On Fri, 28 May 1999, Greg Toffic wrote:

> I knew there was some relationship between band-tails and mineral springs
> (snip)... Could you enlighten me and the other tweeters?

Oh Boy, I'm going to be out-of-my-league real quick here. There are
post-breeding season congregations of Band-tailed Pigeons at mineral
springs. The one I monitor is an upwelling of fresh water in the intertidal
zone of Puget Sound. The pigeons land on the beach and drink the water.

I am not sure that the physiology of this phenomenon is understood. I have
heard some speculation that it is related to the physiological demands of
producing "pigeon milk", the excretion that squabs drink straight out of
an adult bird's throat.

Now that I have thrown out some foggy pseudo facts from a memory based on
second or third hand communications of speculation, maybe somebody with
some real knowledge could help me out.

Kelly McAllister