Pigeon courtship is a fascinating world! After reaching sexual maturity around the 6–8 month mark, your pigeon will be seeking a mate and trying to woo them.
The list of potential mates is endless: it will very likely be another pigeon if there is one in close proximity (unless both pigeons are male, in which case bonding is unlikely, although could still happen), but it might also be a plushie, a reflection in the mirror, or even a particularly handsome croissant. However, if you and your pigeon are very close and spend a lot of time together, it’s quite likely that they will want to bond with you!
This can happen even without you actively encouraging it. Pigeons frequently consider humans to be members of their flock, so if your bird trusts you and acts confidently around you, starting to court you is just a logical next step in their brain. Knowing how to respond to courtship without crossing any lines will help you establish a deep relationship with your bird and make life easier for you and them both. This guide will teach you how to encourage bonding and where to draw a line between behaviors you should and should not encourage—and how to react to them if they do happen.
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While you shouldn’t deliberately encourage or provoke mating behaviors, they will likely happen: that’s just pigeons being who they are (think dogs humping things!). It’s almost never possible to discourage them completely, and you should never try to scold or punish your pigeon for it, but you can ignore the behavior or try to redirect it.
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<aside> 🏳️🌈 Pigeons are extremely fluid in their gender expression. A pigeon showing masculine or feminine behaviors doesn’t automatically make them a hen or a cock! Masculine females and feminine males exist and are quite common; more fluid expression is most common in human social or imprinted pigeons. Knowing your pigeon’s gender can typically help explain some behaviors, but observing behaviors will not help you learn the gender.
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Preening you: Trying to gently preen you, sometimes with little nips between preenings. Preens are very common even with birds who are not bonded to you as long as your relationship is friendly.
Proper response: Just allow it to happen. Your pigeon is being sweet and affectionate.
Preening themselves: Preening their chest and over their shoulder, looking at you. This can be mild flirting!
Proper response: Nod and, if your pigeon is receptive, you can try to gently pet their neck with your finger.
Asking for pets: Shoving their head under nest bedding (or under your hand or clothes) while loafed, wing twitching, and doing low repetitive coos.
Proper response: Give pets! Gentle scritches on the head or neck are best. Experiment and see what your pigeon likes the most.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK0X9N6duBE
Courtship nodding: Deep nods, often a bit faster on the way down with a slight pause at the 'bottom' point of the nod. Feel free to ask others for help spotting this, as learning it can take a little time.
Proper response: Nod back! You can nod with your hand or your head; experiment, as finding the “right” nod may take a while.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8cPGNnu7TE
Driving: Randomly going up to you to bite you and drive you in a certain direction. Chasing your feet when you walk.
Proper response: Allow yourself to be driven in the direction he seems to want you to go. Don’t fight back, let your pigeon feel strong. If it’s bothersome, you can just pick him up and put him up on something high.
Showing off: Spinning around and cooing. Note that this is highly contextual and can also be a defensive territorial behavior!
Proper response: If your pigeon doesn't seem to be defending a specific spot and is displaying to you, you can acknowledge them, approach, or talk to them! Nodding is also a great tool; nod to them just like in the “courtship nodding” response.