Would a street pigeon survive in the street/wild after been in captivity for 4 months?

Question

In January I found a pigeon almost frozen in the street. I took it home and is doing better. I plan to release it in April/May since it looks sad spending all the time indoors. However, I am not sure how to do it to ensure it survives afterwards. I hear that birds that "smell like human" are rejected or attacked by other birds. Is there a safe way to release it?

Answer 1

If you found the pigeon as an adult you will be able to release it. But you should try taking it outside in your yard in a cage so it can get used to the area by "seeing" through the cage. Also other pigeons will begin to get familiar with your pigeon. Try putting some bread and/or bird seed outside while your caged pigeon is there so that it can attract other pigeons. Do this a couple of hours a day. Indoors you might want it to fly so that it can gain strength to fly outdoors. Do it at least for three weeks each time increasing the time spent outdoors. When you are ready to release the pigeon please take the cage outdoors repeating the process of leaving some bread for the other pigeons and finally leaving the cage door open. The bird will leave on it's own. I did this and it worked out well. But if the bird was raised since very young I do not recommend doing this. Good luck.

Answer 2

If the bird was an adult and knew the neighborhood, and if you don't let it get too tame, it will do just fine.

That "smell like a human" is a myth. Think about it, (first pigeons don't have a great sense of smell); second if they did and didn't like the smell of humans, they wouldn't live in a city :-)

So, yeah, it will be fine -- again, assuming it was an adult and knew how to survive in the wild to start with

Answer 3

I'm not certain, I don't know about birds, but i'll say what I think.

After being in our cities the pigeons are pretty much humanized etc. so there's no problem there, I don't think 'smelling like a human' would be a problem, or they wouldn't choose to live near us.

I'm not sure that birds even have a really good sense of smell anyway. =/

Answer 4

You should have no trouble returning the bird to the wild. You are looking for a safe way to release it.. take it back to where you found it and hold it up with your hands above your head and release.. watch it fly, a circle or two and then off... it will know home.

Answer 5

I think likely birds can smell, or they would not be able to smell food, or smell danger ( CATS ) when it's lurking behind them.
As long as you haven't turned the bird into a sucky, and he already knew how to survive, and whatever got him nearly frozen in the street has been addressed, he is likely to be fine. Other birds don't care what he smells like, unless he smells like blood.

Answer 6

If the worldwide stopped ingesting meat the following day, nearly all of cattle could be slaughtered because of the fact it could no longer be commercially a hazard to maintain them. The land they have been saved on could then be concreted over and outfitted on. there is not any way that any of those animals could stay to tell the tale. Nor could lots of the wild animals who have confidence in the habitats presented by skill of cattle production. in spite of if the land have been saved the comparable, it rather is uncertain that the cattle could stay to tell the tale. they had be competing for supplies with animals who had developed to fend for themselves. some species could stay to tell the tale for some generations (even nevertheless i will exceedingly plenty assure that there does no longer be yet another era of Cobb chickens (no undesirable element IMO - pitiful creatures). Sheep could do fairly properly in greater distant areas. they have an skill to stay to tell the tale fairly marginal land, and a loss of predators. The absence of predators could carry forth well-known malthusian inhabitants crashes till there replaced into some attempt to regulate populations.

Answer 7

not that this answers your question but.....
I had a pigeon once (my neighbor shot its wing). I named it rainbow and bafore it had time to fully heal (we had him for some months) he decided to stick his head in a puddle when he wasnt being watched...now hes dead.....
I did hear once that birds cant smell, so maybe he wont "smell like human" to them....but i dont know if thats true