Pigeon Talk

[WVduckchick]

Yes I think all the vagueness around certain terms makes it even more confusing. Have you ever seen how quickly pigs will revert to the wild type when they escape captivity?

Several years ago, I had a corn plot totally destroyed by feral pigs. We had never seen any before that time, and haven’t seen them again. But I caught it all on trail cams. Within 2 days, they wiped out my whole corn field.
There was once a hunting club a few miles from my farm. We believe they were raised there, and got loose.

 

[Kusanar]

I understand your point, but if I may:

Feral means a domestic animal that has returned to a wild or semi wild state , so even feral animals born to feral parents are descended from some domestic ancestor. So any feral animal, be it a cat, dog, horse, or pigeon, can still be classified as a domestic animal. The feral term is used to differentiate between domestic animals being cared for and those living in the wild.

Exactly, you can have feral domesticated animals like feral hogs, mustangs, feral cats, feral pigeons which are descended from domesticated stock but are now living in the wild without human care, they will never be wild as they will always have been descended from domesticated stock.

You can also have tame wild animals like zoo animals that can be handled, juniper the fox, raptors used for falconry, etc which act tame but are not a domesticated species and therefore they will never be domesticated, but their descendants MAY be if they meet certain parameters showing domestication like the Arctic Fox experiment where they domesticated a line of foxes over time and also bred another line to be super wild and aggressive.

Individual animals cannot be domesticated as that takes generations to do, however, if someone's pampered house cat gets out of the house and gets pregnant, then her kittens will be feral if they are raised outside with no human care.

 

[Qwerty3159]

i am sorry if i offended anyone Ill try to keep my self from misbehaving from now on.

Anyone seeing migrating grackles right now?

 

[backyard pigeons]

I didn’t take it that way, and I’m probably worse than most about reading with a cynical preset in my mind. But that’s not the case with this thread! We have such varying views and I always enjoy reading everyone’s opinions. And I always learn new things, and have even changed my views on some things by learning from others here.

thanks WV!

I used to have a friend with a hairless chihuahua. I once went over to his house, and at the time didn't know he had gotten this dog yet. We are outside in his yard and his wife comes out of the house and running along side her is this strange dog! I loudly said, OMG your dog has mange!!! I had no idea that it was supposed to look like that!!! The thing was so ugly I honestly thought it had mange. Of course all dogs seem to love me, so it kept coming up to me (at least 6 other people were there at the time and it completely was ignoring them). It was so UGLY I couldn't bring myself to touch it so I kept pushing it away with my foot haha.

haha! The poor little thing has to looks smaller without hair. Does it get cold in the winter?

Several years ago, I had a corn plot totally destroyed by feral pigs. We had never seen any before that time, and haven’t seen them again. But I caught it all on trail cams. Within 2 days, they wiped out my whole corn field.
There was once a hunting club a few miles from my farm. We believe they were raised there, and got loose.
View attachment 2335927

wow! That's cool, but not good. Was it feed corn? Do you have fields with crops?

Anyone seeing migrating grackles right now?
View attachment 2336126

not yet, but usually about mid October yes.

have you messed around with decoying them? I do! I just get black paper, cut out silhouttes and then grackles and the starlings fly down. it's entertaining, as they never even notice.

 

[Qwerty3159]

I don’t have too much trouble attracting them here so I’ve never tried it lol. The flocks have been coming through at least once a day for the past week and they’ve eaten about 10 pounds of feed already

I know a lot of people don’t like them but they’re not so bad. I never have more than a few visiting my feeders except for the migration, and IMO the male in his breeding plumage is one of the most beautiful of all native birds.

 

[WVduckchick]

wow! That's cool, but not good. Was it feed corn? Do you have fields with crops?

It was a small (acre maybe?) plot of sweet corn, intended for us to eat.

 

[cavemanrich]

backyard pigeons
I did not find anything wrong with your post. I am actually slightly saddened with post gone. Everything you wrote was true. I did not see anything offensive what so ever.

The flocks have been coming through at least once a day for the past week and they’ve eaten about 10 pounds of feed already

I had a small flock come thru last week. They stopped for dinner, at my bird feeder and then flew off.
The sad part is,,,,, one stayed behind. Was walking around on the ground as my chickens were also feeding under the feeder fallen seeds. Would not fly away as I approached him. My conclusion was that he was not going to make this journey anymore. maybe due to age, or whatever,,,,,
DW and I both went into the house with sadness. Maybe he just needed to get some rest, but his flock was far gone.

 

[Old_Strain_Lover]

Yes I think all the vagueness around certain terms makes it even more confusing. Have you ever seen how quickly pigs will revert to the wild type when they escape captivity?

That's a great point... I had forgotten about pigs

 

[Old_Strain_Lover]

...they will never be wild as they will always have been descended from domesticated stock.

See... this is exactly my point. It all boils down to how someone chooses to interpret the definitions. You are saying they can never be wild because they descended from domesticated stock. Yet somehow domesticated stock can be called domestic even though they all descended from wild stock? Would you care to explain this to me? I mean if you want to have some distinction to differentiate the fact that they are coming from domesticated animals, that's fine... but to outright say they can't be "wild" seems kind of absurd to me. Yes, many of these "ferals" choose to live near humans and eat food bits that are left for them... but so do "wild" animals as well. That doesn't make the raccoons and skunks that try to raid my garbage cans for food "feral" does it? I'm just trying to see what peoples reasoning for saying they can't be wild is. One of the definitions for feral is this... existing in a natural state, as animals or plants; not domesticated or cultivated; wild. Heck, wild and feral are synonyms...

 

[Old_Strain_Lover]

Anyone seeing migrating grackles right now?
View attachment 2336126

We get grackles here in summer, but never any huge flocks like that. The only huge flocks that gather here are starlings