Rock Dove
Columba livia· 鸠鸽科(1 photos)
Photographed In:
Rock Dove
33-36 cm. Typically blue-grey, with purplish/green sheen on neck; two curved black bars (or black chequering) on wing; rump pale grey; tail tip dark. But endlessly variable: plain, barred or chequered red-brown to sandy; white, black or mixtures. Influence of cultivated strains shows in enlarged wattles, neck-ruffs, ballooning crops, feathered legs, fan-tails; somersaults ('tumbles') in flight. Immature: cere brownish; eye brown; plumage duller. Singles, pairs, flocks: feeds on ground, often around park benches; wheels high, showing white underwings. Males in display clap wings together, sail with wings upheld in deep V.
- Other name
- Feral Pigeon, Domestic or Homing Pigeon; Rock Pigeon.
- Voice
- deep 'coo roo coocoo'; 'rackitty-coo'; persistent 'oom's.
- Habitat
- city buildings, grain installations, bridges, railyards, wharves, streets, parks, gardens, roadsides, open woodlands, paddocks, ploughed land, stubblefields, dunes, beaches, cliffs, islands, river red gums.
- Breeding
- all year.
- Nest
- scanty; of twigs or grass; on ledge or cavity, under eaves, roof-beams, girders, in guttering, crevice in rock, tree hollow.
- Eggs
- 2; white, oval, glossy.
- Range & Status
- probably introduced early in European settlement: now widespread in villages, towns, cities and homesteads inland. Wild ancestor, Rock Dove, C. livia, widespread Europe, n. Africa, s. and w. Asia.
