Yes, pigeons do eat worms, like many, many any other birds.
Worms are just one of the foods pigeons eat.
The natural diet of pigeons mainly consists of seeds and grains, but they will eat fruits and vegetables too.
Worms aren’t a main part of their diet, but they supply much-needed fats and proteins to help keep them healthy.
Rural dwelling pigeons have easy access to worms and other insects.
In the countryside farmers are always turning over the earth to plant their crops and so expose the worms.
This makes worms easy pickings for hungry pigeons.
Pigeons & Urban Worms
The urban pigeons have a much harder time to supplement their diet with nutritious worms.
As most of the cities are buried under concrete, there are fewer opportunities to find worms.
Lucky, the cities aren’t totally devoid of green spaces or exposed ground.
There are many residential areas within our inner cities and therefore gardens too.
Constant roadworks and building sites have the effect of unearthing worms too.
Although it may be difficult, worms are there to be found by opportunistic pigeons.
Also read:
Do pigeons eat oats?
Can pigeons eat bread?
Can pigeons eat rice?
Do pigeons eat peanuts?
Why do pigeons eat leaves?
Do pigeons eat mealworms?
A Varied Diet
You may imagine that, unlike their country cousins, city pigeons don’t hanker after worms that much.
The woodpigeon has been eating the same fare for hundreds of years.
The introduction of new or exotic types of crops may have changed or expanded their diet over the course of time, but it has still continued in the same vein, basically, seeds and grains, whereas your typical city-dwelling cosmopolitan pigeon has a greater variety of things to eat.
There is a veritable 24-hour buffet.
Of course, some ingrained behavioral instinct may prompt pigeons to grab any unlucky worm that they spot, it’s doubtful that they go on worm hunts.
Modern Pigeons Prefer Scavenging To Eating Worms
There are just too many other delicious goodies on offer.
Much of the discarded food that they scavenge isn’t really any good for them, they don’t have the nutritional value of worms, but they don’t seem to care.
Pigeons have adapted and have become gourmets, in their own fashion.
Who cares about looking for worms where there is all that other lovely stuff on offer?
