Columbia livia (Feral pigeon)
Written by Wednesday, 18 March 2009 00:00
"That little bird has chosen his shelter. Above it are the stars and the deep heaven of worlds. Yet he is rocking himself to sleep without caring for tomorrow's lodging, calmly clinging to his little twig, and leaving God to think for him." Martin Luther
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Columbia livia (Family: Columbidae; common names: feral pigeons, street pigeons, city doves; city pigeons; pigeons) Feral pigeons, also called city doves, city pigeons or street pigeons, are derived from domestic pigeons that have returned to the wild. The domestic pigeon was originally bred from the wild Rock Pigeon, which naturally inhabits sea-cliffs and mountains. Wild Rock Pigeons are pale grey with two black bars on each wing, although domestic and feral pigeons are very variable in colour and pattern. All three types readily interbreed. Feral pigeons find the ledges of buildings to be a substitute for sea cliffs, and have become adapted to life and are abundant in towns and cities all over the world. The genus name Columba is the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek κόλυμβος (kolumbos), "a diver", from κολυμβάω (kolumbao), "dive, plunge headlong, swim". Aristophanes (Birds, 304) and others use the word κολυμβίς (kolumbis), "diver", for the name of the bird, because of its swimming motion in the air .(1) The photos show a Rock pigeon with the classic marks of the species drinking water from a tiny pool formed after heavy rain (first photo) and some feral pigeons (photos 2 and 3), which show how much different the phenotype can become after cross breeding for many generations. The white pigeon is an extreme example, since it is obviously the form with less markings. All shots were taken in a little pine forest close to our home in Athens, where neighbours leave bread crumbs for the various birds. The pigeons will forage for food all day long and then land to take a lunch. During that time they show some territorial signs as well as aggression to conspecifics. It is interesting that the pigeons are monogamous which explains why the rock pigeon will allow the white one to come close and share the food but no other pigeon is allowed to come close (photos 4-7). It should be noted that pigeons in the pine forest or in any place with minimal human presence show a radically different behaviour than their cousins living in urban places. Thus, although you can almost step on the latter, the former will only allow you a distance of 6-10m before they fly away. As a bonus, you get a much more natural background and behaviour. Photos by Marina Parha and George J. Reclos Lens: AF VR Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 D ED @ 400mm Sensitivity: ISO 800 Shutter speed - aperture: 1/80 sec - f/8, Aperture priority mode, -0.3 EV compensation Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL/BL mode Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS4, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized. 2. Camera: Nikon D300 3. Camera: Nikon D70 4. Camera: Nikon D300 5. Camera: Nikon D300 6. Camera: Nikon D300 7. Camera: Nikon D300 (1) Wikipedia
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