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The Pigeon: NYC's First Unwelcome Tourist?
By
Jen Carlson
Published May 9, 2011
Modified May 9, 2011
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By
Jen Carlson
Published May 9, 2011
Modified May 9, 2011
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Since coming to America, pigeons have become plump by indulging on delicacies like street pizza. (Photo via djwerdna's flickr)
Have you ever wondered where the city's pigeons came from? Ephemeral NY takes a look at the city's unofficial mascot, and says they're not even New York natives! The site notes that these winged tourists, also called Rock Doves, are "originally found on the cliffs of the Mediterranean. European aristocrats bred them for hunting and eating. In the 17th century, colonists bound for New Amsterdam brought along domesticated rock doves, where they were destined for dinner plates." But some escaped, and dun dun dun yadda yadda yadda, now the city is overflowing with the seemingly fearless feathered ones.
While there are something like 547,821,691 pigeons in the city (if The Internet is to be believed), at least 200 are picked off the streets by falcons each week (according to the book Wild New York). In an effort to clean up after those careless colonists, the city has since tried to reduce the population of pigeons via bird birth control, robo hawks, pigeon czars, and other pretty comical methods.
Perhaps we can just send them back from whence they came (this would probably somehow involve Mike Tyson-trained war pigeons—TBD!). Or maybe we should just learn to love tolerate them.
Tagged
history
pigeon
pigeons
rock doves
tourists
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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