Have you ever noticed that you don’t typically see baby pigeons flying alongside adult pigeons? It’s so rare to see a bay pigeon that might even think they don’t exist. However, as nearly every animal goes through a developmental stage of infancy, you can be sure that there are baby pigeons out there.
In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at the lives of baby pigeons to help you understand where they are and why you don’t see them very often. Keep reading now to learn everything you need to know about why you don’t see baby pigeons.
Are There Baby Pigeons?
Because the average person won’t typically see a baby pigeon unless they go looking for them, it may seem like there are no baby pigeons in the world. This is wrong, of course, as every animal starts their life in an infantile stage of some kind. Every organism has to start somewhere, right? Mammals, reptiles, birds, insects, and even plants start out as a smaller version of their adult selves.
The same is true for pigeons. While you may never see a baby pigeon out and about with their parents, you can be sure that they do exist. After hatching from their eggs, baby pigeons will typically stay confined to their nest for the first part of their lives.
They won’t leave that nest until they start to grow in their adolescent feathers and learn how to fly. This process will usually happen at around the same time, with the parent pigeons helping the adolescents out of the nest to learn how to fly.
Why Do We Never See a Baby Pigeon?
It may seem strange that you never see baby pigeons flying around with the rest of the flock. However, there’s a good reason for this. After hatching, baby pigeons lack the strength and feathers to safely fly around.
In the first stages of a pigeon’s life, the pigeon will be learning basic functions of survival, like keeping themselves warm in their nest or how to eat and digest food properly. Just like human babies, who can’t walk or otherwise get around by themselves, baby pigeons are stuck in their nest.
During this stage, baby pigeons rely entirely on their parents to keep them alive. Adult pigeons will bring their young food, already chewed up so that it’s easier for the baby pigeon to digest. They’ll also hunker down in the nest to help the babies stay warm, offering their body warmth as a buffer against lower temperatures.
So, because baby pigeons cannot fly yet, you’re never going to see them out flying with the rest of their flock. They will always be left behind in the safety of their nests, which will usually be nestled high up on the roof of a building or in the upper branches of a tree.
What Do We Call a Baby Pigeon?
Just like with any type of baby animal, there are specific names that we as humans have come up with to refer to the baby variety of pigeons. The formal name for a baby pigeon is a “squab,” but they can also be informally referred to as a “squeaker.”
This name was originally used to refer to the babies of rock pigeons, the city pigeon’s European ancestors. The term “squab” has been attributed to the squawking noise that baby pigeons make when they’re hungry or scared. This is also why they can be referred to as “squeakers,” due to their incessant squeaking and squawking.
Squabs are born helpless, covered in a light yellow coating of fluff that does not afford them the ability to fly (yet) or to keep themselves very warm. For this reason, their parents must care for them closely for the first month of their lives, until they grow in their adult feathers and can fend for themselves more easily. At this point, they won’t look much different from all the other adult pigeons in their flock.
What Do Baby Pigeons Eat?
Like most types of baby animal, baby pigeons don’t eat solid food for the first month of their lives. Instead, their parents feed them what’s known as “pigeon milk,” a pasty white substance that is regurgitated into their mouths (beak to beak). This substance is a mixture of digestive fluids and partly digested food, which serves to nourish and strengthen the squab’s body and immune system.
The diet of adult pigeons mostly consists of insects and grains, but they may also eat other types of food depending on what they can scrounge up. Many city pigeons subsist almost entirely on grains fed to them in parks, or on leftover scraps of food that have been discarded on the ground. When they can’t find food left out on the ground or in trash cans, they’ll scour trees, bushes, and grassy areas for worms and other small insects.
All this food becomes a nutritional pasty liquid in the bellies of the parent pigeons, which they feed to their babies as needed. This process also teaches the babies what kind of food their bodies can thrive on, and they’ll develop the taste they need to seek out insects and food scraps around their natural habitats.
How Long Does It Take Baby Pigeons to Leave the Nest?
As we mentioned briefly earlier in the article, baby pigeons take around a month to grow in their adult feathers and gain the strength to leave their nest. Over the course of this month, they’ll go from squeaking, squawking little babies to nearly full-grown pigeons. Their fluff with mostly fall out and be replaced by adolescent feathers, which are less fluffy and more suited for flight.
Squabs will also start to develop their own instincts for finding food and will naturally gravitate toward leaving the nest. This is when their parents will step in, giving them the push they need to make the first leap from the nest and to take their first flight.
At this age, they’ll also start to sexually mature. Some young pigeons will start their search for a mate when it comes to mating season for their flock, though some may take longer than others to get started on this particular area of pigeon life.
When Can a Baby Pigeon Fly?
Baby pigeons can start to take their first flights about a month after being born. Some squabs may start this process earlier than others depending on developmental differences. Being able to fly depends entirely on the growth of muscles in their wings and the replacement of their baby fluff.
Once they’ve lost most of their fluff and replaced it with adolescent feathers, the baby pigeon will be equipped to begin flying. Their parents will typically work with them to help them out of the nest, and upon dropping from their nest, the majority will find their wings and be able to fly.
Unfortunately, there are sometimes instances in which baby pigeons do not get the hang of flight in time and might plummet to the ground. If injured in the fall, they will often be abandoned by their parents, who’s instincts will tell them not to waste more energy and food on the injured squab.
What Is the Lifespan of a Pigeon?
Pigeons have relatively short lifespans compared to humans or other larger animals. The typical pigeon has a lifespan of around 6 years. Some may live longer or shorter depending on their genetics and luck, as they’ll begin to develop many age-related diseases once they reach 5 or 6 years of age.
Additionally, the chances of them dying from being eaten by a predator or from being taken by illness is higher in the wild. In captivity, domesticated pigeons have been known to live around 8 to 15 years. This is because they don’t have to worry about the elements, some illnesses, or predators when raised in captivity. Domestic pigeons also usually have a steady food source, so there is no risk of them starving to death, as may be more common in the wild.
If exceptional care is given to a pigeon in captivity, some rare cases have seen pigeons living into their twenties, but this is less common. Even in the safety of captivity, disease related to old age is still prevalent and may result in an earlier death.
What To Do If You Find a Baby Pigeon?
As it happens, baby pigeons may fall out of their nest before it’s time for them to fly out on their own. You might find them in grassy parks or other areas where the fall wouldn’t kill them, and you’ll probably be alerted to their presence by their high-pitched chirping, squeaking, or squawking of distress.
If you ever happen to encounter a baby pigeon out of its nest, you should first try to determine if it’s injured or not. Do this from as far back as you can, as the squab’s parents are likely to abandon it if they see humans tampering with it. They’re likely to do this even if the squab is perfectly health and uninjured.
In cases where the baby pigeon is injured from its fall, you have two options. The first, some may view as cruel, is to simply leave it where it is. Nature will take its course and a predator will eventually find it and have a nice snack. The other option is to retrieve the squab and either take it to a trained vet to help treat its injuries or you can try to nurse it back to health on your own.
It’s important to note that you should wear gloves when handling the baby pigeon, as many birds carry diseases harmful to humans, and it could transmit one of these to you as you handle it. Some of these diseases can be life threatening in humans, so handle with care!
Once retrieved and in a safe spot, you can clean it gently with tepid water. Consult a trained vet to learn how to feed and care for the bay pigeon if you decide to keep it. Pigeons can make good pets if you have the patience to take care of one!
Final Words
Even though pigeons keep their nests (and therefore their babies) in hard to reach places, it’s true that baby pigeons do exist. The average person will probably never see a baby pigeon, as they spend the entirety of their infancy sequestered in their nests.
After around a month of growth and development, their baby fluff will begin to fall out and be replaced with adolescent feathers. These feathers will grow into adult feathers soon, allowing them to take flight and leave their nest. This is precisely why you may never see a baby pigeon, as they won’t leave the nest until they’re mostly full-grown.
We hope the information we’ve outlined in the article has answered all your questions about why you never seem to see baby pigeons out and about. For more interesting information, guides, and reviews, be sure to check out our other articles now!