Feral Domesticated Rock Pigeon

For Throwback Thursday I thought I'd (attempt to) briefly discuss the long, complicated history of our Rock Pigeons (aka Rock Doves). 

First off, there are considered to be 12 subspecies of Rock Pigeon kicking around today, suggesting that these birds were adapting to a widespread number of environments well before human civilization emerged. Once human/pigeon relationships emerged, things only got more complicated:
  1. The Rock Pigeon is native to Eurasia and North Africa, but not to the Americas. There used to be a wildly common pigeon native to the US called the Passenger Pigeon, but massive hunting and habitat loss by Europeans led to their extinction.
  2. By at least 5000 years ago, ancient Mesopotamians domesticated (formerly) wild Rock Pigeons; they're considered to be the 1st bird that humans tamed. They may have initially domesticated them for food but also used them to send messages.
  3. Around the same time Ancient Egyptians were using them both as message-carriers and in ritual sacrifices to their gods. (Perhaps dead pigeons were a way to send messages to their gods, just like live pigeons could send messages to living humans?)
  4. Though the Domestic Pigeon is clearly descended from Rock Pigeons, there's some evidence that they also acquired some other wild pigeon heritage from a related-but-separate species like the Speckled Pigeon.
  5. Carrier Pigeons and other Fancy Pigeons are show pigeons. Similar to dog shows, there are pigeon shows. Carrier Pigeons are descendants of Rock Pigeons who used to carry messages, but it sounds like breeding them for their appearance has made them less effective as messengers.
  6. Today's message-carrying pigeons are yet another type of Domestic Pigeon called Homing Pigeons.
  7. Most of the pigeons we meet today in most of the country (especially cities) are Feral Pigeons, basically wild versions of a domestic version of the Rock Pigeon. When I identify them as Rock Pigeons, I've got the species correct but the situation is a bit more complicated.
July 13, 2018 at Washington Valley Park
Photo 21530686, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)



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