Look at these beautiful birds...

I watched these two fancy birds preening themselves on the roof of a house and I thought they looked lovely.  I think they are a type of pigeon, but I'm not sure what type. 

Can you find out what they are?

Bird Behaviour

Have a look a this selection of video clips. Watch how the birds move and behave towards each other.  What food are they eating? Listen carefully and you can hear the song of each of the birds.Can you name the birds in this video?

Racing Pigeon

The racing pigeon is one of a large group of pigeons.

Pigeons can fly very fast.  Up to 60 miles per hour.  They are very good at finding their way home.  That's why people keep them as racing pigeons. There are a number of pigeon shows on in different Countries i.e. black pool.  This is where pigeon fanciers go to buy and sell pigeons and pigeon products .  Also it is a way for pigeon fanciers to get to know each other.  When pigeons go racing they go in a big truck with lots of other pigeons from all over Dublin.  They travel for hours until they reach there destination such as the inland races. In Ireland some of these places are Mallow, Pilmore Beach, Thurles, Skibbereen and Barleycove.  There are Channel Races in Talbenny, Sennen Cove, and St. Malo in  France which is the longest race.

By Amy, Temera and Hannah A

Pigeons eat pigeon food, beans, Pease, Hormoform, and maize.  Pigeons get feed twice a day .  They also drink water.    The vitamins the pigeons get is called Gem Ultra-vits.  This is full of vitamins and nutrients for the pigeons.  They also get health grit and minerals  and Red Band .

The racing pigeon is a large bird.   It has a big, round breast, short legs with reddish-pink claws, strong wings and a medium length tail.  They have small, black, red or brown eyes, and curved, pointy beaks.

They can be lots of colours, such as blue , red , white , black , mealy, grizzles, pied, check pied, blue pied , red pied, black pied, mealy pied, black grizzle , red grizzle , blue grizzle, check grizzle.

Baby pigeons have yellow fluffy feathers when they are very young, and then they grow grey feathers as they get older.

Pigeons can be seen all around town. They live in lofts but commoners don’t live in lofts.   Most racing pigeons have a little pigeon ring around there foot with numbers on it for when there gone racing and they come back with the ring on there foot and the owner clocks it in to the clock . Commoners means a pigeon that has no owner and he has no ring on his foot. 

Pigeons are a unique and intelligent birds.  They  are very  smart little birds.  Some pigeons fight over the smallest bit of food.  They will  fight for their nest box and their perch and fight for their young if any other pigeon goes near them.

When they fight they stand up to each other.  They will smack each other with their wings and they will also peck at each other.

Wood Pigeon

The  wood pigeon is a cousin of the feral pigeon. 

The woodpigeon is 41cm long.   It has  a white  patch on its  neck, grey feathers on its head, back and wings and it has a mauve breast.

The wood pigeon is a vegetarian. They eat bread, peanuts, ivy berries, acorns, weed seed and oats.  Brown bread is healthier but they can also eat white bread.  In the summer they  feed  on  cereals,potatoes,beans,peas and greens.

The wood pigeon makes  its nest with  twigs, sticks and dirt.  It feeds its babies by collecting worms,flys and spiders.

It lives  in towns and  cities .  Most  pigeons live  in  Britain and Ireland.