I'm not being sarcastic: can you eat pigeons that live in the city?

[UnrepentantLiberal]

Is it illegal to eat them? I may need to know this at some point.

They used to call cats roof rabbits in Central Europe's hard times during and between World War I and World War II. I don't think I could bring myself to kill and eat a cat no matter how hungry I was. I could eat a pigeon though. I'm not fond of them.

[unblock]

1. yes, but it tastes better when you call it 'squab'

[Yavapai]

61. Yes, we would never eat squid either,

But, damn, that calamari is delicious!!!

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

84. Funny!

[Cleita]

2. Squab?

I think that since they eat and drink anything, they could be full of toxins, however, why don't you try being a vegetarian instead. I do a tortilla and beans diet every now and then when I need to save money.

[HiPointDem]

3. pigeons are free.

[Downwinder]

12. Free--I'll pay to get rid of them.

[Deep13]

127. And edible.

Whether or not it is legal to hunt them is another matter.

[Shadowflash]

36. Catfish eat pretty much anything, too.

And they are one of the best foods on the planet! Yum!

[Cleita]

41. Depends on where they are eating anything.

Since they are able to absorb all kinds of toxins more than other fish, they can be more dangerous to eat as well.

[jody]

45. Catfish are a sin to eat "And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of

all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you"

[UnrepentantLiberal]

56. After all of the deviant things I've done

eating catfish isn't going to tip the scales much.

[jody]

59. I know and I've sinned greatly and often accompanied by hush-puppies and gourmet catfish stew. nt

[UnrepentantLiberal]

64. I've eaten many hush puppies at the

Hush Puppy Restaurant in Bakersfield.

[jody]

71. Hush Puppy Restaurant in Bakersfield, surely you jest! If you're ever in NOLA don't miss the

Commander's Palace.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

81. I've only been to New Orleans once.

I'll keep that in mind if I visit there again.

[Walk away]

86. They make the most incredible Turtle Soup with cream and sherry! nt

[cliffordu]

116. You and me both.

[Shadowflash]

58. As I'm not superstitious

and don't believe in 'sin', I have no problem enjoying some fat catfish lightly breaded with cornmeal on the grill.

[cherokeeprogressive]

98. When did catfish lose their fins?

[jmowreader]

112. Their lack of scales is the problem

I have this weird feeling that the people who wrote Leviticus 11 didn't have catfish in their streams, because the intent of this law was to keep people from eating shellfish--which cause four completely different kinds of poisonings.

[LARED]

4. They are typically eaten at about four weeks of age

http://www.gourmet.com/food/2008/09/eating-pigeons

[Dirty Socialist]

5. I hear squirrels are really tasty

They're starting to look good out there.

[dballance]

63. Uh, no, they're not

As a former farm boy who has hunted and eaten a lot wild animals I can tell you squirrels are not tasty in my opinion. They do not taste "just like chicken."

Deer meat when properly prepared can be quite tasty though.

[doc03]

70. I think squirrel is the best tasting wild game I have had. Growing up

we used to have squirrel and noddles at least once a week.

[Go Vols]

72. Squirrel's FTW

quite tasty.

[dballance]

90. Great, Glad You Liked it

Like I said in my post I didn't think squirrel was tasty "in my opinion." As always your mileage may vary.

I think we had spaghetti with and without meat sauce about once a week much like your experience of squirrel and noodles. We were pretty much average middle-class. The meat was always cheap hamburger when we had it. But I still liked it better than squirrel. Perhaps your mom was just better at preparing squirrel than mine.

[doc03]

93. Most of the time venison was our hamburger usually had

fried chicken on Sunday.

[LancetChick]

6. If pigeons are a protected species then this country is really fucked.

On the other hand, in a city you never know what they may have been eating.

[XemaSab]

15. They're not protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act

but there may be animal cruelty laws that would come into play.

[surrealAmerican]

19. They're not even native.

They may qualify as an invasive species.

[KittyWampus]

37. I did not know that. You learn such interesting stuff on DU. Thanks

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

27. No, they never go out of season. You can pretty much use them for target practice.

[unblock]

7. i would tenderize/marinate them first

they'll be tougher than proper squab, but otherwise fine.

personally, i gave up meat a couple years ago, but if you're into that, wild pigeons are fine. no worse than beef, certainly.

[LARED]

8. ROAST PIGEON with GREEN SAUCE

http://honest-food.net/2008/03/09/our-first-roast-pigeon/

[Liberal_in_LA]

33. noooooooo!

[OldDem2012]

74. Could've been a Hee Haw quote: "What's for dinner, Granda?" "City Chicken! Yum, yum!" nt.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

91. Pastilla (Moroccan Pigeon Pie)

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/PASTILLA-MOROCCAN-PIGEON-PIE-1260283

I had something similar at DC restaurant, but I'm pretty sure they didn't pop a pigeon on M Street. Hmm. Or maybe they did.

[eShirl]

9. just know they can accumulate city pollutants (like lead) in their bodies

interesting article http://www.gourmet.com/food/2008/09/eating-pigeons

[jonthebru]

111. Well, that takes the wind out of my suggestion posted below.

[LisaL]

10. I have no clue but they do carry diseased that can be bad for humans.

[LARED]

11. For a surprisingly tasty meal; Possum and Taters

http://bertc.com/subfive/recipes/possum.htm

[CTyankee]

13. I've always called them the "bums of the bird world." For obvious reasons...

[shanti]

14. flying rats

that's what i call them, and i wouldn't eat them unless i was starving. cats though...never.

[AnnieBW]

16. Sky Rats

Eww... I wouldn't want to eat a Sky Rat. They've got all kinds of diseases that might jump species to Humans.

[Mojorabbit]

62. Actually they are very sweet birds

and very intelligent. I have raised a ton of them over the years(orphans). i would not worry about disease from them.

[PoliticAverse]

17. Eating Pigeons In NYC: Jackson Landers Hunts And Eats Invasive Species In The Big Apple

"It is legal to kill pigeons in NYC provided that one does not use any type of gun or arrow."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/27/eating-pigeons-in-nyc-jackson-landers-hunting-invasive-species_n_1920973.html

[UnrepentantLiberal]

23. Can you hunt them with a slingshot?

Last edited Sun Dec 30, 2012, 08:42 PM - Edit history (1)

I used to be pretty good with a slingshot.

[MADem]

35. That looks like a "Wrist Rocket" to my eye! nt

[UnrepentantLiberal]

43. That it is.

I was very good with one.

[PCIntern]

47. Still have mine and practice often...

Makes a .22 look like a pea shooter.

[MADem]

52. So was I, way back in the day! Long time ago, that! nt

[PoliticAverse]

38. It is illegal to possess wrist-brace type slingshots in the State of New York...

http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/nycode/PEN/THREE/P/265/265.01

A person is guilty of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth
degree when:
(1) He or she possesses any firearm, electronic dart gun, electronic
stun gun, gravity knife, switchblade knife, pilum ballistic knife, metal
knuckle knife, cane sword, billy, blackjack, bludgeon, plastic knuckles,
metal knuckles, chuka stick, sand bag, sandclub, wrist-brace type
slingshot or slungshot, shirken or "Kung Fu star"; or

[UnrepentantLiberal]

44. All right then.

I'll drop em with one of these.

[Mojorabbit]

124. Wow. Every kid I knew had one back in the day. nt

[Xithras]

119. If you're really hunting, you're better off with a classic Sling.

A typical cheap commercial slingshot like you have in your picture is going to fire at about 100fps (they use surgical tubing, which doesn't have the greatest properties for weaponry) . A homemade slingshot will typically achieve even less than that. You can spend bucks to buy professional hunting slingshots capable of hitting nearly 400fps, but nobody hunting pigeons for survival is going to have one of those. A child with an ordinary sling, made from a couple feet of string and a bit of old leather, can throw a rock a hundred yards at 150fps. And if it breaks, you can whip up a new one in minutes. If the goal is really to come up with a LEGAL way to hunt small game in a survival situation with a minimum of time and cost, nothing beats a sling.

They're trivially easy to make, can be used by hunters of almost any physical stature and condition, and can drop most small game and predators. With regular practice, most people can get reasonably accurate with one in only a week or two (accurate enough to hunt pigeons at close range anyway).

[TlalocW]

102. With enough practice

You can catch them by hand without hurting them.

Teller demonstrated this ability in, "Penn and Teller Get Killed." He just walks rapidly into a group of them, stooping as he goes, throws his arms out and latches on to whatever he can.

TlalocW

[UnrepentantLiberal]

106. Sweet.

Dinner!

[southernyankeebelle]

18. Wonder do they taste anything like quail? That is delicious. So are guinea.

[surrealAmerican]

20. I'd be concerned about lead, mercury, and ...

... other potentially harmful contaminants in urban birds. If you were raising them yourself, and controlling what they ate, they'd be a decent food source. If they're wild and eating garbage, not so much.

[downandoutnow]

21. Well, from what SOME people say, it seems that you'd pretty much HAVE to -

if you make less than $250K a year in some cities. You know, just to survive!

[Jack Sprat]

22. Often I have wondered.

Pigeons and rats are so plentiful and annoying. Why are they not consumed more? I know the cajuns would eat them as a delicacy with all sorts of hot spices.

[theKed]

79. Concerns about disease, mainly, I imagine

[aikoaiko]

24. Yes the younger the better.

[bluestate10]

25. I have heard of pigeons being raised. Even in the city raising pigeons would cause

them to be safe to eat if they aren't allowed to fly around and eat stuff of streets and garbage containers.

[Xipe Totec]

26. I ate a sandpiper once

But that was on a lark.

No, I am not kidding.

[PCIntern]

48. Lol! DUzy. Nt

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

28. Cat or dog would probably taste better... but lookup some squab recipes.

[jberryhill]

29. Only set to proper music

[libinnyandia]

31. That's the first thing that came to my mind! A friend of mine thought I was crazy when I started

singing that song in Washinton Squar Park in NYC over 25 years ago.

[malaise]

30. There's a classic novel about some West Indians living in London

The Lonely Londoners by Samuel Selvon. They ate more than a few

[Retrograde]

32. Squirrels are protected where I live

dog knows why, they're zillions of the tree rats around. Don't know about pigeons, but discharging firearms in the city is illegal.

Here in my neighborhood we have squirrels, raccoons, and possums. However, even if it were legal to hunt them, I'd be leery since they carry some interesting diseases. I don't think we have plague here, like in many parts of the West, but rabies is known in wild mammals. Given their diets and living habits, I don't think I'd want to eat urban pigeons.

ETA: I've tried eating the local snails once. They weren't very good.

[cbrer]

34. Here's what your government thinks about it...

You one of those "survivalist" types? You know something we don't?


http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/epi/epi-pigeon.shtml

[Mojorabbit]

125. 2 from droppings and one rare one.

Not bad.

[cbrer]

129. Anybody who says

They wouldn't eat pigeon, has never been hungry.

[Mojorabbit]

130. It seems as long as you are not eating their droppings

it should be fine. I agree on the hunger part. I would do it in an instant if it was what was available.

[DollarBillHines]

39. Pigeons that live in inner-cities are pretty damned salty.

Farm-raised, they are delicious. But a sidewalk diet makes for salty flesh.

[s-cubed]

40. We had a Welsh men's choir visit our small NJ town once.

They were amazed at the number of wild rabbits everywhere. To them, that was good meat going to waste.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

50. Rabbits!

Now you're talking. We have rabbits living out back by the light rail tracks. Plenty of squirrels as well. I should sharpen my hunting skills now.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

42. Can't speak for myself, but . . .

. . . Autumn, the crazyorangecat, thinks they're delicious. She has caught, and devoured, two to my knowledge in her 13 years. Actually witnessed the last leaping catch. Damned thing nearly as bit as her.

She dragged it onto the porch, and fell on it like a pack of wolves. She ate everything but the beak and pelvis. (And didn't move much for a day.)

Methinks they must be pretty good . . .

[UnrepentantLiberal]

49. We had an orange cat when I lived in Las Vegas

that was a pigeon mass murderer. There were hundreds in the courtyard when we moved in. Only handful when we moved out. Feathers everywhere.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

51. Orange cats rule!

[Freddie]

76. Indeed

The "real" Freddie is 20 lb. of orange tabby currently sprawled out on the couch. Has never hunted anything more challenging than Fancy Feast though.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

82. Well, give Freddie a scritch behind the ear from us.

Autumn is curled up in a tight little ball on the couch, fast asleep. Snow's a-coming . . .

[JaneyVee]

46. DO NOT EAT CITY PIGEONS. AT ALL!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

53. You can but you probably shouldn't.

They eat a lot of stuff that might contain lead and other pollutants. Also, you might have trouble actually obtaining pigeons to eat because most cities don't allow shooting or trapping.

[MADem]

54. Let us know how quickly the lead poisoning starts to affect your faculties, but hey, knock yourself

out.

You'd be better off, while you still have internet access, working on printing up a map to every soup kitchen, food pantry and feeding station in town. You'll eat better and it will be less work.

[Skittles]

55. you'd be surprised what you could eat if you were truly hungry

and in despair

[cliffordu]

117. No shit.

Get hungry enough and you'll go stand in the lunch line inside Fukushima.

[pitohui]

57. please it is ILLEGAL to kill, cook, & eat the pigeons w.out a license in some USA cities

example, in san francisco, you could be charged w. animal cruelty

i strongly suggest you call a wildlife officer and ask what the local law is, of course feral pigeon is not protected as a native bird (it isn't a native bird) but nor is a cat a native mammal, yet if you catch, cook, and eat a feral cat, you can be charged w. animal cruelty in some areas...absolutely no different w. the pigeons...these are both descendents of animals that have a long history of companionship and service to humans -- how many cats have been awarded medals for honorable service in war? you may prefer cats to pigeons but the pigeon fanciers think otherwise and they do have tradition on their side...

i have sent you some more information by DU's private mail service as i have trouble psting here these days (site too slow), i do care and hope you can find a better answer, altho the method suggested by the writer i mentioned in the email will work, please only use in a legitimate emergency and not just hobby hunting

[UnrepentantLiberal]

66. I posted that info below.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

60. Someone who is having trouble loading pages DU mailed me this:

please be careful it's ILLEGAL to eat them in san francisco & many other usa cities

it depends on where you live but in some cities, for instance, san francisco it is ILLEGAL to kill & eat feral pigeons...in most urban cities it is illegal to use guns or set traps w.in city limits so it is de facto illegal but some cities (according to tim ferris, author of four hour chef, who had an extensive section on catching & eating feral pigeon, san francisco is one of them)

reasons are varied -- not wanting to have the guns/traps, but ferriss was taught a method to lure the birds by hand and it turned out to also be illegal (animal cruelty)...some pigeons will be escaped racers, homers (look just like "street" pigeons) etc. and many people have kind feelings toward them, pigeons are one of the few animals to have earned medals for valor in service in time of war and they have a long history so to some people (& therefore some jurisdictions) it would be no different from cooking and eating a cat --that is, you could be prosecuted for animal cruelty

but in san francisco at least it is specifically named you cannot kill, cook, and eat the pigeons, apparently a lot of bums were doing that back in the day

if you MUST do this to eat, the technique told in his book will work but please i would ask you to reconsider...urban pigeons are a valuable food to cooper's hawks and peregrines, two species that probably would not have returned to our city parks without them.

[Yavapai]

68. Cooper's hawks are delicious, kind of l like spotted owl.

But much like bald eagle, you have to marinate them to get tender meat....

[doc03]

65. I don't have pigeons but I put a few slices of bread

out for the crows every morning, they are looking nice and fat.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

67. You kill one crow and the rest will find out and avoid you.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/a-murder-of-crows/full-episode/5977/

[doc03]

77. I know crows are very intelligent. I saw an experiment that some University students

did on crows, one thing they found they can recognize human faces. They ran an experiment and found they could use tools. They put food in a cage and a small twig out side, they would use the twig to reach the food. They also taught them to use sort of vending machine for food. I like to watch them.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

80. That's the PBS Nature link I posted.

It was fascinating.

[doc03]

83. I remember watching it a while back, the vending machine

thing was amazing. They had the crows going out a finding coins I think to feed the machine for a treat.

[Retrograde]

88. Blasted crows have chased the mockingbirds and blue jays from my street

They're smart, social, and co-operative. I've seen them gang up to drive off raccoons and hawks. They're working on displacing the seagulls - no mean feat.

[doc03]

89. Since I feed them every morning I should be pretty popular

in the crow community. They may be trying to figure out how to get rid of me and take all the food though.

[tavernier]

69. But don't we have a "deal" with them?

Seinfeld reference.

[Major Nikon]

73. There's often several of them laying under the power lines near where I live

Help yourself.

[lynne]

75. Delicious. Uncle used to shoot them out of barn rafters -

- and my mom would cook them. She would pressure cook the birds as most of them were old and tough. Then she'd remove the meat from the bones and make a milk gravy from the juice. "Creamed Pigeon" served over toast. Fantastic.

Is it illegal? Don't know. Probably only if you get caught. Tastes so good it's worth the risk.

[WinkyDink]

78. Flying rats? I don't THINK so! (BLEAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

[eilen]

85. Apprehending pigeon poachers in NYC is hardly on the priority list of the NYPD

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they gave you a medal.

Now, if you run out of pigeons where you are, we have seagulls in our supermarket parking lots and no ocean for hundreds of miles.

And then, there are the geese my father's HOA is always chasing off the property.

Our neighborhood has been infested with crows of late, rabbits are quite cheeky and attack my garden despite all the delicious clover I provide. I hear we also have a procreating possum (my friend found one of it's offspring in her pool) and then there are the squirrels giving my dog no end of entertainment.

You might just find yourself a niche.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

87. Hmmmm

In the summer we find opossums in our kitchen eating our cats' food. Big ones too.

[Hekate]

92. Squab is good eating, prepared right. But city pigeons have lead in them.

http://www.gourmet.com/food/2008/09/eating-pigeons
What’s the difference between the squab in your dinner and the pigeons outside on the windowsill? In a word: lifestyle. The author of Superdove: How the Pigeon Took Manhattan… And the World explains why the maligned bird has managed to maintain its place in fine cuisine.

If any bird has an image problem, it’s the pigeon. Known as dirty, pesky, trash-picking urbanites—“rats with wings,” if you’re feeling less charitable—these ubiquitous birds can somehow live in our streets and still retain their reputation as gastronomic delicacies.

There’s a reason for that: Pigeons taste great.
They are typically eaten at about four weeks of age, just before they leave the nest. These young pigeons, called squabs, have dark, tender meat full of rich, gamey flavor. But make no mistake: Though they are bred and raised on specialty farms, they’re the same species as the pigeons on the street, the Rock Pigeon.

It’s difficult to find squab in grocery stores, and the price of the bird at restaurants is on par with lobster. My first experience eating squab was at Boston’s No. 9 Park, which happens to be located across the street from Boston Common, where throngs of street pigeons gather every day to beg for bagel scraps and day-old bread. Any qualms I had about this irony vanished when I had my first taste. Served on a bed of purple rice with wild mushrooms, the deep red meat was earthy and flavorful, and I instantly understood why the bird has long been considered a delicacy.

But if pigeons are so tasty, why shouldn’t we all start feasting on the ones that fill our streets (and do our part for pigeon control)? Some Europeans did just that during the lean years of World War II, but under normal circumstances few people are tempted by city birds, and with good reason. Milt Friend, a wildlife expert from the National Wildlife Health Center, says that city pigeons are notorious for having large amounts of lead in their bodies. They accumulate lead not only by breathing polluted air, but also by ingesting everything from paint chips to roadside dust, which also includes such nasty stuff as cadmium particles from vehicle tires. (For this reason, the birds have been used to study environmental contaminants in cities.) While pigeons living in rural areas are fair game, Friend says, “I’d have to be awful hungry to eat a pigeon off the street.”

You could, however, raise pigeons on your rooftop. For that matter, you could keep a few hens for eggs, if you have a rooftop or tiny backyard space. There's lots of info online about urban and suburban hens, so probably about pigeons as well. (We have 4 hens in our side yard.)

Good luck!

[AldoLeopold]

95. Very interesting

Of course you realize that if they have it in them in, so dost thou. Anything under 2.5 microns slips right on by.

The question is, how much do they have in them? Concentration?

I realize they have a different SA/V ratio, but you ever wonder why we don't just skip the middle man and use ourselves as bio indicators? I don't know of too many living human bioassays in NYC - but I'd love to read that journal.

And as far as ingestion, where do you think sewer runoff goes to? Even tertiary treatment plants have a heluva time getting that stuff out with ye olde gravity.

As a side note, never, ever, ever, ever have an urban garden. Ever. Urban hens though - dunno bout that. Sounds cool if I weren't a vegan. Are their shells ever overly thin?

[Hekate]

100. I'm away from the big city, where it's healthier all around

Our town is a hundred miles north of Los Angeles, and though we have our air quality issues it's nothing like LA.

I have not read that urban hens have health issues, such as thin shells. They will eat kitchen scraps, and of course chicken kibble. If they aren't scratching up the landscape (i.e. a tiny city back yard) eating the polluted surroundings, they should be a lot healthier than wild pigeons.

Several years ago when we were unexpectedly gifted with our hens I did some reading online and discovered there's a whole backyard flock phenomenon across the country. I was amazed at the places people kept them, and the ingenious ways they built weatherproof coops for them. It's very simple for us: we live in a coastal climate where it seldom gets frost overnight, so the coop my BIL built is just plywood. They are warm enough with each other and their feathers fluffed out.

If I ever became a vegetarian, I'd still eat eggs, especially if they were from my own hens. In season, these four girls still produce three eggs a day every day, enough that we have plenty to give away to the neighbors.

[LeftyMom]

109. To answer your question, because a lot of pollutants accumulate in fatty tissues.

The only reliable non-invasive method to get human fat is to get milk samples from breastfeeding mothers, which have tons of human fat in them.

[AldoLeopold]

114. You're right!

I remember that from Tox class - too sick atm to work brain right ugh

[UnrepentantLiberal]

94. Some handy tips on how to clean your bird:

http://www.wikihow.com/Eat-Dove-or-Pigeon

[AldoLeopold]

96. That won't get the delicious cadmium out

Hmmm...Cd goodness. With an extra side of vanadium oxide and Pb. Yummy.

[tama]

115. You harvest what you sow

as if any consumerist member of this system was free from responsibility of pollution. And we are already full of various toxins, whether we eat pigeons or not. No use playing purist, when you're the one creating the mess.

[AldoLeopold]

118. Man, I was born into this mess

and I just spent 3 years getting a degree that will help get us out of this mess.

[tama]

120. Like the rest of us

But I don't need a degree but just common sense to tell me that the toxins we eat and breath and touch are bad enough as such, so no point creating stress and anxiety toxins in your body by worrying too much over what is beyond your control.

Also nothing wrong in considering your body a garbage disposal machine.

[FarCenter]

97. A lot of lead in the urban environment was due to tetraethyl lead in gasoline -- long since removed

So the lead in urban pigeons should be a lot lower nowdays.

[flvegan]

99. I love selfish justification.

Congrats!!

[Thinkingabout]

101. There is a recipe in a chinese cook book a friend of mine had some years back. It is eaten in China

And if you are hungry enough it still provides protein for the body. I have eaten many game and find many very tasty, probably would try pigeon if offered. I understand a certain restaurant in Europe serves only river rats and people flock to the restaurant.

[quinnox]

103. no idea, I would look into getting a food stamp ebt card before

I ever considered anything that desperate. You can get $200 dollars a month from the government in food benefits if you have little to no income and can keep getting it until you find a job.

Also, a cat represents beauty. That is why psychos and children who later often become serial killers like to kill cats, they like the idea of destroying beauty and grace, which is symbolized by a cat.

[RoverSuswade]

104. Video of a pelican eating a pigeon:

Pelicans, apparently, are not afraid of the lead
.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

108. Video of a catfish grabbing a pigeon

[fahrenheit451rb]

105. not sure about the legality of doing so

I wouldn't eat them myself

[NBachers]

107. Plus, what about seagulls- they look like they have a lot more meat

Here's a debonair one I photographed yesterday on Ocean Beach in San Francisco by the Cliff House

[Xithras]

121. There's an old saying about eating seagulls...

...put a seagull and a brick in the oven for three hours. When you take them out, the brick will be more tender and tasty than the seagull.

They're perfectly edible, but only in an "I'm going to die if I don't eat" sort of way.

[Hekate]

123. Gulls are reputed to taste very strongly of fish....

... and not in a good way.

[jonthebru]

110. Honestly, not a bad idea.

My family raised and ate squab when I was a kid. With wild birds, it may be wise to check for toxins with a few birds first by paying to have a lab test them. Your State Health Dept should be able to help.
Trapped alive and kept for a while and fed good food they would probably be good fattened up a bit. You would need a place like a rooftop to do that.

[jmowreader]

113. How could you legally harvest them?

I think the biggest problem with eating city pigeons would be legally killing the damn things - most cities don't allow you to discharge weapons.

[tama]

122. Google "pigeon trapping" nt

[UnrepentantLiberal]

126. I can't believe this silly thread is still going.

[Deep13]

128. I've actually wondered why no one eats them.

Cheap source of protein for the urban poor. Urban toxicity seems to be the reason.