Since 2021, the H5N1 (clade 2.3.4.4b) high-pathogenicity avian influenza virus (HPAIV) panzootic has killed numerous wild birds and poultry, reflecting a strong viral fitness across avian species, which may also account for periodic spill over into mammals. Columbiformes are commonly found around poultry sites, in urban areas and human association. We investigated the possible role of pigeons in current H5N1-HPAIV infection ecology, by directly inoculating pigeons with a range of H5N1-HPAIV doses. Naïve contact pigeons and chickens were introduced for cohousing. Only the directly inoculated pigeons experienced H5N1-HPAIV shedding as evidence of infection, surviving to study-end at 14 days post-inoculation, with no viral transmission to contacts of both species. The infected pigeons revealed minimal H5N1-HPAIV levels, restricted to few systemic tissues, with low-level viral environmental contamination occurring infrequently during the study. In contrast to proven clade 2.3.4.4b maintenance hosts such as ducks, pigeons were far less susceptible to H5N1-HPAIV infection, with minimal tissue tropism and no overt pathogenesis or clinical outcomes and did not notably contaminate their housing environment. Intra- and inter- species transmission of H5N1-HPAIV from pigeons to poultry is therefore a low risk to the industry, with environmental contamination also posing a low-risk route for virus introduction. Together, these findings suggest that pigeons have low susceptibility to clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 HPAIV and are a very low-risk and unlikely to contribute significantly to virus maintenance, transmission to poultry or zoonotic threats.