The rock dove (Columba livia), also known as the common pigeon or rock pigeon (but see also Petrophassa), is a member of the bird family Columbidae (doves and pigeons). In common usage, it is often simply referred to as the "pigeon", although the rock dove is the wild form of the bird; the pigeons familiar to most people are the domesticated forms of the wild rock dove. Wild rock doves are uniformly pale grey with two black bars on each wing, with few differences being seen between males and females; i.e. they are not strongly sexually dimorphic. The domestic pigeon, often called "Columba livia domestica", which includes about 1,000 different breeds, is descended from this species. Escaped domestic pigeons are the origin of feral pigeons around the world. Both forms can vary widely in the colour and pattern of their plumage unlike their wild ancestor, being red, brown, checkered, uniformly coloured, or pied. Habitats include various open and semi-open environments where they are able to forage on the ground. Cliffs and rock ledges are used for roosting and breeding in the wild. Originating in Southern Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia, when including their domestic and feral descendants, they are an example of a least-concern species per IUCN among birds, being abundant with an estimated population of 17 to 28 million wild and feral birds in Europe alone and up to 120 million worldwide.
Taxonomy and systematics
The official standard English name is rock dove, as given by the International Ornithological Congress. The rock dove was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Systema Naturae written by Carl Linnaeus. He placed it with all the other doves and pigeons in the genus Columba and coined the binomial name Columba livia. The genus name Columba is the Latin word meaning "pigeon, dove", whose older etymology comes from the Ancient Greek κόλυμβος (kólumbos), "a diver", hence κολυμβάω (kolumbáō), "dive, plunge headlong, swim". Aristophanes (Birds 304) and others use the word κολυμβίς (kolumbís), "diver", for the name of the bird, because of its swimming motion in the air. The specific epithet livia is a Medieval Latin variant of livida, "livid, bluish-grey"; this was Theodorus Gaza's translation of Greek péleia, "dove", itself thought to be derived from pellós, "dark-coloured". No original material was designated by Gmelin in his description of the species, and consequently a neotype specimen, from Fair Isle in Scotland, has been designated to define the species and its nominate subspecies C. l. livia. Its closest relative in the genus Columba is the hill pigeon, followed by the snow, speckled, and white-collared pigeons. Pigeon chicks are called "squabs". Note that members of the pigeon genus Petrophassa and the speckled pigeon (Columba guinea), also have the common name "rock pigeon".
Subspecies Nine subspecies are recognised:
C. l. livia Gmelin, JF, 1789 – west, central Europe, north Africa to central Asia C. l. gymnocycla Gray, GR, 1856 – Mauritania and Senegal to south Mali and Ghana C. l. targia Geyr von Schweppenburg, 1916 – north Mali and south Algeria to central Sudan C. l. schimperi Bonaparte, 1854 – east Egypt, south Sudan and Eritrea C. l. dakhlae Meinertzhagen, R, 1928 – west Egypt C. l. palaestinae Zedlitz, 1912 – Sinai Peninsula (Egypt) to Syria, to west and south Arabian Peninsula C. l. gaddi Zarudny & Loudon, 1906 – east Turkey to Uzbekistan, to west and north Afghanistan C. l. neglecta Hume, 1873 – west Pakistan and east Afghanistan to the Himalayas C. l. intermedia Strickland, 1844 – south India and Sri Lanka
Description
Millennia of domestication have greatly altered the rock dove in many regions. Domestic and Feral pigeons, which arose through selective breeding, not originating naturally, have significant variation in plumage from the natural wild birds. This wild type is endangered in many areas; the nominate subspecies C. l. livia persists most notably in the far north and west of Scotland, most strongly so in the Outer Hebrides. The adult of the nominate subspecies of the rock dove is 30 to 35 cm (12 to 14 in) long with a 62 to 68 cm (24 to 27 in) wingspan. Weight for wild or feral rock doves ranges from 238–380 g (8.4–13.4 oz), though overfed domestic and semi-domestic individuals can exceed normal weights. For standard measurements, the wing chord is typically around 22.3 cm (8.8 in), the tail is 9.5 to 11 cm (3.7 to 4.3 in), the bill is around 1.8 cm (0.71 in), and the tarsus is 2.6 to 3.5 cm (1.0 to 1.4 in). This species has dark bluish-grey head, neck, and chest feathers with glossy greenish to reddish-purple iridescence along its neck feathers. The white lower back of the pure rock dove is its best identification characteristic; the two black bars on its pale grey wings are also distinctive. The tail has a black band on the end, and the outer web of the tail feathers are margined with white. The iris is red-brown. The eyelids are grey with a very narrow bluish-grey to grey-white eye ring (wider in domesticated and feral birds). The bill is grey-black with a small off-white cere (with domesticated and feral birds having a much larger cere). The feet are red to pink. The adult female is almost identical in outward appearance to the male, but the iridescence on her neck is less intense and more restricted to the rear and sides, whereas that on the breast is often very obscure. Young females show little lustre and are duller. When circling overhead, the white underwing of the bird becomes conspicuous. In its flight, behaviour, and voice, which is more of a dovecot coo than the phrase of the wood pigeon, it is a typical Columba pigeon. Although it is a strong flier, it also glides frequently, holding its wings in a very pronounced V shape as it does. The various subspecies are similar to the nominate, but can be differentiated:
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