Love rat: the moment I warmed to pigeons

A few days after our neighbour’s roof was fitted with solar panels, a group of pigeons arrived to check it out. They strutted about, peering at things and warbling speculatively, then disappeared into the narrow space between the solar array and the roof and didn’t emerge until morning. After that, they began turning up at their new digs each afternoon and departing soon after sunrise.

When pigeon poop accumulated atop the panels, the neighbours paid to have plastic mesh fitted around the edges to discourage the birds. And it worked … almost.

All but two of the pigeons moved on. From an upstairs window, I watched the stay-puts – a typically monogamous couple – adapt to the situation by using the inwardly curved mesh barrier at the high end of the solar panels as a bed. They land, position themselves side by side, then slouch back against the mesh and groom one another devotedly before nodding off.

In the mornings, they take turns hopping onto the roof’s revolving air vent to spin crazily in the breeze. The bed trick is impressive enough, but it is the wonderfully pointless spinning game that makes me realise why people become pigeon “fanciers”. Quirky, affectionate, and cheap to keep as pets, rock doves – or “feral” pigeons as they’re classified in Australia – are said to be among the most intelligent of birds, with an uncanny ability to recognise faces, patterns and words. (In one study, they were trained to distinguish between paintings by Picasso and Monet; others have learnt to identify cancerous tissue in mammograms, and find people lost at sea.)

In their swarming millions, of course, pigeons are still widely reviled as “rats with wings” that poop in all the wrong places and play havoc with human infrastructure. But viewed individually, their struggles to survive in hostile urban landscapes start to seem downright heroic.

Not long after the spinning couple settled in next door, I saw another pair swoop into the path of a car. One was left dead on the road; the other crash-landed nearby with a damaged leg, then dragged itself over and stood staring at its dead mate until a woman ran out and saved it from the traffic.

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Rescue groups have sprung up around the Western world to help find homes for lost or injured pigeons. Australia’s first was Pigeon Rescue Melbourne, whose volunteers care for rescued birds and pay for their medications until they’re adopted as pets.

The nonprofit organisation also provides its foundlings and blow-ins with excellent names – such as “Major General Smedley Darlington Butler” and “Avocado Sushi” – and advises new owners of their basic needs, including a roomy enclosure or “loft” and plenty of chopped fruit and vegetables. When I checked, PRM had more than a hundred birds awaiting homes.