Not meant to be pigeonholed

In the creator’s scheme of populating planet earth with birdlife, the Rock Pigeon specie was seeded as natives of South Asia, Middle East, North Africa and Europe. The Rock Pigeon established a mammoth presence with such flourish that today, it is omnipresent across 95 per cent of the Indian landmass, leaving just a narrow strip of the Himalayas above 12,000ft for its ‘cousin’ specie, the Snow Pigeon. However, in the remainder specie-range-nominate regions, this bird would settle for carving out limited colonies only.

It further dawned that of the global legacy of 352 pigeon species, in the Rock Pigeon’s genetic sequencing alone, there was an element of ‘wanderlust’ implant which over time elevated him as the sole pigeon specie with worldwide presence! So, New York City today is home to over one million Rock Pigeons. Several metropolitan cities in France, Russia, Mexico, China, Brazil, St Peter’s Square in Vatican, Saudi Arabia, Germany, England, Turkey are not lagging behind.

Though much like several other birds, the pigeon species also pair for life, yet, here again, the Rock Pigeon alone is given to crossbreeding, openly! This trait was best summed up by Salim Ali: “…leading a pampered life of indolent ease… interbreed freely with domesticated varieties, producing a chaotic mixture of races.”

Admittedly, the Rock Pigeon genus have run-of-the-mill kind grey plumage but his illegitimate progeny of “chaotic mixture” grow to adulthood with brilliant plumages. The name ‘Rock Pigeon’ is perhaps derived from his preferred roosting sites, described succinctly by Salim Ali: “In the wild state lives in colonies, roosting on ledges, and fissures and holes in rock scarps, crumbling hill forts, ancient ruins, or down the shafts of old wells.”

Salim Sahib gave us another fascinating insight from the nesting colonies, down the cliff-sides on both flanks of Jog Falls near Mysore, “It is believed that the birds lay up during the dry season a regular granary in hollows for monsoon consumption. It is alleged that 70 quintals or more were plundered at a time by a man lowered in a basket”!

Significantly, it is the crossbreed progeny of the Rock Pigeon which possesses proven fail-safe ‘homing’ instincts even over long distances and under hazardous circumstances. So, during WW-II, the United States had a regular ‘Army Pigeon Service’ comprising 54,000 war pigeons and 3,150 soldiers for purposes of “undetectable method of communications”. During the Italian Campaign, the British 169 Infantry Brigade was tasked to capture a German stronghold, supported by aerial bombardment, on October 18, 1943. Quite unexpectedly, the Germans pulled out and the Brigade merrily occupied the village. So the aerial bombardment had to be cancelled promptly, for which purpose “GI Joe (Pigeon) flew the 20-mile distance… just as the planes were preparing to take off… saved the lives of at least 100 men”!

And for his effort, GI Joe was decorated with the ‘Dickin Medal’ (equivalent of the Victoria Cross) for “the most outstanding flight made by a US Army Pigeon in WW-II”!

Nearer home, during the 1971 war in the eastern theatre, 2nd Lieutenant MS Minhas of 5 Guard chanced to notice a cage of about 100 live pigeons amid war debris around Hardinge Bridge over the Padma river. Out of sheer compassion, he retrieved the cage and placed it inside an abandoned building. During a lull in battle, Minhas sneaked to retrieve the cage, but found that most birds had been made a meal of except 25, which he carried to his bunker and on termination of the war to Lucknow. Minhas had no idea that his war booty were ‘Homers’ of a prized bloodline!

Duleep Mathai, founder trustee of WWF-India, was a passionate pigeon fancier with a crowded loft of Homing Pigeons in Lutyens’ Delhi. He zeroed in on the owner of the war booty and came calling: “Baljit, please get me just two pairs.” A month later, Duleep was on cloud nine, cooing to the latest addition in his pigeon loft!

As I write, the rooftop of the 1971 war veteran’s home in Jalandhar is vibrant with more than 60 pigeon pairs of that very bloodline!