Birds are everywhere. Eating the fruit of the trees in public places and your private garden. Eating crumbs under the table in restaurants. I've had birds hopping around underfoot in the USA, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, Cyprus, and Singapore. If you see them in photos of people feeding birds in public plazas, zoos, parks, and gardens, you can bet you will find them in a few restaurants.
Can you shoot a pigeon in your garden? If the government or local council is culling pigeons, surely you can? No. The government can do all sorts of things which are not allowed by citizens. As Stalin more or less said, a million deaths is war, one death is murder. Actually, he said something like, one death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic.
Anyway, what about the practicalities of capturing a pigeon, whilst we are trying to find out what we are allowed to do with it. Can you capture it first, then kill it close up. Or kill it from a distance.
Game-keepers and fine country house hotels seem to have birds on the menu. What about your back garden and the obliging teenage son of neighbours who allowed him to shoot pellets to scare the wits out of the other neighbours' cat?
Let's no involve neighbours. Let's just look for a pigeon. We have enough.
Assuming that you don't trip over tree roots or fall off ladders or tree branches, but have a clear shot at the damn thing, not on the roof where somebody is fixing your aerial, not in the garden where the gardener is working and the toddlers are likely to run out. Assuming you are careful not to risk killing your family, friends, visitors, neighbours and cats and yourself in the foot.
According to UK government websites you need a license to kill wild birds. But the license is seasonal. You cannot kill pregnant birds and babies in the spring. Apply in autumn. But the official bodies and regulars are likely to have got in first, on day one or earlier. The websites I looked at said applications closed, or were from years ag ago. A 2019 website is not much use in 2022. They could have updated and changed their minds three or more times. As for the USA, I bet every state and every national park and every year is different.
How about asking a local farmer for a couple of pigeons and offering to give him a pie in return?
Assuming that you have a well trained cat or dog to catch birds. Or maybe a speciality butcher or super supermarket or website.
We did not have guns, gun training, bullets. Nor did we have pigeons which would sit tamely in one place. Our pigeons were of low IQ. Good. But one point above that needed for pigeon-catching. We needed a glum, dumb pigeon. Not a friendly pigeon. A moment's hesitation by us, and the bird has flown. Nor a smart pigeon. As you raise your hand, it raises its wings.
We then went to a Moroccan restaurant which had pigeon pie on the menu On the day of our visit, pigeon pie was unavailable.
Finally, we went there and had it. I thought it was disappointing, not tasty, melt in the mouth as I remembered it. However, my husband declared it was just perfect.
Later, the restaurant closed down.
Pigeon Pie Recipes
Look for pastilla or basteeya.
Failing all else, we made a pigeon pie with chicken. Shredded chicken. Scrambled egg. A green herb
Poultry pastilla
Poultry pastilla was traditionally made of squab (fledgling pigeons), but shredded chicken is more often used today. It combines sweet and salty flavours; crisp layers of the crêpe-like werqa dough, savory meat slow-cooked in broth and spices and then shredded, and a crunchy layer of toasted and ground almonds, cinnamon, and sugar. The filling is made by browning the poultry in butter. Chopped onions, water, parsley, and various spices including saffron are added and the meat is simmered until tender. When cool, the meat is boned and the flesh shredded. The liquid is reduced and thickened with eggs to form a custard-like sauce. Meat and custard are often prepared the day ahead.
Blanched almonds are fried in oil, then crushed finely and mixed with powdered sugar and cinnamon. In a round baking pan, several pieces of the thin werqa or filo dough are layered, each brushed with melted butter, and overhanging the edge of the pan. The cook adds the egg mixture, places another buttered sheet of dough over it, adds the shredded meat, also covered with a sheet of dough, and then the almond mixture is added. The overlapping pieces of dough are folded over the filling, and another 2 pieces of buttered dough are added and tucked in around the edges of the pie. The pie is baked until heated through, and the layers of dough are brown. Powdered sugar and cinnamon are sprinkled over the top before serving hot.
Sweet Pastilla, Morrocan Style
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastilla
Pictures of Pastilla including sweet pastilla and regional pastilla in Morocco
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pastilla
