The Pigeon Kiss

It’s National Kiss Day and pigeons top the romantic pests list. Pigeons have a complicated courtship sealed with a special pigeon kiss. Pigeons mate for life and are thoroughly modern parents who share parental responsibility, including childcare and foraging for unwanted scraps of food.

As part of the pigeon courtship a single male will nod his head at the female which takes his fancy and spread his tail feathers to communicate his interest. The birds look directly at each other, and if the hen likes what she sees, she will nod back. The male will then prune his feathers, leaving the next move to the female. If interested the hen will hold out her head and move closer to the male and fan her tail feathers.

Things hotten up when the male offers his beak and indulges in a pigeon kiss (rubbing their beaks together). The hen will feed the male from her beak and together they will coo. After mating the first egg will be laid within 10 days, with a second arrival following a couple of days later. The squabs hatch in 17-18 days and stay in the nest for two months.

After a couple of weeks the cock takes over childcare duty to allow the hen to prepare for the next round of egg-laying. They may have a couple of nests, with squab feeding in one and an egg incubating in another.

A single pair can produce fifty pigeons in twelve months which may make bird control a necessity if they move into your premises. Whilst brooding, both parents develop a nutritious, thick pigeon milk which is a bit like porridge. This amazing substance is so nutritious a squab can double in size in 48 hours. The squabs are fed on the magic porridge for about six weeks which contains immunities against disease which explains why they can live in such filthy conditions. (Pigeons have no hygiene awareness and are quite happy to poo in their own nests).

But apart from living in such a romantic abode, life for these two love birds can be good in the city, especially if they live above a fish and chip shop.