Rock Dove

The rock dove is the wild form of the familiar town pigeon. Wild birds are pale grey with two black bars on each wing and a dark bluish-grey head, neck and chest glossed green and purple, and the sexes look much alike. Adults of the nominate subspecies are 30–35cm long with a wingspan of 62–68cm, and wild or feral birds weigh 238–380g. The domestic pigeon, with around 1,000 breeds, descends from it, and escaped domestic birds are the source of feral pigeons worldwide, which vary greatly in colour (Wikipedia, general species account).

In the wild it roosts and nests in crevices on cliffs and rock faces and forages on the ground in open and semi-open country. Its call is a soft, slightly wavering coo; displaying males inflate the throat, fan the tail, strut and bow, and a grunting alarm call warns of predators. Its long history with people makes its original range impossible to pin down exactly. In India it is resident across a very large range; SoIB 2023 estimates a long-term increase of about 160% and rates it a Low conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).