Volume 45, Number 2, December 1998:
Feral Pigeons

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ABOUT THIS ISSUE
- about KSN
- about the author

IN THIS ISSUE
- introduction
- origin of feral pigeons
- basic plumages
- mate choice and plumages
- advantages of different plumages
- advantages of choosing different mates
- breeding seasons
- reproducative data
- brood reduction
- living in colonies
- commuter pigeons
- relationships with people
- reference

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Updated: March 9, 2005
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Feral Pigeons
by Richard F. Johnston

MATE CHOICE AND PLUMAGES

The common plumage colors and patterns occur at stable frequencies in most feral populations. In Kansas, these proportions are maintained by the way in which choices of mates occur. Mate choice is a serious decision in feral pigeons, perhaps because pigeons remain paired for life. We find that pigeons employ at least seven different characteristics in judging other individuals as possible lifetime partners. The birds use age, previous breeding experience, relative dominance status, body size, feather condition, plumage color, and plumage pattern when looking at possible partners. Some of these characteristics overlap - body size and dominance status are examples - so that the birds often use redundant information. Additionally, most of the characters, even feather color and pattern, can be related to performance in reproduction. This emphasized how important mate choice is for birds that rarely divorce one another.

Females are usually the most discriminating of the sexes, and it is they who choose mates based on their plumages. Males apparently look more for large size or previous experience. As a group, mates of males have plumages in direct proportion to their availability in the population at large - this means that males do not select certain plumages over others. Females, however, pay attention to plumages and tend to choose males different from themselves. Researchers find fewer pairs in which both individuals are alike, and more that are unlike, than would be expected if the birds formed pairs at random. The only way in which unlikes in plumage can disproportionately pair with each other is by deliberate nonrandom, or disassortive, mate choices. This is an unusual pattern to find in nature, where positive assortative mating [or preferring a similar mate], such as is found in humans, is more common.