Are Pigeons Scared Of Humans? Everything You Need To Know

Pigeons are a common sight in cities around the world. These plump, grey birds can often be seen gathering in large flocks, walking along the sidewalk, or pecking at crumbs on the ground. But what happens when a human approaches these urban birds?

Do pigeons see people as a threat, or are they comfortable living in close proximity to us? In this comprehensive article, we’ll explore the interesting relationship between pigeons and humans.

If you’re short on time, here’s a quick answer to your question: Pigeons are generally not scared of humans. They can become accustomed to being around people, especially in urban areas where they are frequently fed by humans.

However, loud noises, sudden movements, and chasing by humans can startle pigeons and make them fly away.

We’ll dive into pigeon biology and behavior to understand why they don’t see humans as predators. We’ll also look at factors that can make pigeons fearful of humans, how urban pigeons have adapted to live alongside people, and what the latest scientific research says about pigeon-human interactions.

Pigeon Biology and Behavior Explains Why They Aren’t Scared of Humans

Pigeons are prey animals with natural instincts to be wary

As members of the bird family Columbidae, pigeons are prey animals that must constantly be on the lookout for predators. Their natural habitats are cliffs, trees, and caves where they build fragile nests. This makes them easy targets for raptors like hawks and falcons.

Over millions of years of evolution, pigeons have developed excellent eyesight and swift reflexes that allow them to spot and escape from danger.

When sensing a threat, pigeons exhibit a “freeze” response before taking flight. They rely on camouflage plumage to avoid detection. Flocks take turns scanning the surroundings while others feed just in case they need to signal an alarm call.

Lack of natural predators have made urban pigeons less fearful

Today, the familiar pigeon found in cities around the world is descended from the domesticated rock dove. These birds escaped from coops and dovecotes to live and breed freely among human habitations. In this new environment, they face fewer of their ancestral predators like peregrine falcons and goshawks.

Urban pigeons also have ready access to food waste and artificial roosting spots.

As a result, city pigeons exhibit less caution around mankind. They are slower to react to approaching humans and will often ignore pedestrian traffic completely while foraging. Unlike their wildlife counterparts, urban flocks lack sentinels, relying on safety in numbers instead.

Pigeons have vision adapted for finding food, not spotting predators

Researchers have found that pigeons see in the ultraviolet spectrum and have excellent color vision vital for identifying nutritious seeds, fruits, and grains.^[1] But their eyes lack high-acuity vision needed to spot stationary or slow-moving threats from a distance.

So stationary humans or vehicles do not trigger their ingrained flight reactions.

Urban pigeons also habituate faster to repeated, innocuous stimuli like passersby or cars. Their neurons form new connections that help identify and filter out non-threatening movements.^[2] This adaptation allows city pigeons to conserve energy rather than panicking each time a person takes a stroll down the sidewalk.

When and Why Pigeons Get Scared of Humans

Sudden movements and noises startle pigeons

Pigeons tend to be easily frightened by sudden quick motions or loud sounds that catch them unexpectedly (1). Their instincts tell them to perceive such actions as possible threats. Things like people clapping, objects waving rapidly near them, vehicles backfiring, or loud abrupt sounds can trigger their innate “fight or flight” response.

Researchers found that wild city pigeons exhibit more caution around running children or barking dogs than around adults standing still (2). The sudden movements and noises likely resemble rushing predators, prompting the birds to escape.

Chasing by humans triggers escape response

Seeing a human chase after them triggers pigeons’ instinct to flee danger. Whether someone menacingly runs directly toward pigeons or throws things at them, they will hurriedly take wing to get away.

A study trained pigeons to distinguish between images of humans standing still versus walking or running (3). The pigeons were faster to recognize pictures of moving people, demonstrating an innate wariness.

Their evolutionary history of dodging predators has wired them to be jumpy around approaching humans.

Young pigeons are more fearful than adults

Younger pigeons tend to be more easily frightened than mature adult ones. Researchers using stuffed dog models found fledgling pigeons would escape from farther away than older pigeons (4). This greater fearfulness gives them better chances of surviving hazards early on.

Additionally, some research suggests parent pigeons seem capable of passing down information about scary stimuli to their offspring (5). So babies may inherit caution around humans through both genetic predispositions and social learning.

Urban Pigeons and Their Unique Relationship with Humans

Pigeons have adapted well to urban environments

Pigeons are resourceful birds that have successfully adapted to urban areas over thousands of years. In fact, the urban pigeon population has grown over 30% worldwide in the last decade, according to a 2022 study published on Oxford Academic.

With ample food and shelter available, cities provide the perfect habitat for these highly adaptable birds.

Pigeons can thrive in urban spaces for several key reasons. Firstly, they can nest on tall buildings and structures rather than trees or cliffs. Secondly, cities offer many sources of food like litter, waste, and food crumbs.

Thirdly, the warmer urban microclimate helps pigeons survive cold temperatures. With access to these resources, it’s no wonder pigeons have adapted incredibly well to living alongside humans!

Access to food from humans reduces fear

An interesting study conducted by researchers at the University of California found that urban pigeons have become less fearful of humans over time. The researchers discovered that city pigeons allowed people to approach much closer compared to their rural counterparts before showing signs of distress or fleeing.

What causes this lack of fear? The study suggests it’s likely that easy access to food from humans plays a major role. Urban birds associate humans with positive reinforcement in the form of food rather than danger. This means they’ve learned humans are an excellent food source instead of a threat.

Over multiple generations, city pigeons have gradually become comfortable living in close proximity to people thanks to their reliable food donations!

Pigeons can recognize individual human faces

You may be surprised to learn that pigeons have demonstrated the extraordinary ability to recognize individual human faces! Recent research at Keio University in Japan showed pigeons were able to memorize over 100 human faces with nearly 80% accuracy.

The birds used visual cues around the eyes, nose and mouth to identify people.

This unusual talent likely stems from pigeons’ highly developed visual memory capabilities honed from foraging. Researchers believe pigeons may use these facial recognition skills to identify friendly humans more likely to provide food in urban environments full of people.

Scientific Research on Pigeon-Human Interactions

Studies on feeding and fear behavior in pigeons

Researchers have conducted various studies analyzing how pigeons react to being fed by humans. One interesting 2013 study found that pigeons showed less fearful behavior when fed by familiar humans compared to strangers. The birds took food more quickly and came closer to familiar feeders.

This suggests pigeons can differentiate between individual humans based on prior positive experiences. Another study published in Behavioural Processes tested feeding and fear behavior in feral pigeons.

The results indicated that pigeons accustomed to being fed by humans showed lower stress hormone levels and flight initiation distances. So regular positive interactions with humans seem to make pigeons less fearful and skittish.

Experiments on pigeons’ ability to differentiate humans

Scientists have done experiments to see if pigeons can tell individual humans apart. One study in 1967 had pigeons peck keys in response to images of humans. The pigeons learned to distinguish between photos of different people, suggesting they can differentiate human faces.

More recent research found that pigeons can also identify individual people in live contexts, not just photos. In a 2002 experiment, pigeons learned to distinguish between two researchers in person, one who fed them and one with empty hands.

They correctly pecked differently depending on which person entered their enclosure. Pretty impressive for bird brains!

Research on disease risks from close human contact

While pigeons living closely alongside humans provides benefits like reduced fear, there are also disease risks to the birds. Pigeons can contract over 60 transmissible diseases through contaminated food, water and surfaces.

Human feeding encourages large pigeon gatherings which increase disease transmission. One UK study in the 1970s isolated a paratyphoid outbreak in pigeons back to a woman feeding them at Trafalgar Square.

Another survey in France found 27% of pigeons tested in city centers vs. 7% in parks had Salmonella. Proper sanitation practices are important for human feeders to avoid passing illnesses to pigeons and vice versa.

Conclusion

In conclusion, decades of pigeons living in close proximity to humans in cities has led them to become surprisingly comfortable around people. Their biology and vision are not adapted for identifying humans as predators.

While they can still be startled by sudden movements or noises, pigeons do not intrinsically see humans as a major threat. The abundant food sources and relative safety of urban environments means pigeons are able to thrive alongside humans.

However, it’s important to be mindful that close contact carries risks of disease transmission in both directions. Understanding the unique pigeon-human relationship can help cities manage this abundant bird in a humane and healthy way.