A Pigeon Called Peter: Starting a Dynasty

[mr squeaks]

For some time, Cornell University, through their Project PigeonWatch, has been interested in why pigeons come in so many colors called morphs. Although pigeon fanciers can identify up to 28 different color morphs, the Project uses only seven color groupings. These include: Blue-bar, a color and pattern of the original wild pigeons from Europe, Asia and Africa. Actually they are gray with two black stripes or bars on each wing and a black band at the end of the tail. They can also have purple and green iridescent feathers on their necks. A Checker pigeon has a checker pattern on its wings that can vary from light gray with a few black checks or very dark with some light-gray showing. Some have wing bars and some do not. If a pigeon is all black or dark gray, it is called a Spread. Finally, for our story purposes, we come to a Pied. These are pigeons of any color who have white patches, usually on the head or wing feathers. The Pied comes in two forms. One looks like it had been splashed with white. The other has white only on the primary wing feathers. Some have both splashes and white wing feathers.

In the Spring of 2004, I first saw Peter while walking to another building on the campus of Arizona State University. He was a striking black and white bird with emerald green feathers on his neck. He was feeding with other pigeons and I remember thinking, “what a handsome bird!” About a month later, I was taking a short cut down the hallway of an adjacent building and kept seeing a flash of white flying back and forth outside the doors. Stepping outside, I saw the same handsome bird flying back and forth with twigs in his beak to a recessed window ledge on the side of the building. He and his mate, “Mrs. Blue Bar,” were building the biggest nest I had ever seen! By the time the nest was built to his satisfaction, the nest was at least a foot high. I had been told that pigeons are not known to be fancy nest builders, if they even bother to build. This nest became the Frank Lloyd Wright creation of the pigeon world! I called this nest the “mansion.” He had more than a dozen window choices and just happened to choose a window across from my office. I had a, pardon the expression, “birds-eye” view of his activities. Because this pigeon was a Pied, I named him Peter Pied Piper.

Soon, two eggs were laid and Peter and Mrs. Blue Bar took turns nest sitting; Peter by day and Mrs. Blue Bar by night. After many days of anxiously waiting, an egg hatched! For some reason, the other egg never did. This turned out to be a blessing because after a few weeks, I never saw Mrs. Blue Bar again. Peter continued to faithfully sit on the nest and feed the baby. As the days passed, the baby became a lovely dark feathered Checker. I named the baby Fat Albert. Fat Albert grew and grew but did not seem interested in leaving the nest. Then, one day, Peter brought a beautiful lady pigeon home. Pigeons mate for life and since he lost Mrs. Blue Bar, he was able to find another mate. She was all gray with reddish wings, closely resembling the description of a Spread. She became “Ms. Nu.” Peter seemed ready to start another family but Fat Albert refused to leave the nest. No matter how many times Peter and Ms. Nu shoved and pushed, Fat Albert would flap his wings and refuse to move. Finally, Peter started building another nest two windows away that I named the “cottage.” This nest was only half the size of the “mansion.” Ms. Nu and Peter laid 2 eggs and in a few weeks, 2 babies were born.

Meanwhile, Fat Albert finally decided he could fly and left the nest. But he kept returning so often to visit Peter that I wondered if Fat Albert was a female. I re-named her Alberta. She would sit on the window ledge while Peter was nest sitting but would leave when Ms. Nu arrived. Alberta did not like her “stepmother” and would have nothing to do with her. The feeling seemed to be mutual. For awhile, I thought that Peter might mate with Alberta but he stayed with Ms. Nu. Peter raised Alberta alone and I thought there might have developed a special bond between the two. Although pigeons usually mate for life, they have been known to sometimes “stray” although this is not common behavior.

Of the two new babies, one was almost the spitting image of Peter so I named him SI. The other, at first, seemed to be the ugly sibling, so I called him Weird Al. Eventually, Weird Al developed into a lovely Checker and became Alice. Alice still seems to return to the nesting area. Of course, Alice could be Alberta – both are Checkers and it is hard to tell them apart!

No sooner were SI and Alice old enough to leave the nest, Peter and Ms. Nu moved back to the “mansion” and laid 2 more eggs! This time, after the eggs hatched, the babies were left for long periods of time without either parent nest sitting. I’m sure that our hot summer weather had something to do with this behavior. The babies grew and thrived. I thought that SI would be hard to beat in beauty but Cal surpassed him. At first, I thought Cal was tri-colored (calico): black, white and tan. As he grew, the tan disappeared, leaving only white. He had a pink beak and is all white with some black feathers on his back and his top tail feathers – another Pied. His sibling, Sybil, is also a Pied but has more black feathers and a half pink/half black beak. Although Ms. Nu and Peter still feed them, they are ready to leave the nest and – yes, you guessed it – Peter and Ms. Nu recently laid 2 more eggs in the “cottage” nest! For some reason, the birds born in the “mansion” want to stay much longer than usual!

Cal and Sybil are now testing their wings and visiting other window ledges. This morning, I saw Cal, Sybil, Peter and Alberta (Alice?) all lined up at the top of the building.

The cottage eggs have now hatched and we have another Pied and Checker. The names? SiCal and Alice2. Back to the mansion and yes, 2 MORE babies. But it’s too early to tell what colors they will be. Each egg hatching seems to produce more spectacular birds. Peter is keeping me busy thinking up names! Peter and Ms. Nu are back to the cottage and it looks like there will be two more eggs. Let’s see…that will make 13 babies if both eggs hatch! And, yes, I still see the babies returning to the area. The Pieds are easy to spot but because there are so many other Checkers, Peter’s are harder to know.

I decided to write his story just to keep track of his progeny! The suspense continues and I keep watching…and waiting…