The Weirdest Little Bird You’ll Ever See — Peep These Alien-Looking Baby Pigeons.

Baby pigeons might be the ugliest chicks on the planet! These little baby birdies look like aliens invading the planet. Because of their nesting habits, it is rare to glimpse a pigeon chick in the wild. These poor little imps are so ugly; they’re cute.

We can’t say that all species of pigeons have ugly babies, mainly because we haven’t seen them all ourselves! There are 352 species recognized by the International Ornithological Committee (IOC). Pigeons and doves are in the same family and have a similar appearance. Some of the adult birds are beautiful. The common pigeons we see hanging out on freeway overpasses definitely have some ugly offspring.

As you can see, these scrawny little fuzzballs look like aliens. The beak is odd, and there are no pretty feathers yet. They are almost covered with icky-looking and unruly down that leaves a few bald spots. Quite honestly, it makes the poor things look like they have some form of bird mange. But give them a week, and you’ll see a huge difference.

The shape of the beak is a special design that allows the baby chick to suck a high-protein slurry. Mother pigeons create slurry in their crop. You might need some definitions. Slurry means mushy, partially digested sludge that forms in an enlarged esophagus or crop. Slurry is a form of pigeon milk. The baby’s beak that allows them to suction the slurry directly from the crop. Because of their anatomy, the chicks collect slurry, or crop milk, in their own crop. This allows more time between feedings and gives the mama pigeon a little break.

The image above shows the feeding process using a syringe.

The actual feeding process is shown in the video below. It looks pretty violent, but the mama pigeon keeps her chicks well-fed. Pigeons grow up really fast. These baby chicks will go from newly hatched aliens to flying in just over one month. Within a couple of weeks, these small chicks will double in size and begin showing their adult coloration.

Birds are fascinating, and baby pigeons are no exception to that claim. Watch the video below to see these little aliens as they navigate their first few days of pigeon life. Share it with your friends because we’re pretty sure they haven’t ever seen baby pigeons, either.

You can find the source of this story’s featured image here.