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Columba liviacommon pigeon(Also: rock dove)

By Jennifer Roof

Ge­o­graphic Range

Wild Columba livia are na­tive to Eu­rope, North Africa, and south­west­ern Asia. Feral pi­geons are found world­wide, in­clud­ing through­out all of North Amer­ica. It should be noted that oc­cur­rence within this range is not evenly dis­trib­uted (see habi­tat).

Habi­tat

Wild rock doves nest in crevices along rocky sea­side cliffs, close to agri­cul­ture or open shrub veg­e­ta­tion. Feral pi­geons live in old farm build­ings in rural areas. In cities, the sky­scrap­ers tend to take the place of their nat­ural cliff sur­round­ings.

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

The rock dove has a dark bluish-gray head, neck, and chest with glossy yel­low­ish, green­ish, and red­dish-pur­ple iri­des­cence along its neck and wing feath­ers. Fe­males tend to show less iri­des­cence than the males. The bill is dark gray­ish-pink. Two dark bands across the wings are seen in most pi­geons, and one bluish-gray band across the tail. Rock doves and feral pi­geons can be di­vided into a large num­ber of dif­fer­ent phe­no­types, or groups based on out­ward char­ac­ter­is­tics. Some of these clas­si­fi­ca­tions are the blue-bar, blue checker, dark checker, spread, and red phe­no­types.

  • Average mass
    358.7 g
    12.64 oz
    AnAge

Re­pro­duc­tion

Pairs may be formed at any point dur­ing the year. These pairs are formed for life. Each bird works co­op­er­a­tively on most as­pects of re­pro­duc­tion and young-rear­ing. The male builds the nest, and the eggs are laid shortly after the nest is fin­ished. Both males and fe­males in­cu­bate the eggs. Eggs hatch ap­prox­i­mately 19 days after being laid.

  • Average eggs per season
    2
    AnAge
  • Average time to hatching
    19 days
  • Average time to hatching
    18 days
    AnAge
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
    Sex: female
    140 days
    AnAge
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
    Sex: male
    140 days
    AnAge

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Be­hav­ior

Pi­geons gen­er­ally walk or run while bob­bing their heads for­ward and back­ward. They fly with a steady and di­rect path. Pi­geons are most often seen dur­ing day­light, seek­ing cover at night and in dur­ing the heat of the day, ac­cord­ing to the cli­mate. They flock while roost­ing, sun­ning, and feed­ing, but no play has been ob­served. In the nest­ing ter­ri­tory, both sexes are ag­gres­sive, peck­ing in­trud­ers on the head.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Food Habits

Rock doves feed in the early morn­ing and in the mid-af­ter­noon on the open ground. They eat mainly seeds. Stud­ies of pi­geons in a semi-rural part of Kansas found that their diet in­cludes the fol­low­ing: 92% corn, 3.2% oats, 3.7% cherry, along with small amounts of knotweed, elm, poi­son ivy, and bar­ley. In cities, feral pi­geons also eat pop­corn, cake, peanuts, bread, and cur­rants. Fe­male rock doves need to eat a diet some­what higher in pro­tein and cal­cium in order to have the nu­tri­tional re­sources to lay eggs.

Pre­da­tion

Some com­mon preda­tors of feral pi­geons in the North Amer­ica are opos­sums (Didel­phis vir­gini­ana), rac­coons (Pro­cyon lotor), great horned owls (Bubo vir­gini­anus), and east­ern screech-owls (Otus asio). Other preda­tors in­clude the golden eagle (Aquila chrysae­tos), Amer­i­can kestrels (Falco sparverius), and pere­grine fal­cons (Falco pere­gri­nus).

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Eaten by hu­mans and used for lab­o­ra­tory re­search.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

A large num­ber of pi­geons liv­ing in a small area can be a nui­sance to farm­ers. Some dis­eases (e.g., histo­plas­mo­sis) may be spread in pi­geon drop­pings.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Since pi­geons are often fed by well-mean­ing city dwellers, their num­bers are high. Wild rock doves also have no spe­cial sta­tus.

Other Com­ments

Feral pi­geons have been used ex­ten­sively in lab­o­ra­to­ries be­cause they are do­mes­ti­cated and found in abun­dance through­out the world. These stud­ies in­clude flight mech­a­nisms, ther­moreg­u­la­tion, water me­tab­o­lism, ge­net­ics of color pat­terns, and Dar­win­ian evo­lu­tion­ary bi­ol­ogy.

Con­trib­u­tors

Jen­nifer Roof (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Glossary

Australian

Living in Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, New Guinea and associated islands.

World Map

Ethiopian

living in sub-Saharan Africa (south of 30 degrees north) and Madagascar.

World Map

Nearctic

living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.

World Map

Neotropical

living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.

World Map

Palearctic

living in the northern part of the Old World. In otherwords, Europe and Asia and northern Africa.

World Map

acoustic

uses sound to communicate

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

chaparral

Found in coastal areas between 30 and 40 degrees latitude, in areas with a Mediterranean climate. Vegetation is dominated by stands of dense, spiny shrubs with tough (hard or waxy) evergreen leaves. May be maintained by periodic fire. In South America it includes the scrub ecotone between forest and paramo.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

cosmopolitan

having a worldwide distribution. Found on all continents (except maybe Antarctica) and in all biogeographic provinces; or in all the major oceans (Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific.

desert or dunes

in deserts low (less than 30 cm per year) and unpredictable rainfall results in landscapes dominated by plants and animals adapted to aridity. Vegetation is typically sparse, though spectacular blooms may occur following rain. Deserts can be cold or warm and daily temperates typically fluctuate. In dune areas vegetation is also sparse and conditions are dry. This is because sand does not hold water well so little is available to plants. In dunes near seas and oceans this is compounded by the influence of salt in the air and soil. Salt limits the ability of plants to take up water through their roots.

endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

introduced

referring to animal species that have been transported to and established populations in regions outside of their natural range, usually through human action.

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

oceanic islands

islands that are not part of continental shelf areas, they are not, and have never been, connected to a continental land mass, most typically these are volcanic islands.

oriental

found in the oriental region of the world. In other words, India and southeast Asia.

World Map

oviparous

reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.

rainforest

rainforests, both temperate and tropical, are dominated by trees often forming a closed canopy with little light reaching the ground. Epiphytes and climbing plants are also abundant. Precipitation is typically not limiting, but may be somewhat seasonal.

scrub forest

scrub forests develop in areas that experience dry seasons.

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

tactile

uses touch to communicate

tropical savanna and grassland

A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.

savanna

A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.

temperate grassland

A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.

visual

uses sight to communicate

Ref­er­ences

John­ston, Richard F. Birds of North Amer­ica No. 13, 1992. The Amer­i­can Or­nithol­o­gists' Union.

Mosca, F. 2001. "Pi­geons and Pi­geon Ge­net­ics for Every­one" (On-line). Ac­cessed May 8, 2001 at http://​www.​angelfire.​com/​ga3/​pigeongenetics/​.

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