High up in a dead evergreen’s bare branches, a stone’s throw from a cove, 13 band-tailed pigeons sat quietly for the better part of three hours.
Up to that point, we’d seen only a couple of pairs together on the property, waiting for the right moment to attempt a landing on a small water container.
A usually unsuccessful attempt, by the way. I can’t see the railing where they land from my office, but I can hear the clatter and thud when a too-large-for-the-container pigeon puts weight on the edge.
Note to self: retrieve water container. You have to understand that while most birds must lift their head to swallow water, pigeons and doves are the only birds in our state that can suction water, allowing them to drink without raising their heads.
That time-saving method is a good thing, because, according to bird expert David Sibley, pigeons and doves daily drink up to 15 percent of their body weight in water, more than most other birds.
The 13-pigeon sighting certainly caught our attention, although they’ll gather into flocks of 50 or more after breeding season, in groups called passels, bands, schools, droppings or lofts.
The shy pigeons, the only ones regularly found in coniferous close-canopied forests, usually stay below 1,000 feet in elevation. A rock pigeon rarely perches in trees.
This state’s band-tailed population declined through the 20th century because of the usual suspects — hunting and habitat loss — enough so that hunting them was banned from 1991-2001.
Hunting is now allowed statewide for nine days in September, but with strict limits: two birds a day, four in possession at one time. Now the population of this native bird is slowly trending upward.
A potential threat is a parasitic louse (Columbicola extinctus). Once thought to be extinct along with its host, the passenger pigeon, the louse has been re-discovered in a band-tailed pigeon. The birds also can die from trichomoniasis, probably picked up through contaminated feed at feeders.
To distinguish the band-tailed in the field from rock doves, white-winged doves and mourning doves, look for its pale gray back and lavender underparts, the white half collar on the nape, and the yellow feet and bill with a dark tip.
If lighting is difficult, look for the collar, the only pigeon or dove with that mark. At 14 to 15 inches long, it’s the largest pigeon in North America.
Band-tailed pigeons are quiet for a pigeon. Their gentle low-pitched cooing of long single and shorter double notes is most similar to the sounds of a mourning dove or great horned owl. I’ve had a friend swear up and down that the sound from the woods was an owl, despite my pointing to a pigeon sitting in the general direction of the call.
And once you’ve heard their wing beats, you’ll be able to identify them on the wing even if you can’t see them.
In the early breeding season and late summer, mineral springs and tidal flats become important for their mineral salts. Calcium, particularly, is needed for egg-building as well as the pigeon milk, which is very high in protein and fat. It’s created in their crops.
These monogamous pigeons build minimalistic platform nests of twigs trees at least 15 feet above ground; the male fetches, the female arranges. Both incubate one or two eggs for 18 to 20 days (often more than once a year), and both feed the young ones pigeon milk.
In the spring and summer, buds, blossoms, acorns, young leaves and berries are on the menu. In fall and winter, the pigeons ear berries, fruits, acorns, grains and other seeds, and nuts (they will come to platform feeders); and will feed on the ground.
Out of breeding season, sociable flocks (sometimes 50 birds or more), will forage, often nomadically, following the food supply. Western Washington band-tailed pigeons generally are permanent residents.
Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.
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