They demand food. They will leave if you don’t have food they want, but return when you have enough. Pigeons only need very inexpensive food compared to the eagle.
They understand commands properly, but can’t read or anything. For example, to navigate a long distance, they have to know the way, or be given clear instructions based on landmarks they can see from up high.
Wait, are they able to intelligently respond, or are we limited to very simple commands like you might train them to do eventually in real life?
If it’s standard bird tricks, I’m picking the eagle for the cool factor.
If they can do complex commands because they’re super smart or whatever, numbers win out. A dozen pigeons can do a lot of stuff at once. Like “yo, my feathered homies, can y’all help me clean up where this garbage can blew over?” That’s better handled by a flock.
Maybe an eagle would be better with groceries, but pigeons would be better surveillance bros… One eagle perched on your house watching for shenanigans is obvious and will attract attention. A bunch of pigeons, nobody pays attention to.
Plus, pigeons are pretty fucking chill to begin with. They’ll snuggle with you and such. Maybe eagles would, but I dunno. Talons make snuggles iffy anyway; my rooster sometimes gets in the mood for snuggles, but those damn claws of his are an impediment (unlike the hen, who snuggles very well).
One of our neighbors used to keep pigeons, and they were sweet. They liked scritches and pets. But I have been to a raptor rescue place and was able to talk my way into some non public interactions. The birds they had that were permanent residents tended to be okay with humans, but not cuddly for the most part. Eagles in particular are standoffish compared to hawks, or at least theirs were.
So, yeah, I think I err on the side of pigeons in most cases, but damn wouldn’t an eagle be cool as fuck?