The Department of Forest Conservation and Wildlife Management at the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology (FFWT) has been conducting research on urban wildlife for more than two years. One part of the research focuses on wild pigeons, specifically their population size, distribution within the city, feeding behaviour, and their centres of occurrence in Brno. In cooperation with Masaryk University, experts are also examining the health of pigeons, as well as how these birds impact human life. Once the project concludes, the results, including recommendations for managing the wild pigeon population in the city, will be submitted to the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic and to officials from the Brno City Hall, who are working to address the issue of coexistence between pigeons and people in the city.
The first step in the research on wild pigeons in Brno was to determine their population size. However, only a fraction of the pigeons living in the city can be observed in the inner city. This is because they primarily reside on the roofs of high buildings, making counting difficult. “I drew on my experience with counting crows in Brno. I used that as a basis for developing a methodology to count pigeons that fly out of the city for food into the fields. First, we walked around the city to identify which corridors the pigeons use to fly from the city into the fields, and we placed counters at the most frequented spots. From morning until noon, we repeatedly counted the pigeons flying out of the city for food, with around ten thousand observed each day. Based on this counting, we were able to get an idea of the minimum number of pigeons in the city,” explains zoologist Miloslav Homolka from the Academy of Sciences, who is collaborating on the research with FFWT colleagues.
“The second method we chose is a classic ornithological approach. We divided part of the city into sectors with similar characteristics, such as housing estates, the centre with old high-rise buildings, and so on, and performed traditional observational counting. This means we walked through the different environments and counted the pigeons we could see. As a result, we obtained a second data point on the minimum number of pigeons in the model area and discovered how the pigeon population varies across different types of environments. Over an area of 13 square kilometres, we counted over 3,000 pigeons, which is only a fraction of the actual number.”
The researchers observed the most pigeons in the city centre, bordered by the inner-city ring, where more than a thousand birds were counted. They also found that in the outskirts of the city with low-rise buildings, pigeons were absent. Each suitable environment is inhabited by a single flock of pigeons, which establishes its home range. As a result, there is no mixing or conflict between flocks.
The research also focuses on the pigeons’ feeding behaviour. It has been shown that flocks with enough food near their nesting sites do not fly out of the city. An analysis of 4,000 food samples revealed that flocks settled in places such as Zelný trh, the former Tesco store at Dornych street, and Mendlovo square do not fly into the fields. However, locations with abundant food are in the minority in Brno. The majority of areas have sufficient opportunities for nesting but lack food, so pigeons must migrate to fields for food. “In the fields, pigeons gather in places where they can find enough food, such as grain fields during harvest time or fields that have been cleared after corn in the autumn. A single field may have over a thousand birds. Large flocks are advantageous for pigeons as they provide greater safety from predators,” Homolka explained.
Interesting findings are also coming from the analysis of droppings: “By analysing 50 samples from one flock on a single day, we discovered that the flock consisted of 5 groups with different food compositions. This suggests that the birds from a single flock do not fly out for food together, but in smaller groups, allowing them to utilize various food sources more efficiently,” the scientist said.
The movement, habits, and sampling of pigeons are essential for the researchers to gain insight into their behaviour and life. The conclusions, along with recommendations related to the issue of human-pigeon coexistence in the city and the potential need for reducing the wild pigeon population, will be submitted to the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic and state administration workers.
However, experts admit that the situation does not have a clear-cut solution: “Brno is inhabited by a stable number of pigeons, and this population has a certain structure. If we prevent pigeons from nesting on buildings where they have optimal conditions, they do not have much space to relocate. Alternatively, they may move into unsuitable conditions, and the result will be a decreasing density,” estimated Jiří Kamler from the Department of Forest Conservation and Wildlife Management.
Due to the diverse conditions within the city, Kamler argues that there is no central solution for reducing wild pigeons, and responsibility for their reduction should primarily lie with property owners where pigeons nest: “An example can be the Mendel University, where I work. After we closed off the roof of one of the buildings in the campus in Černá Pole, about two hundred pigeons lost their home.”
The project focused on urban wildlife, including both terrestrial and aquatic species, will be concluded in December 2025.
• The total number of pigeons in Brno is estimated to be at least 15-20 thousand.
• The proportion of migrating pigeons fluctuates between 10% and 90%, with an average of 60% flying into the fields.
• Every day, at least 10 thousand pigeons fly to surrounding fields, while the others feed in the city.
• The annual increase and the number of pigeons dying in Brno is estimated at 50 thousand.
Contacts for further information: Prof. Ing. Jiří Kamler, Ph.D., Head of the Department of Forest Conservation and Wildlife Management, FFWT MENDELU, +420 603 744 658, jiri.kamler@mendelu.cz; RNDr. Miloslav Homolka, CSc., Institute of Vertebrate Biology CAS, +420 776 122 884; homolkamilo@gmail.com
Photo: In the morning, a flock of pigeons gathers in a specific spot within its home range, and in winter, they use east-facing sunlit roofs for this purpose.