pigeons have entirely disappeared from downtown Bellevue area.

[flyingsaucermom]

Originally Posted by leastprime

30% of the World's birds are missing and are presumed gone. Deforestation and climate change is believed to be the cause.
I haven't seen a robin in ages and they are well suited to suburbia. Even in Oregon, I have noticed the loss of robins for some 10 years. Likewise for sparrows.

I haven't been looking for them lately, but I see lots and lots of robins. For some reason I feel like they're around later in the winter than right now.

Edit: There is a reason why I notice them late winter: [url]https://www.seattleaudubon.org/birdweb/bird/american_robin[/url]

Speaking of bird sightings... today I noticed my first varied thrush of the season! I took a paved nature trail between clients and saw five deer and the thrush hopping around the underbrush (as they do this time of year).

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Are the homeless eating them? Does it turn out that the homeless have a purpose in the web of life after all? They are put on this earth for pigeon control?


Least prime, your robins have moved to my neighborhood and they are doing fine. Robins do migrate and it is getting late in the year to be seeing them.


There has been some sort of bird disease the last couple of years in the PNW. Maybe that is what has happened to your local birds.


I've got a woodpecker I don't want, so I would be happy to trade him to Seattle for a couple of sea gulls. I'd be getting the better of that deal, so you can throw in 2 stray cats to balance the trade out.

[CrazyDonkey]

Maybe they're being poisoned (rats with wings).

[AleeGee]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/s...ca-canada.html

Seeing that post about the robins made me curious, and I found thus depressing article. Thought I'd share it with you all;

[travis t]

Some more interesting info about pigeons that I read in Sibley's field guide to birds. The common city pigeon is more properly termed the 'rock dove.' They are descended from domesticated birds that escaped captivity. Sibley's says that this explains the variegated coloring. This was due to breeding efforts by human owners.

The true 'rock dove' was a cliff-dwelling bird in Britain and Europe. Thus city/feral pigeons like to roost on high, narrow ledges in cities. The map lists them as occupying the entire US, from FL to TX to WA to Maine. And partially into Canada. Hence I doubt that their disappearance from Bellevue has anything to do with global warming. They have adapted to survive in most N. American climates.

[travis t]

Some more interesting info about pigeons that I read in Sibley's field guide to birds. The common city pigeon is more properly termed the 'rock dove.' They are descended from domesticated birds that escaped captivity. Sibley's says that this explains the variegated coloring. This was due to breeding efforts by human owners.

The true 'rock dove' was a cliff-dwelling bird in Britain and Europe. Thus city/feral pigeons like to roost on high, narrow ledges in cities. The map lists them as occupying the entire US, from FL to TX to WA to Maine. And partially into Canada. Hence I doubt that their disappearance from Bellevue has anything to do with global warming. They have adapted to survive in most N. American climates.

[rkcarguy]

I would bet it's construction noise plus them being preyed upon by other birds. Seagulls, hawks, eagles, and most birds of prey eat them and find obese street fed pigeons easy targets.

[Cinema Cat]

Originally Posted by travis t

It just occurred to me the other day that the few pigeons that used to populate downtown are all gone. I used to see them almost every day and sometimes toss them a peanut or two. I wonder what happened to them?

Ghosts?

Ghostbuster Investigates Haight-Ashbury Haunting

The Case of the Spooked Pigeons

During his ghost tour, Netzband tells the tale of Golden Gate Park's haunted panhandle.

Years ago an obsessed loon known to locals as 'the Pigeon Man' would feed the panhandle's pigeons and warn everyone, "If you disturb my pigeons, I will kill you."

In 1992 a young musician named Buck Naked entered the park late at night with his unleashed dog. The dog disturbed the pigeons and the Pigeon Man shot and killed Buck Naked.

Police later found $10,000 worth of birdseed in a storage box in the Pigeon's Man's home.

The Pigeon Man was convicted. The dog lived and was adopted by a friend of Buck Naked.

Yet to this day, said Netzband, "People talk about being in this park at night, and hearing somebody call to their dog, 'Here boy." Then they'll look around, and there'll be nobody in this park. It's as if Buck Naked or his residual energy is looking for his dog."

Even more ominously, "We have a really strange phenomenon in this park. Look around. There are no pigeons in this park. There are pigeons all over this city, but they do not enter this park. They used to. There are other birds in this park, and people feed them. And you will see pigeons across the street. But there are never, ever any pigeons in this park.

"I've told people on this tour, and the locals, I say, 'Call me if you ever find a pigeon.' I've never had a call in two years. Is it a ghost that keeps the pigeons out of this park? I don't know. I leave it up to the people to decide that."

[yasureoktoo]

The homeless eat them