wood pigeon on water (1 Viewer)

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stevenm

Member

• Apr 16, 2017

• #1

Today I saw something I have never seen before. A wood pigeon deliberately landed on the lake in East Park in Hull, splashed about and dipped it's head under the water a few times and then lifted off as graceful as a gull and flew off. At no point did it appear to be panicking or stressed, it just looked as if it was in a bird bath! The water it landed on would be at least 2 feet deep. Has anyone else ever seen this happen?

 

Nutcracker

Stop Brexit!

• Apr 16, 2017

• #2

Yep, pigeons can swim quite well! I've seen this a few times, both with Woodpigeon and Feral Pigeon - in the latter case, once from a ship in the middle of the North Sea (so water at least 20-30 metres deep) :t:

PS welcome to Birdforum!

 

S

stevenm

Member

• Apr 17, 2017

• #3

Thanks Nutcracker. Glad I'm not the only one who's seen it.

 

wolfbirder

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2017

• #4

Never suspected that, very interesting!

 

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markspirito

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2017

• #5

Nutcracker said:

Yep, pigeons can swim quite well! I've seen this a few times, both with Woodpigeon and Feral Pigeon - in the latter case, once from a ship in the middle of the North Sea (so water at least 20-30 metres deep) :t:

PS welcome to Birdforum!

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Or are Wood pigeons just not that intelligent ? i.e regularly flying into windows and standing in the middle of the road more often than most species |8.|

 

Nutcracker

Stop Brexit!

• Apr 18, 2017

• #6

markspirito said:

Or are Wood pigeons just not that intelligent ? i.e regularly flying into windows and standing in the middle of the road more often than most species |8.|

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Not sure they do! Given their abundance, I see far fewer roadkill Woodpigeons than one would expect compared to other species.

 

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AidenD

Well-known member

• Apr 20, 2017

• #7

Bee-eaters have been known to dive underwater to cool off, this may just be another form of that.