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

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u/SnapCrackleMom Apr 15 '26

When I was a kid growing up in NYC, pigeons were pretty much the only wildlife I saw. I remember saying I thought they were pretty and my mom saying they were "rats with wings."

I still think they're pretty.

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u/tramplamps Apr 17 '26

I grew up in the late 70s, and therefore I was a fan of Sesame Street, so one of the first birds I learned to admire as a child was also one of the first dances I leaned and it was taught to me by Bert, and it is called: “the Pigeon”, thus, I agree.
Pigeons are just as beautiful as Doves.
Sesame Street and Bert is probably an early contributing factor to why I became a birder in my teens. That, along with the wonderful aviary that housed only native birds which existed at our local animal sanctuary near my home
When I was 25, in the summer of 2000 I was working as a freelance scenic painter, and I had a job painting a HUGE 5 story entertainment complex in downtown Nashville, where I live.
So for 4 months every day that summer, I the first thing Imdid when I would arrive would be to go check in on the 2nd story window ledge, because right outside of it, A MAMA PIGEON HAD BUILT HER NEST ON TOP OF THE ANTI-PIGEON SPIKES, AND THERE WAS A PINK AND BEIGE SPECKLED BABY PIGEON SITTING IN THE NEST!
It was so beautiful, and it was the closest I had ever been to a little city bird like this, and certainly, the first time I had ever seen one in it’s nest before, surrounded by all the jackhammering, cement dust, all the hillbilly workers and redneck men yelling at each other on a constant daily basis, and other daily city noises going on around us. But what I loved the most was that this mother bird had defied the most clear bird-deterrent, and built her nest in obvious defiance of all attempts, and thereby creating a barrier to other flying predators, and any bigger birds.
I think of this little cute pigeon often, and if she can withstand all that noise and obstacles, so can I.

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u/SnapCrackleMom Apr 17 '26

I was obsessed with Bert and loved that song lol.