The city pigeon, that ubiquitous big bird with a yen for stale bread and old popcorn, is finally getting some respect from avian experts, and Cornell’s world-renowned College of Ornithology needs some Mainers who are willing to spend time spying on local pigeons in the state’s towns and cities.

It’s all part of a national study to find out more about the common pigeon. In the bird world, more is known about puffins than pigeons. “People look at them as flying rats, trash birds,” explains Martha Fischer, Cornell’s coordinator for Project Pigeon Watch. “There hasn’t been a lot of research done on them at all,” especially when compared to their exotic cousin, the homing pigeon, which has fascinated scientists for centuries.

Today’s statue stainers are descendants of cliff-dwelling Middle Eastern birds that were domesticated for food. They were first brought to the East Coast of America in 1606 and soon escaped into the wild. “Pigeons like cities because urban areas are similar to the pigeon’s native habitat — tall clifflike buildings in a semi-arid environment,” Fischer says.

Fischer is seeking volunteers to study local pigeon flocks and gather data on color, courting habits, predation, and feeding preferences. “We don’t even know yet if colors vary among regions,” she said, “or if the lack of predator pressure in the cities makes it easier for different-colored pigeons to survive and breed.” Nor is it known, for example, if Portland’s pigeons are more closely related genetically to their seventeenth-century forebears than, say, the pigeons of Chicago or San Francisco.

The project has already attracted some two hundred participants nationally, from 4-H clubs and school students to pigeon fanciers and amateur bird-watchers. Maine’s pigeons have been around for hundreds of years, she notes, “and it’s time we learned more than just how to call them names.”

(Published June 1996)