Food shortage affects reproduction of Feral Pigeons Columba livia at rearing of nestlings

Feral Pigeons Columba livia are highly adapted to urban environments and are thus often abundant in cities. This can lead to various problems, including fouling of building facades and pavements, transmission of allergens and pathogenic micro-organisms, and infestations of ectoparasites derived from breeding sites. To develop effective, long-lasting and humane control strategies, it is necessary to understand the demography of Feral Pigeons. Although food shortage is a major source of reproductive failure in Feral Pigeons, it is still unclear at which phase of the reproductive cycle this reduces overall reproductive success. Here, we assess the effect of a sudden reduction in the food base on the reproduction of a well-studied Feral Pigeon breeding colony. The findings of this study suggest that the number of broods per pair decreases significantly during food scarcity, and that although hatching success remains constant, a significantly greater number of nestlings die during the rearing phase. This suggests that the high energy demand of Feral Pigeon nestlings could not be met under conditions of food scarcity, which reduced the total number of fledged young by more than half and led to a reduction in the colony size. These results have important implications for selecting suitable, durable and humane control strategies for the management of large Feral Pigeon populations in urban environments.