[Click images to view in a lightbox.]

The differences between doves and pigeons exist only in language. All doves and pigeons are in the same Columbidae family, but in English we differentiate doves from pigeons by size. What we call doves (from the Nordic “dufa”) are usually, but not always, smaller than pigeons (from the French “pijon”).

One way I find this interesting is when I think of all the references to “doves” in the Bible. For example, Noah releasing a dove to see if the floodwaters had receded from the surface of the earth (Genesis 8). Or the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove after Jesus’s baptism (all four gospels).

In the flannelgraph Sunday School stories of my youth, these birds were depicted as delicate, pristine white doves. But it’s just as likely these birds were what we call Rock Pigeons. These birds, so common in our city streets and derided as “rats with wings,” are widespread in Israel too. The Spirit descended on Jesus like a pigeon, along with a voice that said, “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life” (Matthew 3:17, The Message). Why not? This is something Debbie Blue writes about beautifully in her book Consider the Birds: A Provocative Guide to Birds of the Bible, and it rings true to me:

Pigeons want to be close to us. They are where we are—in some of the worst places we have made (our neglected projects and abandoned buildings) and some of the best (art museums, parks, Rome’s piazzas). They won’t leave us alone. Yet there’s hardly a bird that people are more likely to want to shoot and exterminate . . . . What if the Spirit of God descends like a pigeon, somehow—always underfoot, routinely ignored, often despised?

I took these photos in two very different settings. The photo of the Mourning Dove is from a couple evenings ago on a favorite country road. The photo of the Rock Pigeon was taken on an April morning in downtown Silverton.

Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
If I go underground, you’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings
to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
you’re already there waiting!

(Psalm 139:7-10, The Message)

MOURNING DOVE

Location: Marion County, Oregon

Exposure: 1/250 second, f/5.6, ISO 200

Focal Length: 500 mm

Gear:

• Camera: Nikon D850

• Lens: Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

ROCK PIGEON

Location: Silverton, Oregon

Exposure: 1/800 second, f/9, ISO 1250

Focal Length: 850 mm

Gear:

• Camera: Nikon D750

• Lens: Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary with a 1.4x teleconverter