Pigeons coo: "We're doves"

Pigeons of the city are uniting in a plea to get their species renamed.

Feral pigeons are asking people to refer to them as ‘City Rock Doves’, in an attempt to better their public image.

All pigeons are derived from the rock dove, with escaped domesticated pigeons making up the population of feral pigeons in the city.

Ms Liv Columbus, spokespigeon for the Union of City Doves, said: “As a sub-species, we are sick of being laughed at and bullied. We believe this is down to our name, feral pigeon. Rock doves are the exact same species as us, but because they live by the coast and have a prettier name, people like them more.

“Just because we’ve swapped clifftops for rooftops doesn’t mean we’re, as that director chap so kindly put it, ‘rats with wings’.”

Members of the public have described the urban population online as ‘filthy flying vermin’ and ‘pests’, citing their mangled feet and scruffy appearance as ‘gross’.

Ms Columbus continued: “Many of us city rock doves do have mangled feet, but this is only down to the spikes and netting you stick everywhere to try and control where we go.”

Darwin was the first to figure out that all pigeons, fancy and feral, were derived from the rock dove, publishing his research in On the Origin of Species in 1859.

Rock doves have two black bars on their pale grey wings, while feral and domestic pigeons have much more variation in colour and pattern.

Nowadays, pure rock doves are increasingly hard to find, thanks to inter-breeding with feral members of the species.