Do pigeons grieve?
Yes, but not for the same things we do or the same length of time.
They absolutely mourn a change in location and the loss of their flock, because stability is vitally important to pigeons and their life depends on cooperation from their flock mates.
Pigeons don't migrate.
They don't leave the colony when they wean.
After Dad has taught them foraging and the etiquette unique to their flock, weanlings form a sub flock of peers that all sleep together in what amounts to a bachelor flat.
As they mature, they pair off and move into apartments next door to or across the hall from their immediate family members.
The only circumstance under which a pigeon leaves its flock is either resources running out, or the nesting ground being destroyed.
Even in those circumstances, their mate and several peers go with them.
There is no natural circumstance under which a single pigeon leaves its home and flock voluntarily.
The loss of the nesting grounds is hard too recover from, but new nesting grounds can always be found.
It's the loss of everyone they know, trust, and have come to depend on for survival that they mourn, and the life or death stress of forging new connections that extends that mourning period.
This is why birds in new homes either shut down for a while, or cling from the out set with very little in between, and why I am so cautious about who babies, retirees, and rescues go to.
No animal is ever happy about bouncing from home to home, but it may be hardest on a pigeon.
The loss or removal of a mate is mourned far more briefly.
Pigeons are prey birds. Their idea of "till death do us part" is "until one or the other of us gets eaten, or finds a better mate."
Divorces are not common, but they do happen. If the divorcee doesn't also have a new mate lined up, they can be downright pitiful about trying to get back together with the one who left them.
Deaths are barely mourned at all.
The expectation of sudden disappearance for any given individual flockmate is hard wired into them, so they are sad for a few days, but rarely take more than three to five to pick out a new mate and start a new family from the remaining birds that they already know.
Pigeons don't mourn the loss of eggs, or even really notice the loss of nestlings under a week old.
Parents will defend them with their lives, while they are alive, but if something happens, their focus is on the remaining nestling, because it will die if they pause in caring for it.
If there is no other nestling, they focus on trying for the next clutch.
The death of an older nestling may force them to flee a nest site for a while because they physically can't move the body, and decomposition makes the nest unusable.
Interestingly, exhibition breeds raised in a more protected closed loft are more likely to mourn the death of a flock mate than ferals or performance breeds, but do not notice the disappearance of individuals.
Nature is not nurturing.
Human mourning comes from a place of safety and stability that very few animals have.
We have a very long life span, no natural predators, a very close knit social structure, nearly impenetrable nest structures, abundant food, and multiple ways heal injuries and to prevent and combat disease.
Elephants have their individual size and strength, long lives, high intelligence, long memories, no predators as adults, and the support of the herd to protect their young until predators can't touch them.
Crows have their individual bite strength, dexterity, and intelligence, very few actual predators, and an information network of flock mates and extended flock mates watching their back for miles.
Pigeons are intelligent and intensely social, but they simply do not have the safety net that allows other social species to mourn a death.
Raptors, owls, corvids, gulls, rodents, snakes, dogs, cats, mustelids, even pelicans and catfish will catch and eat pigeons.
Their only defense is speed, agility, and their flockmates' watchful eyes: in other words, not getting caught in the first place.
The menagerie of pigeon predators will attack them from air, land, and water, at any given time of day or night, away from the colony or at home.
If their little heads aren't on a constant swivel, they are going to be caught and eaten.
They simply cannot spare enough of their attention to mourn the dead.
So they mourn the loss of the social safety net bitterly, because that is their only hope of survival.
