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<\/div>\u201cHello again!\u201d Pigeons can remember individual human faces<\/p>\n
Martin Parr\/Magnum Photos<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
I was walking in the park with a friend recently, when they pointed at a pigeon and told me I was looking at their favourite bird. I was incredulous. Pigeons? Those winged vermin? My friend responded with this twisted logic: it makes a lot of sense for pigeons to be your favourite bird, because you get to enjoy them all the time.<\/p>\n
Temporarily bemused, I wondered if anyone could really be so enamoured with pigeons. Turns out, the joke\u2019s on me. When I spoke to other friends and colleagues, a surprising number of them had a lot of love for the humble pidge. One New Scientist<\/i> colleague, who will remain nameless, confessed to having a secret pigeon tattoo. I even saw a news report about a couple whose adopted pigeon sleeps in their bed<\/a>.<\/p>\n As I read around a little, I found that pigeons do have a lot to recommend them. Aside from their well-known homing abilities, they are unassumingly intelligent. They are no mammal, but do produce a kind of milk. They kiss each other, applaud themselves after sex and can recognise individual people<\/a> (and can remember the ones who are mean to them). Add all that together and maybe, I thought, I could learn to love this seemingly ordinary bird after all. So, armed with my curiosity and a bag of oats, I set out to do just that.<\/p>\n I wanted to conduct my investigation with at least a whiff of scientific integrity, so I conceived of an \u201cexperiment\u201d. First, I\u2026<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nA bit of bird-watching<\/h2>\n