Near Uchisar, the highest town in Cappadocia, Turkey, is a valley that is popular with hikers. It is known by many names like Valley of the Pigeon Lofts, Dovecote Valley, Pigeon Valley but they all refer to the thousands of pigeon houses that have been carved into the soft tufa since ancient times.

Although they can be found throughout Cappadocia, they are especially plentiful in this valley which must have one of the greatest collections of pigeon lofts in the world. They were carved wherever space allowed including abandoned caves and the walls of collapsed churches. They may lack the architectural interest of the doocots of Scotland or the elaborate Persianpigeon towers but their sheer numbers are astonishing.

In Cappadocia, pigeons have long been a source of food and fertiliser. The advent of chemical fertilisers has reduced the use of pigeon fertiliser. However, some farmers still maintain their lofts because they insist that the reputation of Cappadocian fruits as the sweetest and most succulent in Turkey is entirely due to pigeon droppings.

There is an interesting story about an Indian prince handing two of his prized pigeons to a young girl who could not hold both pigeons at one time and let go of one. Infuriated, the prince demanded an explanation as to how could she let the pigeon escape from her hands. To demonstrate the first pigeon’s escape, the girl let the other pigeon fly. The prince was smitten with the girl’s humour and charm and fell in love with her.

Stories aside, pigeons are the most trainable and likeable birds. I still recall the small pigeon house in my childhood village Batrauli, where pigeons kept returning and multiplying and were a regular source of joy. Moving to the city, we used to watch street entertainers demonstrating various skillful acts and tricks with pigeons who pulled toy carts, walked through hurdles and did acrobatic maneuvers, ending the show by firing a toy cannon.

Back then, another entertainment was watching flying demonstrations of flocks of pigeons, where each flock obeyed cues of their respective master through whistles and flag waving. It was amazing to watch hundreds of pigeons taking quick turns, dives and ascents on command. The most interesting maneuver was the mid-air duel of two flocks, and the skill of one master to encircle and trap a few opposing pigeons within his flock’s fold, and immediate recall to base for catching the entrapped pigeons.

We also kept a few pigeons at home. My mother once substituted a pigeon’s egg with a chicken egg. The innocent bird sat devotedly over the larger egg and hatched it with her own.

Pigeon enclosures at the zoo offer a variety of different hues and shades, plumage and shapes. Being habitual dancers, they inflate their chests, stretch their necks and perform delicate movements with their fantails. Pigeons make a characteristic feature loved by tourists in city squares and at shrines. London’s Trafalgar square and Venice’s St. Marks are famous for pigeons.

The Greeks and Romans had trained pigeons to convey important messages. Reuter used pigeons prior to the advent of telegram. Homing pigeons are still around, and hobbyists participate in international competitions to judge speed, accuracy and distances travelled in pigeon racing since the birds are capable of travelling long distances of up to 1,500km at average speed of 80km/hr. In short distance races of 160km, pigeons clock 180km/hr. Mike Tyson, the boxer keeps pigeons for racing. In Karachi, pigeon lovers carry mobile pigeon houses over Suzuki vans and take them to open spaces for flying demonstrations.

Pigeons obviously have sharp eyesight and an incredible sense of direction. Trained pigeons function as intelligent spotters to locate people lost at sea. They are placed under the wings of small airplanes and on sighting an object, pigeons flap their wings to alert the pilot. Pigeons were used during the First World War for aerial photography.

In New York pigeons are considered a nuisance and thousands of dollars are spent to contain pigeon droppings and protection nettings. All that is needed are a few pigeon houses here and there, and perhaps a person from Batrauli could come and train the birds to use these abodes for resting.