When walking through a public square or looking up at a city’s buildings, how often do you notice the feral pigeons? Most likely you don’t pay much attention to these birds, and yet they may be incredibly useful indicators of the health of urban ecosystems.
Few people today dispute the idea that biodiversity is valuable, and should be protected and nurtured wherever possible. A biodiverse ecosystem increases resilience against the effects of climate change, provides ecosystem services such as soil fertility and water purification, improves food security, and offers a range of cultural, scientific, and educational contributions to society. Less discussed, but no less important, is the biodiversity of urban areas. More than half the world’s population lives in cities, and therefore are able to benefit from the ecological services provided by a healthy environment, such as clean air and water, and the mitigation of the urban heat island effect.
So what does this have to do with pigeons?
In order for urban residents to get the benefit of these ecological services, the ecosystem itself needs to function in a healthy and sustainable way. As such, it must be host to stable populations of diverse species, and include a food web of producers (eg. plants and algae), consumers (eg. herbivores and predators) and decomposers (eg. bacteria and funghi). To identify when these ecosystem features are present and functioning in a healthy way, it can be useful to study an indicator species, and for this purpose, the common pigeon is an excellent candidate.
The suitability of pigeons as indicator species comes from several characteristics of these birds:
In addition to these qualifications, there is another aspect of pigeons that makes them interesting to study, and that is their relationship to us. Pigeons are, perhaps, the most visible representatives of wildlife in our urban jungles. Many other urban wild animals – such as rats, foxes, and raccoons – avoid human interaction, and often only emerge at night. Pigeons, by contrast, are active during the day, and are less shy around people. This means that studying feral pigeons can tell us more than just the state of the urban ecosystem; it can potentially also reveal insights into the impact that human behaviour has on the natural world.
Pigeons exist at the intersection of the environmental and the human worlds, responding to changes and trends in each. By observing feral pigeon populations, for example, we can identify patterns and changes in behaviour from one city to another. With further study, conclusions can be drawn on how these trends affect other species within the ecosystem, and thus gauge the health of the ecosystem over all. Similarly, as human activities disrupt animal populations (for example, food sources, light- and noise-pollution, habitat and nesting opportunities), pigeons can be observed for their reactions, revealing the impacts of humans on urban biodiversity.
Pigeons may, indeed, be pests. But it is important to see pigeons – and all urban wildlife – as more than that. If we wish to support biodiversity and environmental conservation, we need to treat the animals that we live alongside with the respect that they deserve. By studying pigeons, we can learn more about the natural world, our place within it, and – last, but not least – about pigeons themselves.
Note: this article was originally published on LinkedIn in 2024. As a key part of The Next Ecology's written work, however, it also belongs here on the website.
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