As a common urban bird, pigeons usually provoke strong opinions — people often either despise them or enjoy the daily wildlife interaction that they provide. While conducting an urban ecology study in Butte, Montana, Dr. Stella Capoccia noticed that because of their ubiquity, pigeons are often taken for granted as an important member of the urban ecosystem. This sparked Dr. Capoccia, an associate professor at Montana Tech, and colleagues to write a commentary titled “Loved or loathed, feral pigeons as subjects in ecological and social research”, which summarizes the multiple reasons to study urban pigeons.
Capoccia et al. starts by highlighting that non-native species are often understudied and that abundant species are overlooked because of their commonality. (Frequent readers of this blog know that we’ve written about that same problem here and here.) The authors make the case that it is precisely because pigeons are common that they should be studied, since they may be indicators of environmental health and disease. Moreover, the authors argue that pigeons’ universality promotes the public to connect to urban stewardship.
Ecological Importance
Dr. Capoccia’s interest in pigeons stemmed from a request by the Butte-Silver Bow County to learn more about the pigeons in the central business district. Unsurprisingly, Capoccia and colleagues found that pigeons were more likely to occur in areas that had vacant buildings, moderate protection from the elements, and a steady food source. Since most cities — even rather small cities — have these elements, it is no wonder that pigeons are found around the world and on every continent except Antarctica.
Due to their wide range and their integration into urban ecosystems, Capoccia et al. argue that pigeons have a major role in the cycling of nutrients and minerals, which contributes to shaping the urban habitat around them. The authors further argue that this makes pigeons an urban keystone species. While this may seem like a bold claim, the authors state that pigeons contribute to trophic levels both as primary consumers and and prey for urban raptors. The authors support this claim with reports of pigeons making up a stunning 80.9% of the diet of peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) in Santos, Brazil and contributing to the diets of Common Kestrels (Falco tinnunculus), Sharp Shinned Hawks (Accipter striatus), Cooper’s Hawks (Accipiter cooperii), and Northern Goshawks (Accipiter gentilis).
Since the decline of raptors is of great concern, studies of pigeons can provide insight into potential causes of raptor decline. For example, raptors have been found with biological accumulation of lead, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). We’ve known for decades that pigeons accumulate lead, leading to the logical prediction that pigeons also likely accumulate PBDEs and PCBs. Because pigeons are easier to sample than raptors (pigeons are not federally protected in the USA), long-term monitoring of pigeons could be used to help understand and predict the health of urban raptor populations.
Community Science
A few years ago Dr. Rob Dunn et al. coined the term “Pigeon Paradox” to describe the phenomenon in which urban animals, like the pigeon, could be the key to getting the public to connect to and conserve nature. In their paper, Dunn et al. write, “The pigeon paradox is based on three simple assertions: (1) current conservation action is insufficient, (2) people are more likely to take conservation action when they have direct experiences in the natural world, and (3) as human populations (and hence sources of conservation action) shift to cities, humans will primarily experience nature through contact with urban nature.”
Basically, if we want to conserve nature, we better figure out how to get people in cities to connect with the organisms in urban ecosystems. Capoccia et al. expand on this by saying that not only are pigeons important for connecting locals to nature, but pigeons are a great way to get the public involved in #CommunityScience. The authors cite a project involving squirrels where community members were able to identify disease in the squirrels faster than local officials, as well as similar studies on mountain goats and koalas. Studies like these show the importance of local knowledge and the insight that can be brought into the scientific community when this expertise is embraced.
Capoccia et al. conclude by arguing that community science efforts to monitor local pigeon flocks are an ideal way to connect with wildlife and promote conversations about avian health or climate change. Moreover, pigeons can help launch a discussion about people’s attitudes towards urban wildlife and invasive species. Whether pigeons are loved or loathed, they may be the key to understanding urban wildlife interactions, thus providing a gateway to improving the relationship with the many other species that live in cities.
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