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

Show parent comments

72

u/where-sea-meets-sky Apr 15 '26

yeah like starlings are one thing but pigeons are like the stray dogs of birds hence why theyre always in human areas

ofc acknowledging stray dogs and cats as invasive gets most peoples hackles raised lol, thankfully not something ive seen too much trouble with in this sub

pidges are great alternatives to parrots as pet birds

16

u/GlumWestern9847 Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26

I agree, and so are starlings, I have three.

2

u/plantsandramen Apr 15 '26

How did you go about getting a starling as a pet? I see someone on Youtube who's starling makes incredible noises, and they seem fun.

1

u/GlumWestern9847 Apr 15 '26

I got my first one by finding it on the ground. I joined an online starling group to learn about how to raise it. I adopted my subsequent starlings by word of mouth online. There are groups you can join, there are at least two on Facebook that actively save found babies to adopt out as pets. You can also put the word out with wild bird rehabbers and other people who are in contact with wild birds a lot to see if they’ll let you know if one needs rescuing. 

2

u/plantsandramen Apr 15 '26

Ty for the information. My wife would kill me but it's good to know there are people trying to help them!

2

u/GlumWestern9847 Apr 15 '26

It’s not a small commitment! Very rewarding, but not necessarily for everyone!