Painted Pidgeons????

[athleticpete]

Can anyone help me identify these. I spotted them flying over Orange groves in Valencia, Spain. They flew around several times but did not settle to get any really good shots. If I was colour blind I would have said they are definitely Pidgeons, right size and shape and similar habits, but where have the colours come from!
Do people who keep homing pidgeons dye them? Its the only explanation I can think of.
Hopefully I can attach several shots, I can assure you that these are all as shot, I have just cropped them, absolutely nothing has been done to the colours.

Anyone got any suggestions?

Pete

[john c]

These are ordinary domestic pigeons that someone's given a make over. I've seen a pigeon dyed bright pink in Cadiz province. I wonder if it's an attempt by pigeon fanciers to confuse an attacking predator like Peregrine,
John

[athleticpete]

Thanks for the info John. I couldn´t see it any other way but you have suggested a possible reason why. Still seems odd though
How would the dye/paint be applied, and wouldn´t it interfere with the feathers porosity, and their flight capabilities? This didn´t seem to be the case in what I observed but I still can´t imagine how its done.

cheers

Pete

[Mike C]

Hi Pete,

John is right, these birds have been colour-dyed, though I suspect it is simply to make them look nice (beauty is in the eye of the beholder!) for a festival rather than for any predator control idea.

I tried to find some details on the web about dying doves as I know it goes on, but I couldn't find anything just now. However, I did note that apparently Picasso started out painting pigeons' feet!!

Dying birds is actually straight forward and, so long as the dye isn't poisonous to them, will do them no harm - just like dying your own hair really. The feathers will remain coloured until the birds' next moult, when they will be replaced by new feathers. Colour-dying is used often for research purposes by scientists; for example, shorebirds may be dyed then their movements followed to enable us to learn more about movements around estuary systems or between roost sites. I got involved in this some years ago when we were desperately trying not to loose the best roost site on the whole of the Orwell estuary - needless to say, Felixstowe docks with all its money won and the birds lost!!

Another example is the programme to re-introduce Lammergeiers to the Alps. Each individual bird has feathers in its wings dyed or bleached in a different pattern so that its movements can be tracked. A few years ago I found one of these birds in the Pyrenees!

I should note that in the case of the shorebirds, dye is only applied to the underside of the birds so that their cryptic upperparts are not compromised.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Mike C
Norfolk, UK

[podocesb]

Perhaps these birds were marked because they are racing pigeons and their ownership can be more quickly identified. Just a thought.
Mike