# Pigeon VS Parrot



## Prizm (Jun 28, 2006)

May I ask another question?  Are pigeons as intelligent as parrots as far as clicker training? I'm really interested in animal behavior and I think it would be cool to have a trained pigeon  Would it be hard to, say, teach him to pick up an object and fly it to my hand, or head bob on command? (Or better yet, poop selectively on certain people's heads..heeheehee)

I saw an interesting video of a cockatoo being taught to wave so I wondered...could I do this with a pigeon?


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## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

Prizm said:


> May I ask another question?  Are pigeons as intelligent as parrots as far as clicker training? I'm really interested in animal behavior and I think it would be cool to have a trained pigeon  Would it be hard to, say, teach him to pick up an object and fly it to my hand, or head bob on command? (Or better yet, poop selectively on certain people's heads..heeheehee)
> 
> I saw an interesting video of a cockatoo being taught to wave so I wondered...could I do this with a pigeon?



Hi Prizm, 

I don't feel that pigeons are as intelligent as members of the parrot family. Pigeons are intelligent creatures, but they use their intelligence much differently. Evolution plays a role as well in how creatures have adapted and have learned how to do things differently (at least in my opinion).

I thoroughly doubt you would be able to train a pigeon to play "fetch" and it's unlikely you would be able to potty train one either. Although, I have read a few cases here on the forum where pigeons were supposedly trained to go in a certain spot.

Head bobbing training....LOL. Well, if you bow your head to a pigeon, sometimes they will follow suit and bow their head too. Mine seem to react when I bow my head to them well and seem to acknowledge my signal and then give one of their own


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## Prizm (Jun 28, 2006)

Lol...head bowing..That does sound kinda cute ^^

I think "waving" comes somewhat natural to parrots because they are of a species that climbs. Do you think there are desired behaviors AKA "tricks" that may be derrived from a pigeon's natural behavior?


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Hi Prizm,

I think Brad put it about right, in that different creatures use their intelligence in different ways. 

Whether parrots (or, for example, crows and ravens) are more intelligent depends, I guess, on the standard by which we would measure it. But I guess we're talking about learning ability, really.

An example would be how pigeons have been trained for use in air-sea rescue, by learning to peck at a button when they spot something like a bright orange color (lifejacket or inflatable dingy) thus alerting the crew.

An extract from Dave Roth's Arizona Urban Wildlife site:

"What winged creature can think abstractly, form concepts, and commit images to memory many times faster than human beings? Laboratory pigeons conceptualize at a high level of abstraction. Each pigeon concept that was assessed in the laboratory was surprisingly as general and complete as typical concepts of humans. Laboratory pigeons also succeed at other tasks that were thought to be unique to humans or to primates. Laboratory pigeons learned to recognize each of the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet. It seemed odd to the researchers that the birds made the same kinds of initial mistakes as elementary school students."

Then, of course, pigeons can and do (given time) learn their names. Some of ours will respond when they hear the particular sound that they have learned to associate with a human calling them specifically - maybe by just turning round to look at the source of the 'call', in a couple of cases flying to us, and even desisting from some disapproved behavior.

I doubt you'd get them to do 'tricks', though. Pity, cos the "poop on demand" idea has a lot of appeal 

But then, are there any "homing parrots" 

Interesting subject, Prizm!

John


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Prizm said:


> May I ask another question?  Are pigeons as intelligent as parrots as far as clicker training? I'm really interested in animal behavior and I think it would be cool to have a trained pigeon  Would it be hard to, say, teach him to pick up an object and fly it to my hand, or head bob on command?


Brad and John have made some good points.

I feel that pigeons are also intelligent, and they can be trained to a point, especially if you spend 24/7 time with them.

They can be tought to fly to the hand by using peanuts or other snack or reward and reinforcement training. They can learn their names, follow cues, and are birds that love routines. They cannot necessarily pick up any object and fly it to you, as they don't have the beak to do that.

They are emotional creatures though, with feelings, but don't show their feelings as verbally & physically as other birds. They can be emotionally scared thru trauma like other birds, and it manifests itself in their ability to rear young, hatch eggs, and their social skills with other pigeons.


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