Rock Dove

How to identify

Field marks

1. Slate-gray overall
2. Neck and breast with a metallic gloss shifting between green, blue, and purple
3. Two black bands on wings; black band at tail tip
4. Purebred Rock Dove has a white lower back

Male, female and young

Sexes look almost identical; female has a weaker metallic gloss on the neck, while male has a broad scapular region, a large rounded head, and a short, thick neck.

Voice

Soft cooing with a slight trill, rendered as “crruoo-u”.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: April–May and September–October · Most records: United States, Canada, India

Rock Dove has been recorded at 6,591 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 224 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Central ParkUnited States32,874 records
2. Prospect ParkUnited States25,255 records
3. GKVK CampusIndia15,071 records

Countries and regions with the most records

United StatesCanadaIndiaUnited KingdomSpainAustraliaChinaPortugal

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

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.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions