Bird of the Week: A pigeon pair

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Holly
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Bird of the Week: A pigeon pair

Howdy everyone. Great photos last week on a very broad theme. I was tempted to go straight back to the letters this week but I have resisted...

 

Instead - your theme is 'a pigeon pair' - intepret it as you will - you can post pigeon photos (or doves?), pairs or birds, pairs of pigeons, I will leave it in your hands.

Lachlan
Lachlan's picture

Well, having no idea what a pigeon pair was, I looked it up...

This is what Word Detective had to say on the origins of the term:

"Legend has it that pigeon broods always consist of one male chick and one female chick, which then grow up to mate and live together for life." Other sites also noted the two chicks don't have to be twins. 

Having found such a description I was rather strikingly reminded of one long-running fantasy series that has recently been transformed into a quite popular TV series by HBO... 

Anyway, now for some photos; I figured that the Moorhen and Coot qualified because they are a pair of species that look pretty similar and yet have obvious differences. 

thick_knee
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Here is what the World Detective goes on saying:

Pigeons lay two eggs at a time in their simple little nests, and thereby hangs the tale of "pigeon pair." Legend has it that pigeon broods always consist of one male chick and one female chick, which then grow up to mate and live together for life.(Incest really)

Evidently whoever came up with that legend had never taken basic biology, since

" inbreeding on such a scale would be a genetic disaster for the species."

But as a rather hokey invocation of symmetry and balance in nature, "pigeon pair" has been applied to human babies since the mid-19th century. The primary meaning of "pigeon pair" is a boy and a girl who are twins, but an extended sense encompasses your situation, a boy and girl born a bit apart but constituting (at least for the moment) the only children in the family.

What a weird ideawink

 

Patrik

rawshorty
rawshorty's picture

A pair of wings

Striated Pardalote-6698 by rawshorty, on Flickr">Striated Pardalote-6698 by rawshorty, on Flickr

A pair of Snipe

Latham's Snipe-6465 by rawshorty, on Flickr">[/url] Latham's Snipe-6465 by rawshorty, on Flickr

A pair of Quail

Brown Quail-4903 by rawshorty, on Flickr">[/url] Brown Quail-4903 by rawshorty, on Flickr

And a Pigeon pair

Crested Pigeon-9027 by rawshorty, on Flickr">[/url] Crested Pigeon-9027 by rawshorty, on Flickr

Shorty......Canon gear

Canberra

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/ 

cassie.c87
cassie.c87's picture

It's hard enough for me to get a pair of anything let alone pigeons. Oh well, here is what I have 

rawshorty
rawshorty's picture

Shorty......Canon gear

Canberra

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/ 

shoop
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Here are some of my pigeon pair wrens from down South from previous yearssmileysmiley

Kerry - Perth, Western Australia.

shoop
shoop's picture

Kerry - Perth, Western Australia.

shoop
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The not so pigeon pair.

Kerry - Perth, Western Australia.

Annie W
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I second that cassie laugh, for me I struggle getting one in focus most days, lol.  Seems I better set a new goal for this week though.  Outstanding shots everyone!!!!  Huge melty "nawwww" moment looking at your snuggling Wren shots shoop!  Far too cute smiley

West Coast Tasmania

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