I live in London and, before that, about 3 years ago, I was living in Brussels. Big cities, filled with all sort of urban animals. Some might call them “pest” but I think it is not nice to call them that: there are no more pest than we are…
Anyway,
amongst families of foxes, insanely cute squirrels and weird night moths, we
have pigeons. There are everywhere. They come in all sorts of colours and
shapes but, no matter where you go, they are there. Some cities even made the
most out of their flying squirrels.
In Venice,
they are an attraction: feeding pigeons on the Saint-Marco piazza is a thing.
The other
day, I was on the bus en route to Covent Garden, and I noticed a group of
pigeons, lying in the sun, having a rest. And I thought: “How come we never see
dead pigeons? Where do they go to die? Are they like elephants; they feel the
end coming and they go to a special place to depart this life?”
If you
google it, there is a myriad of articles about the subject. I am glad to know I
am not the only one wondering about that!
The best
(and probably nicer) answer I have found is on the RSPB website: “Despite
the fact that there are numerous flocks of birds, which are often seen while
alive, people rarely see pavements littered with the bodies of dead birds. Most
birds in the wild only live for a few years, and very few will die from
'natural' causes. They are very unlikely to survive to old age for example. (…)
Birds, like many other
creatures, will seek secluded, out-of-the-way places when they're feeling sick
- woodpeckers will climb into a hole in a tree, for example. Sick birds will go
to ground and because they feel vulnerable they will hide away. Sometimes, rest
and seclusion
help
them to recover, but if they die there, they sometimes won't be found in their
hideouts.
Of
course, in nature, things very often work in tandem. Scavengers and predators,
such as rats, cats or foxes, can usually seek out these hideouts for prey.
Often, these predators will eat the prey themselves or take them back to feed
their young, which is why it's rare to find the remains of dead birds. Due to a
bird's light body mass, those that aren't found by predators or scavengers will
decompose rapidly. Insects will cover any dead body quickly and the bird would
soon decay before it is found.”
So, pigeons
are like elephants: when the end is near, they go and hide to die. It makes me
feel a lot of sympathy and respect for those little birds. And I am happy to
see the mystery being solved!
