mm@lectroid.sw.stratus.com (Mike Mahler) (09/06/90)
There's a homing pigeon that has been hanging around our house for the past few days. In fact, it went in my house once when I turned my back (which I wasn'y too thrilled about considering the bugs I saw crawling out of it's feathers when I got closer - looked like very fast tick shaped things) but was able to scoot it out quickly and then blasted it with the hose to try to scare it off (which is tough since if you remember my brain-dead neighbor keeps feeding them). What's a good way to find the owner? If it's adopted our house as a second home are we doomed to having it around whenever we open our garage (it runs right in)? Michael
horvath@granite.cr.bull.com (John Horvath) (09/06/90)
What distinquishes this bird from any other pidgeon? Why is it a homing pidgeon? If its really a homing pidgeon, could it really be lost? Another words, isn't the term "lost homing pidgeon" an oxymoron? Don't all pidgeons do these kinds of annoying things? And more questions: After all that talk about what we were going to discuss in this group, why are you talking about an invertebrate? Everyone knows that pidgeons are really cockroaches, not birds. ;') Speaking of misnomers, why do they call them rock doves too. I think this is a campaign by the pidgeon people to vindicate these creatures. I have never seen one of these things out in the wild unless they were flying from one urban blight to the next. Seriously, has anyone ever seen them in any habitat that resembled their typical concrete domiciles, something like canyon floors?
mm@lectroid.sw.stratus.com (Mike Mahler) (09/07/90)
In article <1990Sep6.140149.18599@granite.cr.bull.com> horvath@granite.cr.bull.com (John Horvath) writes: >What distinquishes this bird from any other pidgeon? It's little flight goggles and carrier pouch. >Why is it a homing pidgeon? It's tame and has bands on both legs one of which has a message holder band on top of the other. >If its really a homing pidgeon, could it really be lost? >Another words, isn't the term "lost homing pidgeon" an >oxymoron? Don't all pidgeons do these kinds of annoying things? Have bugs? Yes. >And more questions: After all that talk about what we were >going to discuss in this group, why are you talking about an >invertebrate? Everyone knows that pidgeons are really cockroaches, >not birds. ;') Wings rats they are.
john@nmt.edu (John Shipman) (09/07/90)
John Horvath (horvath@granite.cr.bull.com) writes: +-- | Speaking of misnomers, why do they call them rock doves too. | I think this is a campaign by the pidgeon people to vindicate | these creatures. I have never seen one of these things out | in the wild unless they were flying from one urban blight to | the next. Seriously, has anyone ever seen them in any habitat | that resembled their typical concrete domiciles, something | like canyon floors? +-- The southern side of Pigeon Point, between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay on the California coast, is made up of tall rocky cliffs with flat tops. I have often seen groups of twenty or so Rock Doves sitting on these cliff tops, far from urban blight. I will never forget the first day I found them here in their original habitat. Just after I arrived, a Peregrine Falcon came screaming up one of the rocky chutes and scattered them as if someone had thrown a grenade. It was my first peregrine. My pictures of this splendid bird showed that it was a Peale's Falcon (_Falco peregrinus pealei_), a distinctly dark race of peregrine that ranges along the coasts of the Pacific Northwest. -- John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/Socorro, NM/john@jupiter.nmt.edu ``Let's go outside and commiserate with nature.'' --Dave Farber
horvath@granite.cr.bull.com (John Horvath) (09/07/90)
In article <1990Sep6.224033.10637@nmt.edu> john@nmt.edu (John Shipman) writes: >... >as if someone had thrown a grenade. It was my first >peregrine. My pictures of this splendid bird showed that it ^^^^^^^^ >was a Peale's Falcon (_Falco peregrinus pealei_), a >distinctly dark race of peregrine that ranges along the >coasts of the Pacific Northwest. Wow! You not only got to see this display but got a picture of it that was *in focus* enough to see the race features! Pretty lucky and/or skillfull. All my raptor photos are either blurry dots or beautifull blue sky and clouds. When I saw my first 'Duck Hawk' at Great Meadows in Concord,MA it went screaming past, appropriately enough, a sitting flock of teals. Most of the screaming was from a group of birders, "Aghh! A Peregrine!" The teals just froze.