I don't know enough about pigeons. I'd say it's more like the crop in ants, though. I think the bird crop was identified first, and it's just called that in bees because it seems similar. But in evolutionary terms, they're too far apart.
That would track linguistically since crop milk is not actually milk but it is something that they feed their young with. No idea on where the term crop from but if they thought the organs did similar functions I can see it getting applied to other animals.
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