This is Mur @mur2501@social.cleverlibre.org

My love for beetles.

This very same Jackdaw 🥰

There is so much more I could say about these amazing birds but fear I could (if I haven’t already) bore you if I go on too long. However I’ve got to follow this up with a piece about Pest Control and some Pigeons that happened along earlier this year. I hope after reading this you’ll agree that it’s wrong for us to view these intelligent, amazing birds as ‘just another Pigeon.’ After all the service they’ve given us throughout history we owe them more than that.... 🐦 🐦😊x

The Dickens medal was first awarded by the PDSA in 1943 for any animal that distinguished itself in an act of bravery in war time. (The animal equivalent of a Victoria Cross). To date it has been awarded to 35 dogs, 32 Pigeons, 4 horses and 1 cat. Pigeons feature prominently on the animal war memorial in Hyde Park and we have our own memorial to them in Beach House Park, Worthing.

Even their droppings were utilised as fertiliser and used as an ingredient in gunpowder. (I feel a plot coming on!).
However their importance to us as a means of communication was never more highlighted than in the First World War. It’s widely excepted that without them thousands of more lives would have been lost. It’s thought that over 100,000 Pigeons lost their lives in an attempt to keep lines of communication open.

Pigeons can live for up to 15yrs (sometimes over 18yrs) and are monogamous. It’s believed that their strong ‘homing’ instinct is driven by the close bond with their partners and nest sites. Pigeons can fly long distances at speeds in excess of 70mph, at heights of up to 6,000ft in their quest to return ‘home.’ It’s thought they use both the sun and the earth’s magnetic field to navigate.

@mur2501 Yes! Pigeons population can be a long term problem. Not only for other species but also for pigeons themselves.
In France, there's more and more cities that are building contraceptive dovecote and it's the most ethical and long term way that actually works. It doesn't hurt pigeons and it gets to control their population for their own safety as well as others species safety.