I often read postings here agonising over whether certain introduced
species are tickable yet, or whether a bird seen was an escapee. Yet no
one ever seems to wonder whether a feral pigeon is an escapee. How do I
know absolutely for sure that any of them that I've seen are from a self
sustaining wild population, rather than having escaped 10 minutes ago?
While I only ask that for fun, I do know that most of those that I
record in my local area come from two semi-captive flocks (one of which
is next door). Others appear to be in a racing flock, presumably racing
or released for training flights. And from my own pigeon keeping days I
know that all urban feral flocks are constantly attracting escaped
birds, and that "captive" flocks often come home with "ferals".
I record any species I see, but in the case of feral pigeons have never
thought to record whether I think they're living wild or whatever. Does
it matter?
Peter Shute
wrote on :
> While I can appreciate your view on this (I've always been somewhat
> uncomfortable calling Feral Pigeons Rock Doves), I'm curious to know
> what you think they are then? Are you suggesting they warrant a
> different species name from the Rock Dove? Or are you just saying
> because they are a feral they don't count? Similarly, Barbary Doves
> may not be a different species from African Collared Dove, but if the
> birds are there, they are something, whether Barbary or
> African Collared. While some people differ, the general
> twitching rule in Australia seems to be to tick introductions
> they must be wild birds in a self sustaining population,
> meaning they've been breeding in the wild for about 10 years.
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