A Tale of a Pigeon Holding His Beak Open

This past June, I wrote (on Facebook) about an American robin with  an open-beak who was visiting my garden (that creature is featured in the image atop this entry) and I stated, "At first I thought he/she was a young American robin and holding his/her beak open in hopes of being fed. I thought this because the sweet-looking bird seemed to be looking around as he/she held his/her beak open. 

"Then I remembered that when it's hot (which it is today) some avian species will also resort to gular fluttering. The bird will open its mouth and “flutter” his/her neck muscles, promoting heat loss (think of it as the avian version of panting).

"But if truth be told, I don't know the motive behind my visitor's open beak, as he/she did not tell me. All I know is that the day is hot and an open beak is one way to beat the heat."

I did not see any birds with an open beak after that until last Saturday (4-3-2021) when I saw a pigeon with an open beak which had me concerned.

He can be seen in the next two images.

I did not think he/she was trying to beat the heat because it was very chilly and did some research on what might be causing this and I reached out to Amanda Remsberg, bird rehabber extraordinaire, wrote "Yesterday afternoon it was cold but sunny and I  noticed a pigeon who was holding his/her beak open, Do you know what was going on with this bird? Not too far from where the creature was sitting a pair of mourning doves were being very affectionate and the pigeon seemed to be watching them but I've read if a pigeon's beak is open, it 'could be breathing difficulties brought on by a respiratory infection or could another infection called Trichomoniasis (commonly called canker in birds).'I hope the bird is ok. Any idea what could be going on?"

AR responded with this:

"It very well could be a respiratory infection, but I wouldn’t be able to diagnose that from a picture.  You would know there is a problem for sure if someone could walk up to him without him flying off.  You know what comes next after that.  I hope he is ok, but they have their own epidemics to deal with."

The next exchange we had was the  following day (Easter Sunday 4-2) is this:

Me: "I think he's OK. Yesterday when his beak was open he seemed to be watching two Mourning doves being very affectionate (I included some photos of them in today's FB post). I haven't seen a pigeon with an open bill today but I did read it could also be a mating signal?"

AR: "Possibly?  I'm glad you don’t seem to have a sick bird to deal with anyway...I hope you have and are having a happy Easter."

Me: "I think he's OK. Yesterday when his beak was open he seemed to be watching two Mourning doves being very affectionate (I included some photos of them in today's FB post). I haven't seen a pigeon with an open bill today but I did read it could also be a mating signal?"

AR: "Possibly?  I'm glad you don’t seem to have a sick bird to deal with anyway...I hope you have and are having a happy Easter."

And the upshot, I haven't seen an open-billed pigeon since so I hope all is well.

On another note, pigeons as well as American robins, along with an array of bird types 25 plus) are featured in my book series, Words In Our Beak.

MY BOOK SERIES

These books make a perfect gift any time but especially during the Easter season which began yesterday (Sunday, April 4th) and lasts for 50 days (5-23-2021).