This story is brought to you by BirdNote, a show that airs daily on public radio stations nationwide.
Every spring, down-covered mallard ducklings follow their mother across a pond. Goslings graze along side their Canada Geese parents in waterfront parks. Baby chickens peck the ground soon after hatching. But why do we never see baby pigeons?
Some baby birds鈥攍ike those down-covered ducks, geese, and chickens鈥攍eave their nest shortly after hatching and do a lot of growing up while following their parents around. Others, like pigeons, stay in the nest and depend on their parents to feed and protect them, well into their youth.
When young Rock Pigeons finally leave the nest, they are full sized with adult feathers, and they look like their parents. So unless you look carefully under a city bridge, you aren鈥檛 likely to ever see a baby pigeon.
It鈥檚 easy to imagine, when hearing soft cooing sounds like these, why baby pigeons would rather stay in the nest. But the reason is they wait to fledge until they are nearly independent and the task of getting on with life is a bit easier.
To download this podcast, go to .
Calls of Rock Pigeons provided by: at the , Ithaca, New York. Sound recordist: A.L. Priori. Producer: John Kessler. Executive Producer: Chris Peterson. Narrator: Michael Stein
Written by Frances Wood
漏 2015 Tune In to Nature.org March 2015 Narrator: Michael Stein