Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird

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Here’s the thing about pigeons: if you’re one of those people who hate them and think of them as “flying rats”, well tough, because it’s our own fault. Pigeons aren’t wild animals who have taken to living in our towns, like urban foxes say; they are domesticated animals, like dogs and cows, some of which have escaped, been abandoned or deliberately released. They were domesticated, most likely somewhere in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, thousands of years ago and throughout almost all of human history ever since have been liked, valued, admired, at times revered. Alongside the dog and the horse, they have been one of our favourite companions on this planet. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. Create Account Will you like the book random person reading my review? No clue. There's a kind of flippant attitude to the writing, I liked it but others might not. I guess. Possibly. The subject matter is pigeons. Why people should care about them. Why they seem to be all around us. How they are actually out there because of us (we domesticated them, traveled around with them, released them into places they hadn't existed before (like North America)); why would we domesticate them? Why do people (some) not remember this tidbit? How many won military medals (a few, seriously)? Pigeon-Keeping for Amateurs - A Complete and Concise Guide to the Amateur Breeder of Domestic and Fancy Pigeons

Ms. Mosco has presented her subject, the lowly pigeon a flattering light indeed. This is easy to understand and well explained. Who knew that pigeons provide a kind of milk for their young? Not me that's for sure. There are also simple pictures to aid in explaining various bits of information. My only criticism is that I thought it presented (in)breeding in a very neutral way even when describing certain breeds as literally incapable of feeding their young or flying. I would have liked an explicitly critical approach to some of the more clearly iffy aspects of the selective breeding of sentient animals, but still, based on the general tone and some comments about us having a moral responsibility to treat animals humanely, especially those that exist because of out domestication and breeding, I think the author’s ethics would align with mine there. I’m so used to naturalists being dismissive about or downright hateful of urban wildlife that the author’s tone, enthusiasm and compassion for pigeons was very welcome and refreshing, especially when it’s clearly in no way incompatible with her scientific approach.I could never understand why fanciers buy sprint , middle distance and long distance birds to try and compete in club and combine races - when you can find it in a "family of birds developed to fly 100-600 miles". Fancy Pigeons Containing Full Directions for Their Breeding and Management, With Descriptions of Every Known Variety and All Other Information of Interest or Use to Pigeon Fanciers Classic Reprint Thanks to NetGalley and Workman Publishing Company for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Mosco's interest in pigeons, bird watching, and nature were infectious. The writing was aimed at readers who might only have vague memories of their high school science classes, so some of the explanations of things like pigeon genetics were a bit simplistic for my tastes, but overall this was an enjoyable and interesting read. I very much appreciated the annotated "Further Reading" section and would like to try out several of the books Mosco mentions. He was co-founder, President and then Chairman of the Board (1923-1976) of the Palmetto Pigeon Plant, Sumter, South Carolina, which was and is one of the most progressive squab producers in the United States. From 1927-1975 he was editor of the "Questions and Answers Section of the American Pigeon Journal and was President of the National Pigeon Association from 1931-1933.

and many other crop planting books should be read by breeders of racing Pigeons as you will find valuble imformation inside.as many..racehorse breeders have themselves. To a lot of people they still are of course. Charles Darwin loved them (much of Chapter One of On the Origin of Species is devoted to them), as did Pablo Picasso who not only painted them but named his daughter after them (Paloma, his “little dove”); the Mughal emperor Akbar, Queen Victoria, inventor Nikola Tesla, painters Claude Monet and Henri Matisse, head of the fashion house Maurizio Gucci, Yul Brynner and Walt Disney—pigeon fanciers all. To others though, and only during the last thin sliver of our history, they have suddenly morphed into something very different. I really enjoyed the read but did not read it in one sitting. I had to space it out solely because I had to process all the information I was being given. It is the kind of book you can have at home and peruse whenever you feel like pulling up some remarkable factoids. Fun, funny, interesting, illuminating book. How much did I like it? Only 50% into the book, I acquired two physical copies to give out for Christmas. Fancy Pigeons Containing Full Directions for Their Breeding and Management, with Descriptions of Every Known Variety, and All OtherBlechman’s Pigeons follows him on a quest to understand why people both love and loathe this bird so passionately. Correction: An earlier version of this blog stated that well-fed pigeons made the optimal choice of the pea and milo seed. It should have stated that hungry pigeons made the optimal choice. Somewhat hungry pigeons were more likely to choose only the pea.

Drawing on his years of experience, with an easy-to-read style and useful hints and tips, Lang has everything you need to know about pigeon care. Every part of country has it's own special racing problems , ( wind , water , mountains ,heat , cold , etc.) certain birds are not equipped to handle all conditions , so why have that bird in your loft or spend money breeding for a quality that can not help you in your area.

Thanks to the power of the internet it's hard to keep a secret. I am interested in his writing and it doesn't matter if the book says "Old Hand" or " Bishop" I will first pay attention to Homing instincts alone, after training out i will do tough single tossing, As I used to do. Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth

At the annual meeting of the American Psychological Assocation this past weekend, Zentall presented new research on the pigeon version of yet another cognitive bias, the “less is more” heuristic. When making rapid judgments between two things we tend to give greater weight to the average quality of our options rather than the overall quantity. For example, in one famous experiment done by behavioral scientist Christopher Hsee, participants were asked to rate two collections of dinnerware. One set consisted of 24 pristine plates. The other set contained 31 perfect pieces plus nine broken ones. The participants tended to place a higher value on the smaller set—even though the second option contained more flawless dishes.In this short and entertaining read, Mosco writes about pigeons: their relationship to humans, their history, their anatomy and behavior, the various breeds of domesticated pigeons, the sorts of patterns and colors you might spot among feral pigeons, and how to help pigeons (stringfoot, spotting lost pets among feral pigeons, catching an injured pigeon, etc.). The book wraps up with a chapter on the sorts of animals you might begin to spot once you've become comfortable watching pigeons/doves. The Memoirs of Piet DeWeerd, featuring The Janssens or Arendonk " The name that became a legend " and other articles on, This book is aimed at all pigeon enthusiasts, particularly those who participate in racing them long distances over five hundred miles. There is so much to learn about pigeons- their history, their training techniques, breeding strategies- that it can be difficult to know where to start. This Pigeon Racing book is a complete guide to the sport for people who want to win pigeon racing without over-extending themselves.