, and what they found when […]
Pretty Pigeons
And a poem – Pigeons by Richard Kell They paddle with staccato feet In powder-pools of sunlight, Small blue busybodies Strutting like fat gentlemen With hands clasped Under their swallowtail coats; And, as they stump about, Their heads like tiny hammers Tap at imaginary nails In non-existent walls. Elusive ghosts of sunshine Slither down the […]
Wildlife Licences: Can’t Shoot Robins, but Egyptian Geese are Game
Landowners wanting to be allowed to shoot robins, pied wagtails, starlings and other favourite birds seen eating their crops have been rebuffed by the government. But shooters will be able to legally kill or destroy the nests of Egyptian geese and trap and release protected birds like song thrushes, blue tits and dunnocks found foraging […]
Egypt’s ‘spying’ stork and other incidents of animal espionage
A swan has been detained in Egypt on suspicion of being a spy. Except it looks – in pictures released by the Egyptian authorities, who kept referring to it as a “swan” – like a stork. Perhaps it was wearing a disguise. The bird, allegedly working for the French government, was captured in a heroic […]
Sunday Breakfast
I scatter seeds on my porch for the birds when the weather gets cold. This morning I had lots of visitors. Click on the photos to enlarge. House sparrows, Passerdomesticus, are always the first to arrive. They like seeds and breadcrumbs. They usually come in a group. The cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis, eats seeds, nuts, and […]