Details
Columba livia
The cliff-nesting ancestor of domestic and feral pigeons, usually gray with two dark wing bars in its wild form.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
Native birds use sea cliffs, inland cliffs, and rocky sites, while feral descendants thrive in cities, farms, ports, and stations.
Wild-type birds are blue-gray with two black wing bars and green-purple neck sheen. Urban birds show many white, dark, and pied variants.
Flocks feed together and gather on buildings or ledges. Strong homing ability has linked the species closely with people.
Seeds, grain, and legumes dominate, with urban birds also taking spilled grain and human-associated foods.
Simple nests are placed on ledges and building cavities. Both adults feed chicks with crop milk, and repeated nesting is possible where food is abundant.
Globally low-risk, but truly wild populations have been diluted in many places by domestic and feral birds.
