BUT I believe a good Flyer can in a few years turn an average group of birds into a winning family. JMHO An unexpectedly fun read. Pigeons. That's what the book is about. Pigeons. Of those things that live out there *waves in a random direction*, I can't say that I've developed much in the way of love or hate for pigeons. They are just there. Cooing. Pooing on me (once). Correction: An earlier version of this blog stated that well-fed pigeons made the optimal choice of the pea and milo seed. It should have stated that hungry pigeons made the optimal choice. Somewhat hungry pigeons were more likely to choose only the pea. My only criticism is that I thought it presented (in)breeding in a very neutral way even when describing certain breeds as literally incapable of feeding their young or flying. I would have liked an explicitly critical approach to some of the more clearly iffy aspects of the selective breeding of sentient animals, but still, based on the general tone and some comments about us having a moral responsibility to treat animals humanely, especially those that exist because of out domestication and breeding, I think the author’s ethics would align with mine there. I’m so used to naturalists being dismissive about or downright hateful of urban wildlife that the author’s tone, enthusiasm and compassion for pigeons was very welcome and refreshing, especially when it’s clearly in no way incompatible with her scientific approach. That being said, if you're not interested in pigeons, you might not find it interesting. Rather, take this as an opportunity to learn something new. Maybe not just about birds, but about yourself.

According to behavioral ecologists, Zentall recounts, animals should never gamble because evolution has honed them over many thousands of years into optimal foragers. That is, animals should expend the least amount of energy and time to consume the greatest number of calories. Yet this is not always the case. I love pigeons. This book loves pigeons. Therefore, I love this book. Is it a true 5 star read? Debatable, but the commitment to the lil' goofballs means it deserves it. I've always summed up my love for pigeons with a simple, "They think they're people!" (A phrase this book uses as well) I love the way they bob their heads and ride the subway, and after reading this I've more convinced that they ARE people. They're remarkably adaptable, trading their more traditional cliffside homes for nooks in manmade structures. They carry messages and build messy nests, get jealous easily, clean themselves, and have lived alongside humans just as long as dogs and rats. The author covers the history of pigeons, their uses (by humans) and the different breeds. This last part was fascinating, as was the reproduction. The author actually talks of the visible genetic markers for some broader types and how they are transmitted to future generations based on the type of the mate. The author also gives us an in-depth view of their daily lives and some typical behaviour.

🍪 Privacy & Transparency

At the annual meeting of the American Psychological Assocation this past weekend, Zentall presented new research on the pigeon version of yet another cognitive bias, the “less is more” heuristic. When making rapid judgments between two things we tend to give greater weight to the average quality of our options rather than the overall quantity. For example, in one famous experiment done by behavioral scientist Christopher Hsee, participants were asked to rate two collections of dinnerware. One set consisted of 24 pristine plates. The other set contained 31 perfect pieces plus nine broken ones. The participants tended to place a higher value on the smaller set—even though the second option contained more flawless dishes. In other countries fanciers have the choice to fly sprint , middle , long distance and many, if not all specialize at a distance. They can find several races at their distance to compete.They develop a family to compete at that distance over several years and breed for it.

I chose to read this because of this topic. I have seen pigeons around (who hasn't?!), and if someone recommended I pigeon watch to pass the time, I would not have taken them seriously. The title of this book, therefore, was very intriguing. Every part of country has it's own special racing problems , ( wind , water , mountains ,heat , cold , etc.) certain birds are not equipped to handle all conditions , so why have that bird in your loft or spend money breeding for a quality that can not help you in your area. Here in "USA" ,in YBS. and OBS. we fly race season ( YBS. 100-350 miles) (OBS. 100-600 miles) . I feel you are best suited to find birds that will compete from 100-600 miles. Yes ,their are families of birds that have that ability.Here’s the thing about pigeons: if you’re one of those people who hate them and think of them as “flying rats”, well tough, because it’s our own fault. Pigeons aren’t wild animals who have taken to living in our towns, like urban foxes say; they are domesticated animals, like dogs and cows, some of which have escaped, been abandoned or deliberately released. They were domesticated, most likely somewhere in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, thousands of years ago and throughout almost all of human history ever since have been liked, valued, admired, at times revered. Alongside the dog and the horse, they have been one of our favourite companions on this planet. My quibbles are that it’s all just a little too cutesy. The cute parts are funny and appealing but it feels just a bit dumbed down. Or perhaps young adults are the target audience and I’m judging unfairly. The illustrations are also cute but not as informative as I might’ve hoped, and I spent a lot of time on Google Images marveling at the pigeon variety and beauty. In a recent series of experiments Zentall and his colleagues have found that pigeons make some of the same common reasoning mistakes as humans do. For example, they exhibit a strong tendency to select a riskier option over a smaller, safer reward. In one avian version of a casino, pigeons had to choose between a low-probability payoff of 10 food pellets (versus zero) and a high-probability payoff of three pellets. (The expected value is two pieces of kibble in the first case and three in the second.) Although at first the birds chose the more profitable three-pellet option, over time they switched strategies and went for the suboptimal 10-pellet gamble again and again. Research on human gamblers reveals a complementary trend. Compulsive gamblers pay little attention to their losses, tending to remember when they won but not the frequency of winning. Zentall suggests that across species, quality may be easier--that is, faster--to judge than quantity. In the wild pigeons typically face competition from their fellow birds, so the bird that reacts the fastest to the sight of food is most likely to snag the morsel. Our ancestors likely faced similar pressures.

Mosco's interest in pigeons, bird watching, and nature were infectious. The writing was aimed at readers who might only have vague memories of their high school science classes, so some of the explanations of things like pigeon genetics were a bit simplistic for my tastes, but overall this was an enjoyable and interesting read. I very much appreciated the annotated "Further Reading" section and would like to try out several of the books Mosco mentions.I will first pay attention to Homing instincts alone, after training out i will do tough single tossing, As I used to do. I really enjoyed the read but did not read it in one sitting. I had to space it out solely because I had to process all the information I was being given. It is the kind of book you can have at home and peruse whenever you feel like pulling up some remarkable factoids. Thanks to NetGalley and Workman Publishing Company for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. To a lot of people they still are of course. Charles Darwin loved them (much of Chapter One of On the Origin of Species is devoted to them), as did Pablo Picasso who not only painted them but named his daughter after them (Paloma, his “little dove”); the Mughal emperor Akbar, Queen Victoria, inventor Nikola Tesla, painters Claude Monet and Henri Matisse, head of the fashion house Maurizio Gucci, Yul Brynner and Walt Disney—pigeon fanciers all. To others though, and only during the last thin sliver of our history, they have suddenly morphed into something very different.