Chronological and Sociohistorical Drivers of the Southernmost Invasion of Feral Pigeon,Columba livia in Chile

Abstract

Feral pigeons are a synanthropic bird species that inhabit cities worldwide. However, the social factors that facilitated their feralization and widespread proliferation are well-documented in only a few cases. Some evidence suggests that pigeons were consumed during the centuries of Spanish colonization in South America. In Chile, an isolated country at the southernmost limit of the species’ range, no studies have specifically addressed the spread of feral pigeons. Literature from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries was analyzed to investigate the factors enabling their presence and expansion. This included historical correspondence about faunal meat sources, legal mentions of pigeons, economic uses of birds, and housing-related citations. Several periods were identified in which the human–pigeon relationship shifted to meet social needs, creating distinct stages of interaction within urban spaces. Briefly, during the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, naturalists did not recognize pigeons as a feral species, and the birds were integrated into the local diet. At this time, pigeon house farming and ownership were regulated by laws. In the first half of the twentieth century, pigeons were still marketed intensively for meat and were not regarded as pests. There was even a Chilean hunting law that protected the birds. The evidence suggests feralization occurred post-1940s with a rapid expansion into urban areas, coinciding with the rise of broiler meat production and the explosive urban growth of Santiago. We discuss the role of social and spatial features that allowed the invasion of feral pigeons.