Once a Messenger Now a Menace By Gargi Mishra

In my hometown – Sonepur, in the state of Odisha in India- lays a dilapidated building inside the fire station campus. And that is where buried is a much-kept secret of humans’ history of communication using birds, particularly pigeons. This building was the message counter for the state’s pigeon-delivered mail service. Odisha has the superlative of being running the Odisha Police Pigeon Service; the only of its kind in the world. Till recently, pigeons from this service used to communicate messages to areas cut off due to natural disasters like floods and cyclones.

Let me now introduce my next Near and Dear. What we see around are the COMMON PIGEONS (Columba livia) – also known as feral pigeon. We just refer them as the pigeon. There are various types of pigeon in India, but I am dealing here with the common pigeon.

We domesticated them some 5,000 years ago, precisely to send and receive messages. Pigeons played crucial roles during wartime to deliver critical information for which many of them had been awarded.

Pigeons have extraordinary memory, outstanding navigational ability and fast learning and adaptation skills. They use the position and angle of the Sun to determine the proper direction for flight. They take help of the magneto-reception ability and low-frequency infrasound created by nearly everything, including ocean waves, Earth's crust and weather patterns to navigate. They have an inborn ability to find their way home from as many as 1,770 kilometres away.

First raised in ancient and medieval Asia and Europe the birds later spread to the different parts of the world. After World War II when food became cheap in relation to income the food wastage picked up. This led to pigeon population explosion. They didn’t have to spend time in foraging! And they just devoted time for breeding. This continues even now.

We almost consider them an invasive species and a nuisance for our surroundings. But history shows that they were once useful to us in more than one way.

Pigeon dropping is a major aesthetic challenge for monuments and buildings. But centuries ago, pigeon guano was considered as best available fertilizer. It was so precious that people deployed armed guards for dovecotes (pigeon houses) to stop theft.

Photo By: Gargi Mishra