How Do Pigeons’ Feet Get Injured?

Anyone who watches urban pigeons has probably noticed birds with injured or missing toes and feet. One of the most common problems that feral pigeons have is something we call “stringfoot.” Pigeons need twigs, straw or hay to build nests, but in urban areas, they are more likely to find string, wire and human hair. When they spend 12 hours of every day for 3 weeks out of every month in their nests, their toes become entangled in the nest materials, which leads to constriction, necrosis, infection, etc. If you can catch and untangle these poor birds, they can recover and survive very well, even with missing toes or stumps for feet.

You can read more here: Stringfoot Heartache. This blog post talks about Palomacy’s (formerly MickaCoo) efforts to catch and help one feral pigeon suffering from stringfoot.

If you often see birds who have stringfoot and want to help, check out our FAQ on what to do when you see injured pigeons, and our In Case of Emergency resource page.

Here’s a message for all the birds from our friends at Carolina Waterfowl Rescue:

Thank you for noticing and helping the pigeons who share our urban environment!