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Superdove: How the Pigeon Took Manhattan ... And the World
by: Courtney Humphries

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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 598.65
EAN: 9780061259166
ISBN: 0061259160
Label: Collins
Manufacturer: Collins
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 208
Publication Date: August 01, 2008
Publisher: Collins
Release Date: August 12, 2008
Sales Rank: 325745
Studio: Collins

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Why do we see pigeons as lowly urban pests and how did they become such common city dwellers? Courtney Humphries traces the natural history of the pigeon, recounting how these shy birds that once made their homes on the sparse cliffs of sea coasts came to dominate our urban public spaces. While detailing this evolution, Humphries introduces us to synanthropy: The concept that animals can become dependent on humans without ceasing to be wild; they can adapt to the cityscape as if it were a field or a forest.

Superdove simultaneously explores the pigeon's cultural transformation, from its life in the dovecotes of ancient Egypt to its service in the trenches of World War I, to its feats within the pigeon-racing societies of today. While the dove is traditionally recognized as a symbol of peace, the pigeon has long inspired a different sort of fetishistic devotion from breeders, eaters, and artists—and from those who recognized and exploited the pigeon's astounding abilities. Because of their fecundity, pigeons were symbols of fertility associated with Aphrodite, while their keen ability to find their way home made them ideal messengers and even pilots.

Their usefulness largely forgotten, today's pigeons have become as ubiquitous and reviled as rats. But Superdove reveals something more surprising: By using pigeons for our own purposes, we humans have changed their evolution. And in doing so, we have helped make pigeons the ideal city dwellers they are today. In the tradition of Rats, the book that made its namesake rodents famous, Superdove is the fascinating story of the pigeon's journey from the wild to the city—the home they'll never leave.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Superdove
I approached this book with the mindset that a pigeon is a "rat with wings." However, through Courtney Humphries' careful and broad research, my mind made a paradigm shift. I was fascinated that Charles Darwin used pigeons for research animals. I was also fascinated by Humphries' discussion of domestication of animals. It might be not that man domesticated pigeons (and many animals) but that they just moved in with our long ago ancestors.

I was especially impressed by author's annotated bibliography at the end of the book. I did keep seeking an analysis of the criticism of urban pigeons as the carriers of many diseases other than the fact that there are often just so many of them that they leave considerable fecal waste.

Rating:

- Pigeons from all angles
"Superdove", a creative book title by Courtney Humphries, is a fascinating if not overly-comprehensive look at "Columba livia", our most ubiquitous avian neighbor. Destined to be loved or loathed, Humphries takes us on a pigeon journey from Boston, across parts of America to Sardinia, in the Mediterranean. What we can see about these adaptable birds is only part of the picture. The author helps to fill in the rest.

Humphries captures pigeons in several aspects of daily life...not only what they eat and how they nest, but how important pigeons have been in compatibility with humans. Indeed, this is one of the main thrusts of the book. We live side by side with them, but what do we really know about them? There is a good chapter on racing pigeons, as well as others on how they interact with each other, where they tend to congregate and descriptions about their physical aspects. That pigeons are not very ... Read More

Rating:

- Differing Aspects of a Unique Bird
In _Stardust Memories_ of 1980, Woody Allen memorably called pigeons "rats with wings", summarizing how many urban dwellers think of them. Every city has pigeons, and this is just as much because of human nature as pigeon nature. In _Superdove: How the Pigeon Took Manhattan... and the World_ (Smithsonian Books), Courtney Humphries has presented a comprehensive look at this common bird (some would, of course, say common pest), but unlike a typical ornithological evaluation, this has to take in not just the natural history and evolution of the bird, but also the geography, history, and culture of the humans who have invited it to live in cities and indeed have shaped it to be able to do so. It's not the sort of bird you'd expect to see in, for instance, a special on the Nature Channel. "The pigeon is not the smartest bird, Humphries says, "nor the fastest, nor the prettiest, and it is certainly not the rarest. But ... Read More

Rating:

- answers a lot of questions
I've always thought pigeons were pretty amazing; as the author points out, they are "able to make a natural habitat out of areas that seem hostile to animal life" and thus "bring a bit of nature back into cities." This book answers a variety of questions, including:

1 . Where do pigeons come from, anyway? They are descendants of rock doves that nested in the cliffs of southern Europe and the Middle East. Eventually, pigeons were domesticated by being lured into dovecotes, essentially being given free food and shelter, and being used for message-sending due to their homing instinct (that is, their instinct to come home). Today's urban pigeons are feral rather than wild- that is, they are descendants of these domesticated pigeons.
2. Why are pigeons so comfortable in cities? First, habitat. The windows, porches and ledges of cities are similar (in a pigeon's eyes) to their native cliffs. Second, ... Read More

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