What Is a Group of Pigeons Called?
A city regular with a surprisingly decorated history as a wartime messenger.
A group of pigeons is most often called a flock, with kit and loft used more specifically among pigeon keepers. Pigeons (Columba livia) have been domesticated for roughly 5,000 years and served as long-distance messengers long before modern communication existed.
What Is a Group of Pigeons Called?
Flock is the safe, general-purpose term that applies to wild and feral pigeons alike. Among pigeon fanciers, though, more specific terms are used: kit refers to a group of pigeons flying together, especially trained racing or homing pigeons, while loft describes a keeper’s group of domesticated pigeons as a whole, named after the structure they’re housed in.
Where Did the Name Come From?
“Kit” and “loft” both come out of the long tradition of pigeon fancying and pigeon racing rather than medieval hunting terminology like most animal collective nouns. Some collective-noun lists also include “dropping” for pigeons, which is almost certainly a mix-up with the word for pigeon droppings rather than a genuine term for a group.
Pigeon Facts
- Ancient partnership: Pigeons have been domesticated for roughly 5,000 years, among the oldest domesticated bird species, originally bred for food, messaging, and later racing and showing.
- Decorated war heroes: Message-carrying pigeons served extensively in both World Wars. One, named Cher Ami, was awarded a medal for delivering a critical message despite being severely wounded mid-flight.
- Built-in GPS: Homing pigeons navigate using a combination of the Earth’s magnetic field, the position of the sun, and visual landmarks, allowing some to find their way home across hundreds of miles.
- Surprisingly sharp minds: Pigeons have been trained in lab studies to distinguish letters of the alphabet, recognize individual human faces, and even discriminate between styles of painting.
- Milk-making birds: Pigeons produce a nutrient-rich secretion called “crop milk” to feed their young, an unusual trait shared by only a handful of other bird groups, including flamingos and some penguins.
Example Sentences
- A flock of pigeons scattered from the plaza as the kids ran through.
- The racer released his kit of pigeons at dawn, tracking their return by GPS band.
Other Names for a Group of Pigeons
Flock covers pigeons in any everyday context and is the term most people reach for. Kit and loft are more precise, specialized terms used within the world of competitive pigeon racing and keeping, and are worth knowing if you ever find yourself talking to a pigeon fancier.
🧠 Test Your Pigeon Knowledge
Three quick questions. See what stuck.
1. What’s the general term for a group of pigeons?
2. What term describes a group of racing pigeons in flight?
3. What unusual substance do pigeons produce to feed their young?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a group of pigeons called?
Most often a flock, with kit and loft used more specifically among pigeon keepers.
What is a kit of pigeons?
A term used for a group of pigeons flying together, especially trained racing or homing pigeons.
How do homing pigeons find their way home?
They rely on a combination of the Earth’s magnetic field, the sun’s position, and visual landmarks.
Did pigeons really serve in wars?
Yes, message-carrying pigeons were used extensively in both World Wars, with some decorated for bravery.
Do pigeons produce milk?
Yes, they produce a nutrient-rich secretion called crop milk to feed their young, a trait shared by only a few other bird species.
More Than a City Bird
A flock of pigeons might be the most overlooked bird group in any city park, but underneath that familiar cooing is a species with a genuinely remarkable resume, ancient domestication, wartime heroics, and navigation skills that still aren’t fully understood.