by Sarah Walker, from the March 2005 Newsletter

I think I’m psychic—just as I got the urge to write about Moscow’s pigeons, a new movie has been made about—you guessed it—pigeons. “Valiant” is an animated film based on true stories of hero-pigeons like “Cher Amie” that carried secret messages to the French Resistance during World War II. It’s produced by John Williams of “Shrek,” uses celebrity voices, and is predicted to inspire lots of new pigeon supporters.

Not that pigeons don’t already have a lot of fans. There are clubs for pigeon racers and breeders throughout the world. Pigeon boosters have submitted a design for a U.S. postage stamp to commemorate famous war pigeons and declared April “National Pigeon Awareness Month.” And pigeons have long kept scientists curious about their mysterious homing ability.

In big cities the world over, urban dwellers on park benches faithfully feed bread crumbs to these familiar birds that strut along sidewalks on their pink feet, bobbing their small heads.

But here in Moscow, where plenty of pigeons find secure habitat in our grain elevators, pigeon appreciation is not that all that high. “They’re a mess,” is what I heard when I toured the warehouses and elevators to ask about the pigeons. The poop piles up pretty fast (and deep) and requires lots of extra clean up. Worse, it’s corrosive, even eating through metal buildings.

There’s always the sound of them walking on the buildings. One warehouse worker told me he can hear them cooing on the roof, 150 feet above his office on the ground floor, through a chimney. A woman told me she gets jumpy when pigeons unexpectedly drop small rocks on the roof while she’s inside concentrating on her work.

But people can’t help watching pigeons. One person who became accustomed to seeing the typical gray pigeons with barred wings and pink legs told me how surprised she was one day to spot pigeons that were white or rusty red (pigeons can be many colors and patterns). I watch the pigeon flocks when they take off from the elevators, wheeling and soaring in unison. They remind me of birds in an Escher print.

Pigeons inspire sentimentality; they are loyal creatures that return home even when released hundreds of miles away. Ceremonies (with actual medals) have been held to honor pigeons that delivered messages during wars. Pigeons are smart and easily trained. They’ve been domesticated for thousands of years.

Having so many pigeons in Moscow has at least one benefit. Every now and then we get to watch a big hawk or hear owls hooting in town, because they hang around the elevators hoping for a pigeon dinner.

Since pigeons are such swift strong fliers (they’ve been clocked at speeds up to 60 mph, even 90 mph with a tail wind), it takes a speedy predator like a peregrine falcon to catch one.

Pigeons inspire curiosity. Here’s an “up-close and personal” account of pigeons written by naturalist Helen Russell in 1968 in her book called “City Critters”:

“First the male finds a good place for a nest. He sits on the spot he has chosen and coos by the hour. Every once in a while, he stands up and fluffs out his iridescent neck feathers and spreads his wings and tail. He turns around slowly, cooing all the while as though inviting everyone to notice how handsome he looks. If a female flies down beside him, he pushes her away. Then he goes right on cooing and showing off. The female watches him from a little distance. If she likes what she sees, she flies down again. Again he drives her off. She waits a little while and returns. This may be repeated several times—but finally the time comes when he lets her stay. Then she spreads her wings and tail and fluffs up her neck feathers and hops around showing him how pretty she looks.”

For more about pigeons check out www.pigeon.org, or www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/urbanbirds.

Copyright: Copyright on articles, recipes and images are jointly held by the Moscow Food Co-op and the respective contributors, except were otherwise noted.

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