Pigeon Roost at Picture Canyon
Pigeon Roost. 17 May 2024, 7am, Picture Rock Canyon, Comanche National Grassland near Campo, Colorado. Recorded by Lang Elliott. Image AI-gen.
Note: The recording featured here is a "3D binaural soundscape". Please wear headphones for a profound listening experience that will make you think you're actually out there, immersed in the natural world!
While exploring the Comanche National Grassland in southeastern Colorado, I visit Picture Canyon, known for its scenic vistas, unique sandstone rock formations, and prehistoric rock art. While I hoped to find something exotic to record, I instead stumble upon something mundane but welcome nonetheless.
The high point is my discovery of a large communal roost of Rock Pigeons, nesting on ledges and in nooks and crannies along an extended sheer cliff rising about fifty feet above me. While this is the same species that is found in city parks around the world, I am thrilled by this rare opportunity to record their colony sounds, free of urban traffic noise and people talking.
After spooking the birds, I hide in a clump of trees at the base of the cliff, and wait patiently for adults to return to their nesting site. Within a minute or two, several pigeons fly in, and before long the colony is alive with sounds. Pigeons coo while others arrive and depart in bursts of surprisingly loud wing claps and fluttering.
It is satisfying to record these amazing sounds, much as they were heard thousands of years ago in rocky canyons and along oceanside cliffs across Southern Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia, long before the species was domesticated and eventually introduced to urban areas around the world.
Note: I was thrilled to get this recording in part due to my lack of success recording the species in urban areas, where traffic rumble and other noises of civilization tend to mask the strong low frequencies that are so prominent when the doves take flight or land.
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Thank you for sharing this evocative recording. I don’t always read posts right when they are published but I do enjoy coming back to visit some of these places. Doves (of which pigeons are one type) are beautiful birds with beautiful and unique voices.
Dear Lang,
The sounds of the rock doves are lovely, and your photos are magnificent! Thank you so much!
Love it!!!
Proof positive that we don’t have to record exotic species to capture something beautiful!
Yes, Lang. Your efforts are being heard and appreciated. I donate every year!
Some other birds in there, maybe a Kiskadee?
Very much enjoyed this, Lang. I have a few in my yard but they are very shy. The only sounds I hear from them are the romantic song and their jet takeoff as I approach.
Mary Ellen
Listening from the heart of the Cevennes in France, the cooing sounds of pigeons, the flapping and rustles of their wings… It’s like an Haiku… Thank you
Wonderful opportunity to hear the pigeons in a natural setting. Thank you.
Very nice – great photo too!
So soothing. I love the other bird sounds in the background too.
I enjoyed the soothing, sweet coos of contentment, thank you!
I didn’t know that Rock Pigeons were native birds. I’m very interested in changes in the natural soundscape over time and will explore to see what you have to offer in that regard. Thank you
Thanks for sharing this. These birds are often dismissed as being troublesome and as invasives. When looked at carefully these are gorgeous birds with iridescent colors that change with the light. Now I know that they also have amazing sounds.
I agree with you, it is so wonderful to hear these birds away from the distraction of cities. Thanks so much Lang…. Joy
I doubt that I’ve ever heard this sweet and well-known bird in it’s natural habitat. Thanks Lang, it’s good to know that there is a place where they are unencumbered by cities people dogs and cats
I love your recordings!! Thank you so much. Here, the canyon wren is a nice bonus! And who doesn’t love a raven.