Damien Enright: Pigeons’ intelligence prove their worth in pecking order

I LEARNED a lot about pigeons last week thanks to the remarkable belligerence of a sparrow. She took umbrage at a pigeon pecking the pavement near her, a fat, well-groomed pigeon, like most street pigeons here in Ibiza, in the Balearic Islands.

She, the sparrow, female, flew at the pigeon which, in shock, took off almost vertically, frantically flapping to build up speed. At some 12m above street level, it headed down the broad, traffic-free avenida, dodging between the substantial ornamental trees, the sparrow on its tail. Although three times her size, the pigeon swooped and dodged as if for its life. Its partner (I’ve learned that pigeons mate for life) flew parallel, but La Sparrow was not to be distracted. This pigeon had bugged her, and it was the target of her bile.