Hawai'i Nature Squad
Parent pigeons keep their babies at home
By Kim Welch, Kelly Perry and Ati Jeffers-Fabro
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| Baby pigeons stay in the nest until they are nearly as big as adults. |
Andy Anole looked down and realized he was a hundred feet above the ground. A shiver ran down his spine. The lizard detective was searching for pigeon nests, and he felt like he had searched every ledge on every floor of the building. The reason for the search: Lois Bunin of Honolulu had e-mailed the Hawai'i Nature Squad with a mystery to investigate: Why don't we ever see any baby pigeons?
Andy's dragonfly partner, Penny Pinao, zoomed in from above. "I've spotted a baby pigeon, Andy!" she called out. "It's perched in an awkward place. You'll need your 'triple R.' "
Andy groaned. 'Triple R' stood for retractable rappelling rope. Although Andy aced rappelling training at the Academy, he still had a deep fear of heights.
Andy spied the messy pile of twigs and branches on the ledge below. Penny's research had paid off. A pigeon's other name is rock dove. In the wild they make nests on cliffs or rock ledges. But in the city they often choose buildings for their homes.
"Andy, if you drop down from here, you'll land right in the nest," Penny said. "I'll meet you down there."
The rappelling reptile hooked his rope to the ledge and dropped down slowly, cringing and shaking all the while. He soon found himself between two fluffy balls of down feathers.
"Hey, you're not my mom!" whined the baby pigeon.
"And you're not my papa either!" added the second one.
Penny landed and chimed in, "We're sorry, kids. Can you tell us where your parents are? We'd like to ask them a few questions."
Suddenly a distraught flurry of beating wings produced a gust of wind that blew Penny out of the nest. Andy ducked underneath one of the baby pigeons as two large, gray pigeons set down. Their iridescent throats shimmered in the sunlight.
"What are you doing to our babies?" demanded the father pigeon.
"Pardon us, sir," Penny said, touching back down and flashing her Hawai'i Nature Squad badge.
"We are trying to find out why people never see baby pigeons," stammered Andy, poking his head out from under a pigeon.
The mother pigeon stepped forward. She puffed out her chest and stated, "We pigeons are very protective parents. Our babies will stay in the nest until they are almost as big as an adult."
"Yes," added the father pigeon. "We start out feeding them milk for the first week, then regurgitated solids after that."
Penny and Andy looked puzzled.
"Pigeons can make milk, too," he declared. "It looks like yellow cottage cheese, and is very rich in fat and protein."
"Gross!" Penny thought to herself. "Throw-up for food!"
The mother pigeon continued. "We store it in our crops. That's a pouch in our throat."
"Mom, we're hungry!" cried the babies.
"Well, if you'll excuse us," interrupted the father pigeon.
"By all means!" Penny and Andy said hastily, hurrying away.
Have you seen something unusual in nature that you want the Hawai'i Nature Squad to investigate? Write us a letter with your name, age, school, name of parent(s) and telephone number. Mail it to Hawai'i Nature Squad, c/o Hawai'i Nature Center, 2131 Makiki Heights Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, or fax 955-0116. You may e-mail hawaiinaturecenter@hawaii.rr.com only if you're 13 or older.
"Hawai'i Nature Squad" is written by Kim Welch, Kelly Perry and Ati Jeffers-Fabro of Hawai'i Nature Center, an environmental education organization. It alternates in this spot with "Dr. Gadget's Science Machine."
