PIGEON HOUSES

 

 

Pigeons need houses too?

Few decades back in Russia, almost every building courtyard had a pigeon house(pigeon loft / dovecote). There were two near where I used to live in Moscow near Molodezhnaya street.  Why? Pigeons symbolize peace? The need to care for environment and others (bird and non-bird friends)? To be used as messengers during war (haha)? White doves, brown, black and regular gray pigeons were trained to fly around the neighborhood in perfect circles.  I loved watching them flying or sitting in their pigeon lofts.  Today most of pigeon houses in Russia are abandoned or demolished.  Reasons: pigeons spread disease but most importantly care for pigeons asks for money and time. Maybe it’s not cool anymore to have pigeon keeping as a hobby..

“The hobby of pigeon keeping is gaining in popularity in the United States, after having waned within the last 50 years. Both the hobby and commercial aspects of keeping pigeons are thriving in other parts of the world” -Wiki

Read about John Neilko’s flock of 250 pigeons that lives on the roof of the Polonia Democratic Club in Williamsburg, New York - NYMag

 

CATEGORIES:   BIRDS, neigborhood / community, NATURE,

(8) COMMENTS • Permalink • HOME   TwitThis

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on October 27, 2010

"...the joy comes from watching [the] birds swoop and dive above the rooftops."...ah, this Nielko character is way ahead of us all -Ania http://aniagrzesik.blogspot.com/



This is so creative, to put recycled material to use for such practical purposes.

Although lots of these houses do incorporate recycled materials, they are not made from recycled materials.

hi. I love the pictures of dovecotes/pigeon lofts you have here, and all of the bird love but get your facts straight...pigeons don't spread disease. They actually don't carry any disease or mites or really anything that can infect humans....their body temp is much much higher than ours....

That's interesting information! Thanks! That's not what most people think though.

So true. Pigeons are terribly misunderstood and are some of the most amazing creatures known to man. Incidentally they are possibly the oldest animal to be domesticated, as long as "mans best friend", the dog.... If any one is interested, Andrew Blechman has written a great book called, "Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird"

Mans best friend, the pigeon!

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