Pet & loft pigeons.

Domestic pigeons are the most misjudged pet birds we cover. The six profiles here run from King pigeons - big, calm birds that genuinely enjoy laps - to Fantails strutting round a garden loft, Rollers bred for tumbling flight, and racing Homers that navigate home from hundreds of miles away. Most are hand-tameable, quieter than any parrot, and content to coo instead of scream; they suit keepers who want a bird that likes people but doesn't demand hours of enrichment. The trade-off: pigeons poop constantly and can't be litter-trained, so an indoor bird means pigeon pants or daily cleanup, and a loft needs regular scraping. Two entries - the Crested and the Nicobar - are admire-only aviary species, not cuddlers; each profile says which side of that line its bird sits on.