Racing Pigeon Nesting with Wild Pigeon

Hi!

I recent found this site while trying to research about racing pigeons. For the last week or so a racing pigeon (it has a green tag and 2 white tags on its legs) has been coming to my sitting room window as it faces a gutter where it drinks it’s water from. I read that it might be hungry and taking a break from racing so I put out some diced berries and oats for it to eat twice a day for two days. I realised that it was coming and happily eating with another bird that was not tagged. My knowledge of pigeons comes completely from simple google searches so I will call this non-tagged bird a wild pigeon sorry if that’s not enough detail. 
After putting this food out I did read that it’s best to stop feeding it to encourage it to go home so that’s exactly what I did. The two pigeons are inseparable and still a few days later sit on my window and peck at the glass for more food! It’s very cute I must say. 
This action has died off a bit since I guess they must know that there isn’t any more food however, I noticed the two birds courting doing what google says is a ‘pigeon kiss’. Again, very adorable! 
After a couple of days of flying back and forth between my window/gutter area and I’m guessing just generally around town they have started building a nest together! 
I see them hopping around picking up sticks and feathers and taking them over to a hidden area and coming back out for more. I guess this means that they are building a nest for incoming babies! 
All of this is very cute to me however I really just want to know if this is normal? Should a racing pigeon be mating and building a nest with a wild pigeon? Will the racing pigeon ever go home now? 

Thank you for reading!!

  • Your "wild" pigeon is most likely what is called a feral pigeon whose ancestors would be racing or loft pigeons that have been lost from domestic flocks over the years. The interaction that you are seeing is perfectly normal and the result is the town pigeons seen in many city centres. Racing birds often either get lost or too tired to complete a race and seem to survive quite happily living out in the wild. Their original owners often are not interested in getting the birds back because to them a homing/racing pigeon is inferior stock. When they gather in city centres they are considered as pests by some but really they are just successful opportunists.

    Pete

    Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can

  • Thank you for answering!

    Your comment has definitely made me more calm about the situation. I had been researching around the topic and half were saying to contact the owner as they would miss the pigeon as a pet and the other half were saying to leave them as the owner could kill the racing bird if they were late home.
    However they are both very happy making their little nest and it’s something quite nice to watch during lockdown!
  • Sorry to post o this old thread, we have a dilemma with a racing pigeon sleeping on our conservatory roof, been weeks now but we haven’t fed him. Wondering how it worked out for your pidge? Many thanks
  • Yes Natasha we are pretty good at waffle on the forum we don't need a game of it

    Pete

    Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can