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Rock Dove

Also known as Columba livia, rock pigeon, common pigeon, Rock Pigeon or Feral Pigeon, Blue rock pigeon

species of pigeon; the wild bird from which domesticated pigeons derive

OverviewAI-generated

The Rock Dove, scientifically known as Columba livia, is a species within the genus Columba. It belongs to the family Columbidae, order Columbiformes, class Aves, and phylum Chordata. The authority for this taxon is Gmelin, 1789. It is also referred to by common names such as Paloma bravía, Pigeon biset, and Felsentaube.

This organism is diurnal and is found in Brazil, South America, and Africa. It is invasive to Australia. The species is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List, with a status recorded in 2025. It is the source of crop milk.

Physical characteristics include a wingspan of 690 and a mass of 294. The taxon is described in the Nordisk familjebok. It is referenced by 869 other encyclopedia articles.

Synthesized by Vinony from 27 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, IUCN Red List, WoRMS, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Species

Least Concern

pigeon

Species

PhylumChordata
ClassAves
OrderColumbiformes
FamilyColumbidae

via IUCN

~20 min read

Encyclopedic overview

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, but invalidly, 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.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Rock Dove” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.