Pigeons love ! - Wise men say ! - Only fools, rush in !!

City dwellers often see pigeons as an eyesore and a nuisance. The more nature-inclined regard them as marvels of natural history and urban adaptation. Descended from birds bred by European hobbyists, Columba livia now nest on building ledges rather than their ancestral cliffs.  

 

Wise men say !  -  Only fools, only fools rush in

Oh, but I, but I, I can't help falling in love with you,  Shall I stay?

Would it be, would it be a sin?

If I can't help falling in love with you 

Ever fell in love or felt being loved !  - is that only essentially a mental perception ? .. is love just  essential biology,  evolutionarily ancient.  What about animal / birds love !?!  Oxytocin and vasopressin, the hormones most closely associated with mammalian bonding, have the near-identical avian analogues of mesotocin and vasotocin, which shape the interactions of zebra finch couples. 

Pigeons like people they know and trust—and especially people who feed them. They  recognize human faces, and their expressions of affection even suggest that they can feel emotional love. 

Throughout history, pigeons, bred by humans to live on rooftops or backyard lofts, have flown hundreds of miles to find their way home. People have raised pigeons to race them, like thoroughbreds, paying thousands of dollars for a bird. Some say these creatures are able to use the Earth’s gravitational pull to find their way back to where they belong. Others say they use the direction of the sun or the smell of the air to navigate. 

Whatever the reason for their keen sense of direction, pigeons have formed a strong bond with the humans who keep them, and in some cases have become part of the family.  Ask their keepers – they would say in one voice – Pigeons love humans ! 

Animal consciousness tends to be most appreciated in a select class of animals: big-brained creatures like great apes or whales, or domestic companions like cats and dogs not on these birds. As a class, birds receive comparatively  get little attention. And when they do, it tends to focus on intelligence, on easily quantifiable feats of problem-solving and cognition, rather than emotion. Most anyone who follows science knows about brainy crows using tools and high-level reasoning. But avian love remains beyond the pale.

 

Pigeons show affection to humans in a wide variety of ways such as flapping their wings, cooing, cuddling, and even sleeping next to humans. While they aren’t as affectionate as some other pets are, pigeons are still capable of showing affection in their own little way. 

Here is Pigeon flapping and falling in love with Boominathan of Triplicane, who keeps some of them in Triplicane kulakkarai. 

 

The lines at the start are from the 1961 album ‘Blue Hawaii’ of Elvis Presley, this song titled - "Can't Help Falling in Love" written by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, and George David Weiss and published by Gladys Music, Inc. The melody is based on "Plaisir d'amour",  a popular French love song composed in 1784 by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini.  

 
Interesting !
 
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
31.5.2023