IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/ito/pchaps/180560.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

Ecology of Feral Pigeons: Population Monitoring, Resource Selection, and Management Practices

In: Wildlife Population Monitoring

Author

Listed:
  • Erin Stukenholtz
  • Tirhas Hailu
  • Sean Childers
  • Charles Leatherwood
  • Lonnie Evans
  • Don Roulain
  • Dale Townsley
  • Marty Treider
  • R. Neal Platt
  • David Ray
  • John Zak
  • Richard Stevens

Abstract

Feral pigeons (Columba livia) are typically ignored by ornithologists but can be found roosting in the thousands within cities across the world. Pigeons have been known to spread zoonoses, through ectoparasites and excrement they produce. Along with disease, feral pigeons have an economic impact due to the cost of cleanup and maintenance of human infrastructure. Many organizations have tried to decrease pigeon abundances through euthanasia or use of chemicals that decrease reproductive output. However, killing pigeons has been unsuccessful in decreasing abundance, and chemical inhibition can be expensive and must be used throughout the year. A case study at Texas Tech University has found that populations fluctuate throughout the year, making it difficult to manage numbers. To successfully decrease populations, it is important to have a multifaceted approach that includes removing necessary resources (i. e. nest sites and roosting areas) and decreasing the number of offspring through humane techniques.

Suggested Citation

  • Erin Stukenholtz & Tirhas Hailu & Sean Childers & Charles Leatherwood & Lonnie Evans & Don Roulain & Dale Townsley & Marty Treider & R. Neal Platt & David Ray & John Zak & Richard Stevens, 2019. "Ecology of Feral Pigeons: Population Monitoring, Resource Selection, and Management Practices," Chapters, in: Marco Ferretti (ed.), Wildlife Population Monitoring, IntechOpen.
  • Handle: RePEc:ito:pchaps:180560
    DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.84612
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/66330
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5772/intechopen.84612?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    birth control; nest sites; nuisance; rock doves; zoonoses;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q20 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - General
    • Q30 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ito:pchaps:180560. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Slobodan Momcilovic (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.intechopen.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.