Columba livia

Description

A rock dove can look very different from another rock dove. The most common rock dove is the "natural" rock dove and it is blue-gray with black wingbars and shiny greenish feathers. The "dark" rock dove is a purple-black color and the "brown" rock dove is a bright orange-brown. The "pied" rock dove can be any of these colors, but it has bright white patches. Finally, the "checkered" rock dove is dark with a white checkered pattern on its wings. All rock doves have pink legs, dark bills, and a white cere (a waxy bump) at the base of their bills.

Voice

Rock doves make a low gurgling call that sounds like, "ppp prooo" or "bru u ooo."

Breeding

March to June and August to November

Habitat

Rock doves like open places like fields, open woods, farms, and suburbs. They are very common city birds and many people consider them pests.

Diet

These doves eat seeds, fruit, and human handouts.

Range

You can find rock doves all over the world. They live year-round in Mexico, southern Canada, and all over the United States.

Other Useful Information

People usually just call these birds "pigeons". They are an introduced species from Europe that escaped domestication and then spread all over the United States.

Similar Species

The white-crowned pigeon, band-tailed pigeon, and red-billed pigeon are all similar to the rock dove, but you cannot find any of these species in VT or NH.