birds of the glebe

By Jeanette Rive

The poor city or Rock pigeon, a bird we love to hate – intrusive, annoying, dirty, damaging to buildings and potentially disease carrying – but it has been cohabiting with humans for some 5,000 to 10,000 years. They have been kept as pets, used to send messages and for food. This misunderstood bird, in spite of not commanding any respect from us, is clever, interesting and a superlative flyer, reaching speeds of up to 88 km/h. Their great navigational abilities allow them to find their way home from more than 4,000 km away. Creating a map and sensing a magnetic field, they are guided by the stars and sun and follow land and water formations.

A relative of the now extinct passenger pigeon is the much more appealing Mourning dove, one of the most widespread species of bird all over North America, along with the American robin. We find them in our gardens, usually in pairs, sitting on a fence, roosting in a tree or foraging on the ground, their cooing sound often mistaken for an owl in the predawn hours. If they are startled, they suddenly take to the air, the rapid beating of their wings making a whistling sound as the air rushes through the feathers, causing them to vibrate. It’s a dove’s alarm system, warning others of danger.

Doves have several unique characteristics. Most birds sleep with their heads tucked under their shoulder feathers. Doves will hunker down, resting their head between the shoulders close to