Rock dove

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Rock dove
Pigeons on the cliff coast at Hunstanton, Norfolk (East England)

Pigeons on the cliff coast at Hunstanton, Norfolk (East England)

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Pigeon birds (Columbiformes)
Family : Pigeons (Columbidae)
Genre : Field pigeons ( Columba )
Type : Rock dove
Scientific name
Columba livia
Gmelin , 1789

The rock pigeon ( Columba livia ) is a bird art from the family of pigeons (Columbidae). It is the sole parent form of the domestic pigeon and thus also the city ​​pigeon . This domesticated and feral form is one of the most successful birds on earth and is now spread all over the world, apart from the Arctic and Antarctic. The wild form, on the other hand, is restricted to Eurasia and Africa.

features

Head portrait

The rock pigeon is about 33 centimeters long, its wingspan is about 63 centimeters and it weighs about 330 grams. This makes it significantly smaller than the wood pigeon , but larger than the Turkish pigeon .

Outwardly, the sexes are very similar: the head, neck, chest and back are blue-gray with a more pronounced, shiny yellowish, greenish and reddish-violet shimmering color along the neck and on the wings in the males. The elytra are lighter with two dark bands, the tail has a bluish-gray band, both tips are dark.

The beak is dark gray to pink, while the light wax skin stands out conspicuously. Tail and wing tips are dark. Rock pigeons and domestic pigeons can be divided into a large number of different phenotypes , for example blue, dark speckled and red.

Way of life

Egg, Museum Wiesbaden collection

The rock pigeon lives all year round in the entire Mediterranean area , in the east to the Caspian Sea and in Scotland , Ireland , the Shetland and Faroe Islands .

The natural habitat of the rock pigeons are rocky cliffs on the seashore, inland also in mountain areas. Their habitat must offer rock caves and crevices as nesting opportunities. In Africa she even lives in underground wells. To search for food, she seeks out cultivated land, open terrain and wasteland. Rock pigeons feed on grain seeds , acorns and seeds of conifers , buds , berries and occasionally snails , insects and worms .

The incubation period is 17 days. The young birds can fledge after 4 weeks.

Subspecies

Pigeon in flight

There are 14 geographical subspecies :

  • Columba livia livia Gmelin, JF, 1789
  • Columba livia atlantis Bannermann , 1931
  • Columba livia canariensis Bannermann, 1914
  • Columba livia nigricans Buturlin , 1908
  • Columba livia palaestinae Zedlitz , 1912
  • Columba livia gaddi ( Zarudny & Loudon , 1906)
  • Columba livia targia Geyr von Schweppenburg , 1916
  • Columba livia dakhlae Meinertzhagen, R , 1928
  • Columba livia schimperi Bonaparte , 1854
  • Columba livia neglecta Hume , 1873
  • Columba livia gymnocycla Gray, GR , 1856
  • Columba livia lividior Bates , 1932 (invalid for some authors because it is Columba livia gymnocycla )
  • Columba livia butleri Meinertzhagen, 1921 (invalid for some authors because it is Columba livia schimperi )
  • Columba livia intermedia Strickland , 1844

Enemies

In large parts of the distribution area, the rock pigeon or street pigeon is a main prey of the peregrine falcon .

Hazardous situation

The rock pigeon is listed in the Red List of Endangered Species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN ). While stocks appear to be in decline, it is not expected that the location could quickly reach exposure criteria. Also because of the overall very high population and their very wide distribution, the rock pigeon is rated as not endangered ( Least Concern ).

supporting documents

literature

  • RC Banks, RW McDiarmid, AL Gardner: Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the US Territories, and Canada. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington 1987.
  • David Burnie (Ed.): Vögel , Munich 2008, Dorling Kindersley, ISBN 978-3-8310-1272-5
  • Apelle Dei: Scritti di ornitologia Senese. Accademia, Siena 1996.
  • Richard F. Johnston: Rock dove. In: The Birds of North America. No. 13, Washington 1992.
  • Alois Münst and Josef Wolters: Tauben - The types of wild pigeons , 2nd expanded and revised edition, Verlag Karin Wolters, Bottrop 1999, ISBN 3-9801504-9-6

Web links

Wiktionary: Taube  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Felsentaube  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Münst, p. 149
  2. Münst, p. 149
  3. Derek Ratcliffe: The Peregrine Falcon. 2nd Edition. Poyser, London, 1993. ISBN 0-85661-060-7 , pp. 116ff
  4. Columba livia in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2009. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2009. Accessed on March 8 of 2010.