Laura Reynolds

Why Do You Never See Baby Pigeons?

Pigeons. London's over-run with them. Hobbling around, gobbling up our leftovers. But have you ever seen a baby pigeon? No, neither have we, although we'd not really thought about it until one reader, Amanda, asked where they all are.

Do pigeons hatch fully grown, like some sort of avian Benjamin Button? Freaks us out just thinking about it, if we're honest. So we spoke to the lovely people at the RSPB (Royal Society for Protection of Birds), who reassured us that this is not the case.



According to Ben Andrews, RSPB's Wildlife Adviser,

Young pigeons (known as “squabs”) look really different to the adult birds we see, they are yellow and fluffy, but they are always in the nest for a long period of time, often around 30 days or so. By the time they emerge from the nest they basically look like adult pigeons and therefore people don’t obviously notice them as babies even if they are still young birds.

So there's the answer. For other, not entirely serious answers to the whereabouts of baby pigeons, click here.

See also: What would London be like without pigeons?

Read more about London's wildlife.