Nature Essay

When people think of pigeons they often think of them as those pesky cooing birds that smell and go to the bathroom on everything but they are actually exquisite animals. My grandfather has been raising pigeons since I can remember. On his refrigerator for the past 40 years has been a picture of my mother when she was 10 years old and on the front of the newspaper Easter morning, wearing a white bonnet which had a flawless white pigeon perched on top. In the corner of my grandfather’s quaint little backyard, has been a pigeon coop with almost two dozen of these small feathered creatures for over four decades. Since pigeons have a short life span, tons of pigeons have been traveling both in and out of my grandfather’s coop. While I stand in front of the pigeon coop in my grandparent’s backyard, I watch the peaceful birds walk around bobbing their heads back and forth and softly cooing. My grandfather gently takes one out and hands it to me as I cup its body in my hands and closely examine its physical traits.

Its head is small and is a dark grey color compared to its whitish-grey body, which is covered in a blanket of soft feathers is around 13 inches in length. As I hold a male in my hand my grandfather informs me that they are slightly larger than females. These pigeon’s beety eyes are an orange color because it is an adult while young pigeons under eight months old have brown or gray-brown eyes. These pigeon’s eyelids, like most, are orange and have a grayish-white eyes ring. Despite the fact that their eyes are incredibly small, pigeons have outstanding vision and they can see both colors and even ultraviolet colors. These pigeon’s feet are tiny, pink, and feel rough and dried out from the weather. Even though the pigeon I hold is a whitish-grey color, pigeons come in a variety of colors which is what makes them so special. Unlike other bird species who normally share the same colors, just as all blue birds are blue and robins are red, pigeons come in solid or speckled colors and have bright or dull feather colors.

I glance back at the coop and watch a few pigeons peck at the seeds and grains that my grandfather is throwing. What makes owning pigeons easy is that they eat just about anything and are not fussy eaters because unlike our 9,000 taste buds, they only have 37. What’s also intriguing is that unlike many birds that take sips of water and then throw their heads back so the water trickles down their throat, pigeons use their beaks as straws and suck up the water that way.

While I still hold the pigeon in my hands, I see my grandfather open the gate and watch as each pigeon flies out of the coop and out of sight. I gently open my hands and watch as the pigeon that I was just holding push out of my grip and disappear into the clear blue sky. Even though I have seen this happen thousands of times growing up, it still amazes me. Since pigeons have incredible “homing instincts” , it allows them to not only find home from far away but always guides them back, which is why they always return to my grandfathers coop. I watch the pigeons return back into their small home and it makes happy to see a smile of content on my grandfather’s face as he closes to the door to the coop.