Where have all those pigeons gone?

Published 12:00 am Friday, October 1, 1999

Before anyone thinks the headline on this column is too negative, please allow me to emphasize one point.

Friday, October 01, 1999

Before anyone thinks the headline on this column is too negative, please allow me to emphasize one point. The pigeon isn’t yet extinct in this area.

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During a special visit to this year’s Freeborn County Fair, I counted 28 pigeons in their cages which were on exhibit in the poultry area. Those birds included the traditional blue gray ones, several pure white birds, two brown ones, and other pigeons of various breeds.

My favorite pigeons at this fair exhibit were the ones called pouters. These birds inflate their crops or chests when they’re supposedly excited. I’m not too sure if those pouter pigeons in their little cages were showing off, or just happy to see someone walking by.

Yet, there seems to have been a reduction in the local pigeon population during the past two or three decades. I can recall a era when there were several flocks of pigeons flying around the city, plus some nearby barns.

Now, I’m not too sure where the defining line is between the tame and wild pigeons. For example, several people in my part of town used to raise pigeons. One person kept his birds permanently enclosed inside a large pen or loft. Another person let his birds out each morning. Those pigeons would fly off and join their wilder buddies for the day, then fly back to the home roost at night.

The city’s wild pigeons a few decades ago appeared to consist of a flock (or maybe somewhat separate flocks) based on the Wilson and Co. plant and stockyards, the Freeborn County Courthouse, the central business district, and the west side near the grain elevator and railroad tracks.

Where did the city’s wild pigeons once roost and find room for their nests? One obvious answer was any building with a few broken windows and/or sheltered ledges.

About 10 years ago I had the opportunity to go up into the base of what’s left of the courthouse clock tower. This now overlooked and completely dark room was once a popular roosting place for the local pigeons. How do I know this? Maybe it’s because the flashlight beam showed a floor covered with pigeon guano. (This space has been totally enclosed for many years, forcing the local pigeons to find another roosting place.)

Pigeons were once also an interesting part of farm life in this area. In fact, some farmers and/or their children raised the birds. On other farms the wild pigeons used the barns as their home perches and nesting sites. A common occurrence years ago was seeing a small flock of pigeons flying from one one barn to another barn or building on a nearby farm like they were making social calls.

However, because of their messy habits which could contaminate hay in the mow, and to possibly transmit diseases from place to place, some farmers encouraged hunters to use the pigeons for target practice. There were also other farmers who wouldn’t let hunters on the farms to shoot birds. Some of those alleged hunters reportedly tried to shoot at the birds perched on the peak of the roofs and blew holes in the roofs instead. (I intended to work in something about those alleged hunters not being able to hit the broad side of a barn, but had to aim the concept up a little higher.)

Now, let’s resolve the question used for the title of this column. Times have changed for the local flock or flocks of wild pigeons. Their feeding opportunities have declined. There’s more competition for food from other birds and critters. And many of their roosting and nesting places have either disappeared or been made made pigeon-proof with new windows and/or building repairs.

Yet, there are still a few wild pigeons flying around the city and doing whatever it is that these birds do best. One of their roosting and nesting places is under the West Main Street viaduct, above the railroad tracks, and close to a prime feeding place – the grain elevator.