Rock dove
Columba livia J. F. Gmelin, 1789
The rock dove (Columba livia), also called Pigeon, Rock pigeon, Feral pigeon or Common pigeon, is a bird of the family Columbidae in the order Columbiformes. It is a small bird with an adult body mass of 354.2 g and a wingspan from 67.8 to 70.2 cm.
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Quick facts about the rock dove
The rock dove is a terrestrial, sedentary granivore of human-modified land.
- Weight
- 267 g – 354.2 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 67.8 cm – 70.2 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 21.5 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Granivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 35 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- human_modifiedsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 17.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 4.6 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 4src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the rock dove?
Photos of the rock dove
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the rock dove live?
Not recorded
What is the rock dove?
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.
From the Wikipedia article “Rock dove” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rock_dove&oldid=1383333129), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the rock dove sound like?
Is the rock dove endangered?
The rock dove is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the rock dove classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderColumbiformes
- familyColumbidae
- genusColumba
- SpeciesColumba livia J. F. Gmelin, 1789
Synonyms Columba affinis, Columba cristata, Columba cucullata, Columba domestica, Columba forficata, Columba galeata, Columba gutturosa, Columba hispanica, Columba hispida, Columba livia, Columba livia feral, Columba maculata, Columba melanura, Columba mercurialis, Columba oenas domestica, Columba oenas fera, Columba percussor, Columba prolifera, Columba ss livia, Columba tabellaria, Columba tremula, Columba turbita, Columba turca, Columba tympanista, Columba vertaga, Columba vulgaris
Other names and names in other languages (70)
- Common pigeonEnglish
- Feral pigeonEnglish
- Feral Pigeon/Rock doveEnglish
- PigeonEnglish
- Rock pigeonEnglish
- Rock pigeon/ doveEnglish
- Tuinduif (Stadsduif)Afrikaans
- حمام ازرقArabic
- حمام صخريArabic
- palombuAsturian
- Шызы голубBelarusian
- Скален гълъбBulgarian
- DubeBreton
- colom roquerCatalan
- holub skalníCzech
- colomen graigWelsh
- Colomen y GraigWelsh
- Colomennod y GraigWelsh
- KlippedueDanish
- FelsentaubeGerman
- ΑγριοπερίστεροGreek
- roka kolomboEsperanto
- Paloma bravíaSpanish
- Paloma domésticaSpanish
- kaljutuviEstonian
- کبوتر چاهیPersian
- kalliokyyhky (kesykyyhky)Finnish
- kalliokyyhkyFinnish
- pigeon bisetFrench
- Colm ailleIrish
- Calman creigeScottish Gaelic
- Calmane creggeyManx
- יונת סלעיםHebrew
- divlji golubCroatian
- szirti galambHungarian
- Merpati batuIndonesian
- BjargdúfaIcelandic
- Piccione selvaticoItalian
- カワラバトJapanese
- カワラバト（ドバト）Japanese
- 집비둘기Korean
- Colom carrekCornish
- uolinis karvelisLithuanian
- mājas balodisLatvian
- klinšu balodisLatvian
- VoromailalaMalagasy
- див гулабMacedonian
- RotsduifDutch
- PalombaPapiamento
- Paloma ComunPapiamento
- gołąb skalnyPolish
- pombo-domésticoPortuguese
- pombo-das-rochasPortuguese
- Porumbel de casăRomanian
- Сизый голубьRussian
- GávpotduvváNorthern Sami
- duvváNorthern Sami
- holub divýSlovak
- skalni golobSlovenian
- Divlji ili domaći golubSerbian
- klippduvaSwedish
- tamduvaSwedish
- Uu'aira'oTahitian
- นกพิราบป่าThai
- Kaya GüverciniTurkish
- голуб сизийUkrainian
- 原鴿Chinese
- 原鸽Chinese
- 岩鴿Chinese
- 野鴿Chinese
Relatives of the rock dove
Other species in the same genus Columba.
Common wood pigeon
Columba palumbus
Stock dove
Columba oenas
Snow pigeon
Columba leuconota
Hill pigeon
Columba rupestris
Nilgiri wood pigeon
Columba elphinstonii
Speckled pigeon
Columba guinea
CompareRock dove vs Common wood pigeonRock dove vs Stock doveRock dove vs Snow pigeonRock dove vs Hill pigeon
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the rock dove?
The rock dove is a bird of the family Columbidae, in the order Columbiformes. It is placed in the genus Columba.
How big is the rock dove?
The rock dove is a small bird with an adult body mass of 354.2 g. Its wingspan ranges from 67.8 to 70.2 cm.
What does the rock dove eat?
The rock dove is a granivore, which places it at the herbivore trophic level.
What habitat does the rock dove use?
The rock dove lives on human-modified land. It is terrestrial and sedentary.
Is the rock dove endangered?
No. The rock dove is listed as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a rock dove live?
Sources give the rock dove a lifespan of 21.54 years, with values up to 35 years.
How many eggs does the rock dove lay?
The rock dove lays 2 eggs per clutch and has 4 clutches per year. The eggs are incubated for 17.5 days.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Rock dove (Columba livia). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/rock-dove
“Rock dove (Columba livia).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/rock-dove.
@misc{rock_dove_2026,
title = {Rock dove (Columba livia)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/rock-dove},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}