birding-aus

Pigeon behaviour

To: "birding-aus" <>
Subject: Pigeon behaviour
From: "Terry Bishop" <>
Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:04:43 +1000
For about 5 minutes I have just watched the antics of a pigeon being chased by
two cockatoos. The cockatoos were faster in straight line flight but the pigeon
had the advantage of much smaller circumference and faster turns. The pigeon
seemed to let the Cockatoos nearly catch up then it would go into a tight 180
degree turn. On every turn the cockatoos would lose between 3 to 4 metres.
Occasionally one of the cockatoos would hang back a bit and when the pigeon made
it turn the back cockatoo would cut across the arc to cut the pigeon off.
However the pigeon was aware of this and would suddenly reverse the direction of
turn. The pigeon also would gain ground by fly around trees through small gaps
causing the cockatoos into a larger circuit. The cockatoos were the first to
give up by coming to rest in a tree. It all seemed to be a game as there was no
vocalisation and there did not seem to be any aggression. Has this behaviour
been recorded or observed by anyone?

Terry B
 

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