Maybe it is crop milk. My uncle was a pigeon fancier. I have seen white stuff in their water but never thought much about it. Pigeons produce a lot of crop milk. They also drink differently to other birds. They can suck up water without
tilting their heads back. I imagine crop milk could easily get regurgitated during drinking with their beak and neck downwards.
From: Robin Hide <>
Date: Thursday, 31 January 2019 at 11:30 am
To: chatline <>
Subject: [canberrabirds] oil and feral pigeons?
According to Wiki, pigeons are one of several bird families that lack a
uropygial gland, “informally known as the preen gland or the oil gland, is a bilobed sebaceous
gland possessed by the majority of birds”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uropygial_gland
However, when (unwelcome) feral pigeons use our bird bath, they leave the water surface covered with a whitish, I assume, oily substance, as shown here:
m("01D4B958.40BCC280","image003.jpg");">
In contrast, the water remains clear after use by all other species (Red Wattle Birds, Magpies, Magpie Larks, ravens, Crimson Rosellas, starlings , etc etc).
Any suggestions about the source of this substance?
Robin Hide
With the current heat , even the rarely visiting choughs wanted water:
m("01D4B958.40BCC280","image004.jpg");">
Message protected by MailGuard: e-mail anti-virus, anti-spam and content filtering.
http://www.mailguard.com.au/mg
Report this message as spam
