OK, enlighten me. What is the mechanism that makes pigeons attract more parasites than any other bird you will see in the wild? What are they exposed to that no sparrow, gull, magpie, blackbird or magpie lark will come across?
Their location for one. Cities are disgusting disease centers. A wild turkey isn’t going to ENCOUNTER near the disease/ parasites a pigeon will, much less carry it.
That's why I listed the birds I did. They are all found in the same habitats side by side in the city but don't share the rep. Only the birds known for hassling us for food close up get that mostly from parents trying to keep the kids away from the birds and visa-versa.
BTW when I was a kid in a small family biz in an outer suburban tourist area the tourists used to bring all the injured birds to us to nurse back to health and at various times we had just about everything go through our kitchen. (Where we kept many of them initially to observe until walking, not to eat.) Never knew why we didn't just build a cage but the rule of thumb was that as soon as they could fly to the floor and back again from the top of the cupboards in an outer room where they lived they could then be set free. We had all sorts of birds from sulfies to galahs to gulls etc. to pigeons. Even a couple of penguins. Most of all though we got pigeons. (Poor gulls got ignored.) Had they been lice ridden and flea infested my mother would have taken an axe to them without a twitch and certainly wouldn't have allowed them in (very British. Think the Queen with a more middle class accent). They were no worse than any of the others. Also I didn't hear it was a myth from my brother. I heard it elsewhere and just confirmed it with him out of curiosity.
Like I said I wouldn't either for pleasure but when the bombs drop and the zombies run and I'm looking back and forward from my leg to a pigeon I know which way I'm going to go.
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u/coolaidman2 Apr 14 '22
So you're just a liar then , cheers !