# Urban pidgeon camouflage **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 28, 2005, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urban-pidgeon-camouflage/314568 "2005-07-28T12:48:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![the\_nettle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecae2f/32.png) [@the\_nettle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_nettle)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urban-pidgeon-camouflage/314568/1 "2005-07-28T12:48:50Z")
It seems to me that almost every urban pidgeon I see is the exact colour as the sidewalk he’s walking on. Are rural pidgeons also coloured like asphalt, or did the urban kind evolved to blend in their new suroundings? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urban-pidgeon-camouflage/314568/2 "2005-07-28T13:11:40Z")
Urban pigeons (at least those we have in the UK) are descendants of _[Rock Pigeons](http://bailey.aros.net/nature/images/Rock%20Pigeon%20good%20reduced.jpg)_ - which, as the name suggests, live amongst rocks and on cliff faces. I suppose there#s probably an element of protective colouring in their ancestry, but I doubt it’s a significant selective pressure for the urban descendants of the rock pigeon; our cities are typically constructed from stone-coloured materials, that’s true, but urban pigeons don’t spend a lot of time _hiding_ - they evade predators by flying away or flocking in large numbers. BTW, some of the urban pigeons in cities I’ve been to are white, reddish-brown, black or a mixture of those colours, as well as grey. Rural pigeons (here) would normally mean _[Wood Pigeons](http://homepage.eircom.net/~hedgerow4/wood-pigeon.JPG)_, which are a little more colourful and earth-toned, but not much. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urban-pidgeon-camouflage/314568/3 "2005-07-28T13:12:57Z")
[Rock Pigeon](http://bailey.aros.net/nature/images/Rock%20Pigeon%20good%20reduced.jpg) - fixed link. ---
**Author:** ![the\_nettle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecae2f/32.png) [@the\_nettle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_nettle)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urban-pidgeon-camouflage/314568/4 "2005-07-28T13:48:38Z")
Thanks for the info…