Subnostr

fun fact about pigeons

they fly almost as high as eagles

it's not surprising they are such good eating because that level of energy requires a lot of reserve fat in the body to do it

the eagles are smaller, sleeker and lighter, and hardly flap their wings at all except to correct their position a little

in terms of sheer airtime, the pigeons are hardly ever out of the air, crazy mfs just flying around in big circles up and down round and round, for no apparent reason, except maybe it must be like joggers running around, doing some kind of social aggression expression

cloud fodder 1y ago

Pigeons are my fav bird I think. I watched some documentaries about them. They're smart, can recognize a human face, really fast, capable of vertical takeoff (most birds can't do that). They're the honey badger of the air.

"Able to take off vertically and accelerate to 100 kph in two seconds, pigeons are pint-sized powerhouses. With this high-speed video, BBC Earth highlights the mechanics of this vertical take-off. Pigeons begin by bending their legs and jumping high enough that their first downstroke can extend fully and still clear the ground. That gives them a headstart on generating the force they need to propel themselves upward.

Note the way the pigeon’s wings move, sweeping from directly behind the bird’s back to a full extension in front of it. With the bird moving vertically, this motion tells us that it’s thrust – not aerodynamic lift – from the wingstroke that’s powering this take-off. In that sense, the pigeon is something like a Harrier jet, using the thrust of air downward to take off vertically."

-https://fyfluiddynamics.com/2019/09/the-impressive-take-off-of-pigeons/

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 1y ago

well, they sure are impressive, and it explains why they are always hungry, but my favourite bird, without doubt, is the common eurasian blackbird, because they sing such pretty songs and chatter across the forest and the way they dart around furtively is comical af - and now i'm living here in the atlantic, i get the distinct impression they are closely related to canaries, you just have to watch the way they fly, they do this intermittent thing and spend most of their airtime diving like little rockets, both birds do this, and both of them sing up a storm, and use twittering sounds to signal each other of danger

the pigeon is probably the king of birds overall though, i don't think there is one place i've ever been without them, like cats, perhaps, they prefer exactly the kind of environment we have and their energy budget requires them to stay close to ample food supplies

cloud fodder 1y ago

Right, it's also because they're faster and more agile than other birds, so they're the only ones that can thrive in a busy city with cars, people, etc without getting rekt. They were also domesticated and at some point a very popular animal to have before they got kicked out and became strays 😭😁 they only live 3 years so I think they see the world in slow motion. Like a car coming at them, no big deal, plenty of time to fly out of the way.