Ecology is a branch of science you can really count on

OPINION shelves behind me as I write this – all full of counted animals.

In 1957, my first entry was of 120 pigeons feeding on Lambton Quay just below Parliament. Soon after, I counted 58 pigeons perched on the railway bridge at Otaki. In 1959, I counted 1200 pigeons in Trafalgar Square, London, and another 1200 in St Mark’s Square in Venice.

In 1960, after work, I helped a renowned ornithologist put leg bands on 63 pigeons living in the roof of the Natural History Museum in London. At lunchtimes we tried to spot the banded birds among flocks all over Kensington.

Curiously, in 1987, I counted 247 pigeons accompanying 1500 starlings flying to roost overnight on Motuotau Island, nearly a kilometre off the Tauranga coast. Why would they do that?

In that same year, I was surprised to see hundreds of white pigeons fluttering about the coconut palms lining the streets of Honolulu. Scores of these birds were nesting in balconies 20 stories up, but never a grey pigeon. If a grey bird turned up, it was trapped and fed to falcons in the Honolulu zoo.

In 1998 a pest controller told me his firm had installed 6km of wire along ledges and windowsills of the Government Buildings in Lambton Quay to deter pigeons from fouling the famous building.

In 2002, some 200 pigeons lived along Courtenay Place, Wellington. Ten of them had lost toes, or feet, and one or two hobbled about on their knees. In those days some pest controllers sought to deter pigeons by painting ledges and windowsills with a sticky caustic concoction that dissolved away the birds’ feet.

I have also kept notes on pigeon racing. It seems the hobby started in Christchurch in 1875, when five birds flew 22.5km from Rolleston to their lofts in the city. These days, many small towns in New Zealand have a racing pigeon club.

For really big numbers, we must go to China or Taiwan where up to 30,000 birds are released simultaneously to find their way home.

Racing pigeons change hands in New Zealand for modest amounts but you must pay a fortune for good birds in Europe. Chinese and Taiwanese millionaires pay up to US$20,000 for the best birds. European pigeon fanciers at Belgian auctions complain that they cannot compete with prices offered by these Asians.

This year I again counted the pigeons in front of Parliament and on the Otaki Railway Bridge. Little has changed over 60 years, as 150-odd birds still fossick in front of Parliament and 47 still perch on the bridge. Thank you Dr Wodzicki.