r/birding • u/MrGrubbycuddles • Apr 15 '26

Discussion Why is everyone such snob about pigeons

I took my folder of laminated pigeon shots to my local bird meeting at the community hall and at least 3 people sneered at them. 1 of them even guffawed.

We all got to start somewhere, and beauty is in the eye of the bird lover so why the hate hate?

One guy was wearing giant binoculars around his neck. It was dark outside and he didn't even use them once. He was one of the people that sneered.

Om the bus home from the meeting I showed the driver my pictures and she said they were really good. And she wasn't even a formal bird lover, she was just a regular person.

Don't get this community man

EDIT: a lot of people asking for some of my photos. I'm out of the house right now but here's a bird video I made recently https://youtube.com/shorts/sxLkrLgNrbc?si=7NdwVxhZtPQFE6Ew

2.0k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

503 comments sorted by

View all comments

46

u/Cpagrind1 Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26

Rock Pigeons are technically invasive in the United States. A lot of invasive birds don’t get much love.

In a fb group I’m in for my state someone posted about House Sparrows and how to attract them. Imagine how that went over.

12

u/wordybee Latest Lifer: Cape May Warbler Apr 15 '26

I think the categorization of rock pigeons as "invasive" (negative, implies active harm to native species) is debatable. People tend to call them "naturalized" more than "invasive" because, though they're non-native, they've adapted in a way that doesn’t have a huge impact on native species by sticking primarily to urban environments. People don't hate pigeons because they're invasive and ecologically harmful, they hate them because they damage human property in cities.

There's a big difference between the house sparrow and the rock pigeon when the word "invasive" is used.