How Many Pigeons are in NYC?

Pigeons are practically everywhere in NYC. The highway overpasses, the parks, shopping plazas, and even the South Ferry; there is almost no escaping these winged masses of germs and feathers are practically impossible to avoid. But just how many pigeons are in the city?
According to a number of environmental surveys and estimates, the number of pigeons in NYC is roughly 4 million. That is about 1 pigeon for every 2 people. With that many pigeons, there is no wonder why they are everywhere you turn. Pigeons spread out all across the 5 boroughs, and do not migrate in the winter. Even in the dead cold or the aftermath of a blustering snowstorm, you can still see pigeons scrounging about. In fact, many pigeons hideaway in subway stations and tunnels during the coldest weather.
Pigeons have an acute homing sense, which makes them particularly pesky as pests. A pigeon can travel many miles out to look for food throughout the day, but will almost always return home to roost for the night. It is for this sense of home that people in the past had trained them to deliver messages.
Pigeons in new york often are the carriers of a large array of diseases, including fungal Histoplasmosis, which can cause severe lung infections.