# do pigeons give kisses?



## Breadsanonymous (Feb 12, 2015)

Hello, Sorry im new to this forum and wasnt sure where to place this question. Anyways I have a pet pigeon I keep at home with me, and recently I guess I kinda hit a break through, atleast im hoping I did. So my pigeon, Kevin, who I am hoping is a male, im not sure how to tell. anyways hes usually grouchy and pecks and bites when you put your hand in his cage, even when hes out of his cage he tries to bite. he wont bite when you hold him however. Anyways I was talking to my parakeets, seeing that they love being talked to, when I hear cooing behind me, and notice Kevin is looking at me and cooing. naturally i walk up to him and begin talking to him, considering I never see him react like this. After doing this for awhile, he begins moving his head up and down, while cooing and slightly puffing his feathers, I also was whistling to him a bit. Noticing he seems a bit calm, I attempt to stick my hand in to pet him, and for once, since I first got him, he didnt bite, or peck, or run away, or start kinda hissing, or getting angry. If anything he stays still, and gets a bit closer to me. So during the day I would go over and start talking with him and whistling. later in the day when I took him out of his cage, he was jumping around, spinning and bobbing his head, while cooing and puffing his feathers out. Its night time now and I decided to stick My hand in his cage to pet him, and he starts giving me light pecks, around 10 very quick light peck. The pecks dont hurt, so I wanted to know If he was giving kisses, or doing something else? also was he trying to do a mating dance or something? I am a female, and my brother tried to pet Kevin, and ended up getting bit, so Im a bit confused. Im a first time Pigeon owner.


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## sreeshs (Aug 16, 2009)

Sounds like a dance, its usually to show off "look I am healthy pigeon here, let's start a family" 

Pigeons will peck when you put hands in their nests or cages, pecking may not be directly related to courtship, may be more related to "this is my place and I don't like much what you are doing sticking the hand"

Pigeons do kiss, it is part of their courtship and is a beak to beak and involves some amount of regurgitation too.

Also it does not matter whether you are a girl or a boy, since the pigeon as of now does not have a mate, he is trying to socialise who he finds closer enough and not threatened.


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## CBL (May 13, 2014)

Ya what Sreeshs says. They nibble, bite, kiss, wing slap and more. If it is a male its mating dance will have a distinct and differ from hens. The hens will also do what you describe but to a lesser degree. They will puff and spin and coo but the males coo I noted the other day will have a distinct "wha wha" at the end of their coo. I also note me hens will do a little run and jump at me when they coo. So funny to watch. My SUPER tame hen bites the crap out of me so much when Im typing DEMANDING attention or peanuts that I literally have to put her back into the cage to get any relief, she will chase me down otherwise lol. If I go into another room, she will throw herself at the door till I open it.

My guess is its a hen by behaviour. Could always change her name to Kelly lol. I bet she was a bit jealous cuz ur were talking to the other birds.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

My pigeons express themselves by their pecks. The one we adopted from a shelter woos, bobs her head, and runs up to me. But she also pecks my hand if I get too close. Phoebe our eight year old former feral gently pecks for attention but loves to snuggle, bobs her head, and if I'm not careful, sticks her beak into my mouth. She also loves to "noogie" which is what we call it when she sticks her beak between fingers.


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## PamperedPigeon (Sep 23, 2014)

Cwebster...noogie - that's cute...my hen does this as well...I think she's looking for me to "feed" her like a male would before mating. She'll do that, then give lots of light pecks (kisses) all over my hand while cooing, then bow her head down for me to scratch her neck, ears and beak. She'd do this for hours if I would let let her.


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