This pigeon portrait has not been manipulated, really !

Great photo Teresa! Couldn't be a better caption too!

Quite a wattle and pair of legs on that fella !!!!!

Another feral with unusual markings

No wonder she attracts the boys' attention... she's sooo pretty!

I've never seen one like this, where the blue bars have copper-coloured patches! They really glowed in the sun, but the photo was taken from a long way away and doesn't do her justice.

She is very pretty.

Beautiful birds, Teresa.
I can see the patches on her blue bars. I bet they are beautiful when the sun catches them just right.

Lovely pigeons! I have never seen one like those birds.

I think the color, size, and shape variety is a direct result of escaped pet/fancy birds. Where I live, I've spotted one brown bird and a couple of pied birds, but 99% of the population is either blue bar or checkered. We have just one important loft in the whole city (and not sure if there is any other beside it), so I'm not amazed.

Pawbla wrote:

Lovely pigeons! I have never seen one like those birds.

I think the color, size, and shape variety is a direct result of escaped pet/fancy birds. Where I live, I've spotted one brown bird and a couple of pied birds, but 99% of the population is either blue bar or checkered. We have just one important loft in the whole city (and not sure if there is any other beside it), so I'm not amazed.

Hi Pawbla,

Where I live it started just like that too, but then gradually more colours and patterns appeared, and on occasion I have seen banded birds, mostly homers, mixing with the feral flocks. I totally agree about this being the main reason for the varietyies we see.
There aren't any fancy lofts in my immediate vicinity, but this area is on the flight path for racing homers released in the Algarve and making their way back to the north.

PS. the other day, I saw a strange little squeaker that looked half pigeon and half collared dove. I'll try to get a picture next time.

The blue bars and checkers are very pretty, but it's always fun to see an unusual colored pij among a feral flock.

Teresa wrote:

Pawbla wrote:

Lovely pigeons! I have never seen one like those birds.

I think the color, size, and shape variety is a direct result of escaped pet/fancy birds. Where I live, I've spotted one brown bird and a couple of pied birds, but 99% of the population is either blue bar or checkered. We have just one important loft in the whole city (and not sure if there is any other beside it), so I'm not amazed.

Hi Pawbla,

Where I live it started just like that too, but then gradually more colours and patterns appeared, and on occasion I have seen banded birds, mostly homers, mixing with the feral flocks. I totally agree about this being the main reason for the varietyies we see.
There aren't any fancy lofts in my immediate vicinity, but this area is on the flight path for racing homers released in the Algarve and making their way back to the north.

PS. the other day, I saw a strange little squeaker that looked half pigeon and half collared dove.
I'll try to get a picture next time.

How interesting.
That would be cool. I hope you are able to get a picture.

This guy was born in our backyard 3 years ago and has stayed around ever since.
I love his white flight feathers.
He's absolutely gorgeous in flight.

I had a rescue that looked similar to him! But he had a white spot on his head too.

Yeah, I totally adore blue bars, with their silvery wings. But it looks more colorful and fun with many colors!


I want to see a pic of the squeaker too :).

Fancyfeathers wrote:

This guy was born in our backyard 3 years ago and has stayed around ever since.
I love his white flight feathers.
He's absolutely gorgeous in flight.

Very pretty bird. I always like the white flight feathers. Especially against a dark bird.

Here is my rescue! He's not as pretty, though... his right wing feathers aren't all white.


The day he came home:




Some months ago:

He's beautiful, Pawbla.
Thank you for sharing him with us.

I love the white spot on top of his head.

He looks plump and healthy. Great job!

He's very pretty.

Thanks! Yeah, the lady who works at the shop (they were released in the backyard of a shop) feeds them every day... so you can guess, hahah!

NiteOwl wrote:

Fancyfeathers wrote:

This guy was born in our backyard 3 years ago and has stayed around ever since.
I love his white flight feathers.
He's absolutely gorgeous in flight.

Very pretty bird. I always like the white flight feathers. Especially against a dark bird.

Thanks, Jay.

I do too. They're beautiful in flight.

Very pretty visitor, and very pretty rescue!

One of 'my' ferals has a very interesting colouring too. I've named him Tigerseye because he reminds me of the stone. This is him about to jump onto my lap!



And here he is diving for the food!

Teresa wrote:

Pawbla wrote:

Lovely pigeons! I have never seen one like those birds.

I think the color, size, and shape variety is a direct result of escaped pet/fancy birds. Where I live, I've spotted one brown bird and a couple of pied birds, but 99% of the population is either blue bar or checkered. We have just one important loft in the whole city (and not sure if there is any other beside it), so I'm not amazed.

Hi Pawbla,

Where I live it started just like that too, but then gradually more colours and patterns appeared, and on occasion I have seen banded birds, mostly homers, mixing with the feral flocks. I totally agree about this being the main reason for the varietyies we see.
There aren't any fancy lofts in my immediate vicinity, but this area is on the flight path for racing homers released in the Algarve and making their way back to the north.

PS. the other day, I saw a strange little squeaker that looked half pigeon and half collared dove.
I'll try to get a picture next time.

Now that would be an interesting combination.
I hope you are able to get a picture of him.

Oh, he's been around, but he's very shy. I'll see if I've got a usable shot of him among the many photos I took on the roof.

I found him, in the corner of a group picture, and zoomed in. He's the one in the middle.

So this is the strange little pigeon that I think may be half pigeon and half collared dove, because of his size, proportions, pointy beak and unusual eyes and colouring:

Great comparison photo, Teresa.
His beak and feather coloring definitely look different than that of your average pigeon.
Those little spots under his 'chin' are interesting.
He sure has an adorable little face.

Thanks for sharing him with us.

I remembered that one of our members had crossed domestic pigeons with ringneck doves, so I went to look for the post. The member is Zakria, and his hybrids look like this:



There are some strong similarities...