Why Don't You See Baby Pigeons? Hidden Nests Explained

Pigeons nest in hidden places

City pigeons are feral descendants of the wild rock pigeon, a bird that nests on sea cliffs and in caves and rocky gorges. Their ancestors picked sheltered ledges and crevices that predators could not easily reach, and city pigeons do the same.

In towns, the “cliffs” are buildings and bridges. Typical nest sites include:

• ledges and gaps high on buildings, especially old ones with decorative stonework
• the girders under bridges, overpasses and railway viaducts
• roof spaces, lofts, chimneys and air vents
• station canopies, warehouses and barns
• the inside of disused or derelict buildings

Most of these spots are high up, shaded and out of view from the street. A pigeon pair may use the same site again and again, adding a little material each time.

A pigeon nest is easy to miss

The nest itself is not eye-catching. It is a loose, flimsy platform of twigs, grass, straw and sometimes bits of wire or plastic, laid on a flat surface. The female usually lays two white eggs, and both parents take turns incubating them for 17–19 days, the male typically by day and the female through the night.

Because one parent is almost always sitting on the nest and pigeons are quiet at their nests, few people notice them. Pigeons also enter and leave their nest sites quickly, which helps keep the location secret from predators such as crows, gulls and rats.

Chicks stay in the nest until they are nearly adult-sized

The chicks, called squabs, hatch blind and helpless, with pinkish skin, sparse yellow down and a large bill. For the first week they live on crop milk, a rich food that both parents make in the crop, a pouch in the throat (see what crop milk is). Fed this protein- and fat-rich diet, they grow at a remarkable rate and roughly double their weight in the first couple of days.

Many songbirds leave the nest small, fluffy and stubby-tailed, and spend days hopping around on the ground while their parents feed them. People see these fledglings and recognize them as babies. Young pigeons skip that awkward stage in public: they stay hidden until they are well grown and can fly reasonably well, usually after about four weeks.

So why do young pigeons look like adults?

By the time a young pigeon joins its parents on the pavement, its body is nearly full size and its feathers are complete. It may be a little slimmer, but to a passer-by it is just another pigeon.

This is the main answer to the old puzzle. People do see young pigeons all the time; they simply do not recognize them as young.

How to recognize a juvenile pigeon

If you look closely at a flock, you can pick out the youngsters. Signs of a juvenile pigeon include:

• Eye color. Adults have orange to red eyes. Juveniles have darker brown or grayish eyes that change color over the first months.
• The cere. The fleshy patch at the base of the bill is small and grayish pink in young birds, and becomes larger and powdery white in adults.
• Duller plumage. Young pigeons have little or no green and purple sheen on the neck, and their feathers can look scruffy or brownish.
• Yellow fluff. Recently fledged birds sometimes still have wisps of yellow down on the head.
• Behavior. Young birds may beg from their parents with fluttering wings and high-pitched squeaky calls, which is why pigeon fanciers call them “squeakers.”

Pigeons breed almost all year

Another reason baby pigeons are so well hidden is that they are spread out through the year. Thanks to crop milk, pigeons do not depend on a short spring flush of insects to feed their young. Where food is plentiful, a feral pair may raise five or six broods a year, often starting a new clutch before the last chicks have fully left.

That means there is no single “baby pigeon season” when many obvious youngsters appear at once, as there is for ducklings or goslings in spring.

Myths and facts

• Myth: pigeons hatch fully grown. They hatch tiny, helpless and almost naked, like most songbirds. They simply do their growing out of sight.
• Myth: baby pigeons are never seen because the parents hide them forever. The chicks leave the nest at about a month old and join the flock, but by then they look grown up.
• Fact: pigeon parents share the work. Both parents incubate the eggs, make crop milk and feed the chicks, which helps the young grow quickly.

For more on where birds rest, see do birds sleep in nests?.