Many Christian sources claim that the Holy Spirit took the form of a dove because of Mark 1:10, and take this to mean a white turtle dove. There is a problem with this assertion. The white mutation in turtle doves did not arise until the Middle Ages, long after the passage in Mark could have taken place. Barbary doves had not spread to the Levant in Jesus' day (their origin point is in Africa), and such a symbol would be unfamiliar to anyone living in the region at the time.
I argue instead that there is a much more common (then and now) bird that can take the place of the turtle dove. The common house pigeon, ubiquitous in every city of Man on Earth. It would have been the same story in antiquity. Pigeons were bred for meat, sport, hunting practice, and as pets for nobility. White color breeds have been known since ancient times. To this day, when you type in the word "dove" to Google, you will get a white wedding pigeon. Not a turtle dove. Not a diamond dove. A pigeon. In addition, the passage 'fits' with earlier statements in the Bible. Noah's 'dove' could never have been a dove. Doves, then and now, are not capable of homing back to the hand that feeds them. They fly away as the raven did. Only a pigeon could make that route. To this day, pigeons reach distances as far as 400-500KM in a single round trip. Always returning home if their life can help it.
This raises interesting implications for Mankind. While 'the dove' is beloved as a holy symbol, the TRUE holy symbol, the pigeon, is despised. Hated. Culled, shot, poisoned, and bred in barbaric conditions for their meat. They are known as street rats, disease carrying vermin that all civilized man should hate. Useful only for mail, before the mail carrier took their place. Being inquisitive and intelligent, compassionate and affectionate does not change Mankind's stance to the pigeon that shits on his roof.
His eyes are in every city, watching the growing corruption of his Children. Despised, just as God is despised today. Mankind projects his hatred of God as hatred of the pigeon, each and every one descendant of that fateful bird that told Noah land was resurfaced by the leaf of the olive. Each and every one, bearing the eyes of the Holy Spirit as he watches us progressively shun him, and His pigeon, from all society. It didn't used to be this way. When Man was more Godly, the pigeon was raced, bred as sport, and beloved for the products it gave to Man. It fought in wars for Man, flying mail across trench lines and machine gunners, sacrificing their lives for our own. No longer. Now it is just a diseased street rat, just as Man is diseased. Its symbolism replaced by a mimic because it is easier for Man to accept that God lurks in the tiny little cute turtle dove and not the fat, humble pigeon. All the while, the pigeon silently continues to watch and prepare for the final Judgement of Man.