Why do pigeons alwa...
 

  You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more

Why do pigeons always stand on the road?

49 Posts
33 Users
0 Reactions
557 Views
Posts: 17915
Full Member
Topic starter
 

Every morning. On the road.
They don't move until the last nanosecond and I always end up dabbing the brakes.

Dicks 🙄
What are they up to?


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 1:10 pm
Posts: 17779
Full Member
 

Because the cows have occupied the tracks.


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 1:14 pm
Posts: 30093
Full Member
 

Are they not on a wall there?

Anyway, the answer is that they love playing chicken with the traffic.


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 1:14 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Are they not on a wall there?

They're just really big. I sure as hell wouldn't want to hit one of those on my commute


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 1:19 pm
Posts: 5354
Full Member
 

If the pigeons were that mahoosive where I live, I'd be on the brakes too! Those big lads would write your car off!


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 1:24 pm
Posts: 8318
Full Member
 

They don’t move until the last nanosecond

The refresh rate of their vision far exceeds yours


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 1:24 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

What are they up to?

Maybe it's where the coo-l birds are at?


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 1:28 pm
Posts: 3845
Full Member
 

Sorry to add a sensible answer, but they often stand in the road, mostly around potholes, to drink or to eat grit.


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 1:31 pm
Posts: 60
Free Member
 

Ha ha, this just made me laugh out loud. I've thought exactly the same thing and used far more harsh words than dicks to describe them.

Thought it was just me who noticed this.


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 1:36 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Despite the truth of the matter, its a great excuse to post this.


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 1:38 pm
Posts: 9069
Free Member
 

 
Posted : 23/09/2022 1:43 pm
Posts: 2335
Free Member
 

Sorry to add a sensible answer, but they often stand in the road, mostly around potholes, to drink or to eat grit

Sheep do this too around catseyes (very much so on the main road through Yell, Shetland) to drink the salty water from road gritting that pools around them.


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 2:02 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

@n0b0dy0ftheg0at I can't see any cows in that photo can you? I guess they're really far away.


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 2:06 pm
Posts: 6688
Full Member
 

In rural roads in Ireland it's the crows.


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 2:44 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

They'll just be preachain to their flock.


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 2:49 pm
Posts: 8771
Full Member
 

They're a new breed of kamikazee agitative cultural disrupters. Just pretend they're cyclists 😉


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 2:55 pm
Posts: 13369
Full Member
 

[i]In rural roads in Ireland it’s the crows.[/i]

The crows get out of the way early as there is always a look out crow who shouts "Cah, cah, cah"


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 2:56 pm
Posts: 17915
Full Member
Topic starter
 

They don’t move until the last nanosecond

The refresh rate of their vision far exceeds yours

No need to be like that.
How do you know how fast my refresh rate is?
😉


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 3:11 pm
 Drac
Posts: 50352
 

I feed the pigeons, I sometimes feed the sparrows too. It gives me a sense of enormous well-being


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 3:20 pm
Posts: 919
Free Member
 

Park life.


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 3:26 pm
Posts: 427
Free Member
 

I thought everyone was now aware that birds aren't real.

https://birdsarentreal.com/pages/who-are-we


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 3:32 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Ever thought maybe that's what they want you to think? Makes you think, doesn't it.


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 3:36 pm
Posts: 254
Free Member
 

Theres a theory that birds wait until the last minute to fly off because the pressure from the car actually lifts them out of the way, so it means they dont have to both "flying" out the way, they just get pushed.


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 4:04 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

I've pushed rather a lot of pheasants over the years, and you're right, it certainly saves them a lot of flying.


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 4:33 pm
Posts: 4170
Free Member
 

Theres a theory that birds wait until the last minute to fly off because the pressure from the car actually lifts them

A friend had one of the first Ford Sierras, and hit so many birds in the first 6 months he reckons that was evidence for that - the Sierra was significantly more streamlined and the birds had to recalibrate.


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 5:14 pm
Posts: 995
Full Member
 

We live in a very farmy village and the tractors drop lots of seed etc, I agree though rats of the skies! Always the first bloody things to wake up too and I cannot stand their cooing and usually can’t get back to sleep!!


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 8:46 pm
 LD
Posts: 581
Free Member
 

Just had to have this conversation with my son who is learning to drive. Don't swerve, don't brake was my basic advice.


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 8:52 pm
Posts: 15315
Full Member
 

don’t brake was my basic advice.

Why not? Why would you hit an animal on the road unnecessarily?

Usually just sounding your horn is sufficient to clear the road of wandering wildlife.


 
Posted : 23/09/2022 8:58 pm
Posts: 6071
Free Member
 

Why would you hit an animal on the road unnecessarily?

Exactly. You wouldn't want to invoke Darwin and allow pigeons to adapt and develop, they're already annoying enough 🙂


 
Posted : 24/09/2022 7:31 am
Posts: 13554
Free Member
 

Too late to stop them adapting judging by the size of those in the photo up there.


 
Posted : 24/09/2022 8:38 am
Posts: 2350
Full Member
 

The crows get out of the way early as there is always a look out crow who shouts “Cah, cah, cah”

👏


 
Posted : 24/09/2022 8:44 am
Posts: 44146
Full Member
 

Why not? Why would you hit an animal on the road unnecessarily

Swerving can cause a crash. Many years ago i rolled a car after a reflex swerve to avoid birds in the road


 
Posted : 24/09/2022 9:21 am
Posts: 13554
Free Member
 

Two things saved TJ’s life that day. The helmet he was wearing and the dog that pulled him free of the wreckage.


 
Posted : 24/09/2022 9:24 am
Posts: 44146
Full Member
 

🤣


 
Posted : 24/09/2022 9:37 am
Posts: 13356
Free Member
 

I’d imagine those two ^^ are using a grammatically simplified method of communicating.


 
Posted : 24/09/2022 10:25 am
Posts: 13164
Full Member
 

Why not? Why would you hit an animal on the road unnecessarily?

If there's any traffic it stops you being rear-ended (ooer) by the following driver who won't be concentrating just following the bumper in front.


 
Posted : 24/09/2022 10:41 am
Posts: 15315
Full Member
 

don’t brake was my basic advice.

Why not? Why would you hit an animal on the road unnecessarily?

Swerving can cause a crash.

Every time you brake you serve?

If I see an animal on the road ahead, or a human for that matter, I can apply the brakes without swerving.

I do it all the time!


 
Posted : 24/09/2022 10:48 am
 aide
Posts: 870
Full Member
 

Is it not that the tarmac/concrete heats up quicker than just bare ground so they prefer it in the mornings? (I could have this totally wrong)


 
Posted : 24/09/2022 3:18 pm
Posts: 15315
Full Member
 

Actually pigeons like nothing more than to lie down in sunshine, with their wings tucked under their abdomen. I know of no other bird that does that.

They are also the only birds that can suck water btw


 
Posted : 24/09/2022 5:45 pm
Posts: 17915
Full Member
Topic starter
 

Bet they can't suck a McDonald's milkshake through a paper straw though.


 
Posted : 24/09/2022 5:48 pm
Posts: 33325
Full Member
 

Rooks do it as well, there’s a junction at the end of the short bit of road as you enter the business estate I work on, and there’s often half a dozen rooks wandering around in the road in just that one place.
There’s sometimes a pigeon or two with them, although the last time I saw a pigeon there was in my rear view mirror enclosed in a cloud of feathers after it took off right in front of my car…

No obvious damage to the car, fortunately.


 
Posted : 24/09/2022 9:02 pm
 LD
Posts: 581
Free Member
 

Why not? Why would you hit an animal on the road unnecessarily?

Usually just sounding your horn is sufficient to clear the road of wandering wildlife.

Driving privilege innit.
I say the same about cyclists. 😉


 
Posted : 24/09/2022 10:31 pm
Posts: 17915
Full Member
Topic starter
 

Rooks do it as well, there’s a junction at the end of the short bit of road as you enter the business estate I work on, and there’s often half a dozen rooks wandering around in the road in just that one place.

Trouble with them is they can only move out of the way horizontally or vertically and can't go over other birds.


 
Posted : 25/09/2022 6:29 am
Posts: 6071
Free Member
 

Rookwits


 
Posted : 25/09/2022 7:19 am
Posts: 6317
Free Member
 

Pigeons are clever. They strut arouind my lawn in front of me and the cat knowing that she is too lazy and I would get a bollocking for the noise shooting them would make yet in our fields they know exactly what a gun is like and fly up with the airliners.
As for braking for animals in the road well..... Squirrels and pigeons need culling so speed up. Boar, deer and sheep are bigger so slow down or duff the vehicle. We all know that, if the dimwit behind you tail ends you because you brake hard, it's their fault but it is still a pain to get the dents sorted.


 
Posted : 25/09/2022 7:48 am
Posts: 6317
Free Member
 

Oh yeah. Who ever suggested the horn doesn't live where animals live in the road. The sheep outside don't even look up to a horn the boar don't change their plans either.


 
Posted : 25/09/2022 7:49 am
Posts: 499
Free Member
 

Trouble with them is they can only move out of the way horizontally or vertically and can’t go over other birds.

Nicely done.


 
Posted : 25/09/2022 10:45 pm
 Olly
Posts: 5169
Free Member
 

They don’t move until the last nanosecond and I always end up dabbing the brakes.

If they move as soon as they see an incoming predator, the predator can easily and gently adjust course to follow them.
If they leave it till the last minute, the predator (dog/cat/sparrowhawk) has to make a rapid adjustment in velocity to follow them and looses all their momentum and speed.

same reason you can chase a sheep down a lane, and it wont dive into the hedge until youre nearly on top of it.


 
Posted : 26/09/2022 9:34 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

same reason you can chase a sheep down a lane, and it wont dive into the hedge until youre nearly on top of it.

Why are you trying to get on top of a sheep?


 
Posted : 26/09/2022 10:11 am
Posts: 4166
Free Member
 

Bragging they can go faster than a sheep. Anything that doesn't pay road tax has to be fair game.

That said, I know a guy who wound up in hospital for a few days after a rabbit ran through his front wheel. Fur everywhere.


 
Posted : 26/09/2022 10:45 am

6 DAYS LEFT
We are currently at 95% of our target!