THE DOVES and half pigeons down the street from me have decided that the bird feeders in my back yard belong them.
Let me tell you something you possibly already know. These are not placid creatures – in the last week I have spotted one of them grabbing a not so little starling in its beak, and they’re always trying to peck each others’ eyes out, for a reason best known to themselves.
They chase off robins, blackbirds and everything else on the wing in a weird attempt to claim my back garden as their territory. They are very tame. I invited one of them yesterday to step into my pre-heated oven, and it was tempted.
Collins Complete Guide to British Birds has it this way: “You will have no problem seeing this species; the only difficulty will arise when it comes to trying to make the distinction between ancestral-like Feral Pigeons and genuine Rock Doves.” ♣
