text: why are baby pigeons never seen?   we get this question periodically. here's the answer:  pigeons are altricial birds, i.e., they stay in the nest until they can fly. pigeon young are hatched at 18 days. they stay in the nest till they are about 30-35 days old. when they fly for the first time, you can often see them in flocks among the adults if you know what to look for. young pigeons have little if any iridescence on the neck. they still often squeal when they chase their parents or other adult trying to con them into feeding them. their feathers are a bit duller than the adults and their tail feathers often have a slight point to them - where the down was attached.   pigeon young almost double their weight each day in the nest and pigeon parents feed them well. in fact, for about the first ten days, they actually feed them a "crop milk". it's not really milk as we think of in mammals -- it looks more like a cottage cheese they produce - but it is a high energy food and the youngsters (squeakers) grow fast and well on it. about 7-10 days into the nest period after hatch, the adults begin to add grain, seeds, whatever, to the food that they are giving the youngsters.  there are a lot of young pigeons out there at certain times of year and part of the fun of looking at a flock is to recognize which are young and which are adults.  if you want to find out more, you might want to also check a few sites like: