The Rock Pigeon is a member of the bird family Columbidae, doves and pigeons. It has a restricted natural resident range in western and southern Europe, North Africa, and into southwest Asia. Its habitat is natural cliffs, usually on coasts. Its domesticated form, the feral pigeon, has been widely introduced elsewhere, and is common, especially in cities, over much of the world. In Britain, Ireland, and much of its former range, the Rock Pigeon probably only occurs pure in the most remote areas. A Rock Pigeon's life span is anywhere from 3 to 5 years in the wild to 15 years in captivity, though longer-lived specimens have been reported.
The Rock Pigeon is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2012 by BirdLife International. This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
If you think our Birdorable birds are cute as adults, what about when they are babies? Below are some baby photos (shared via Flickr) of the Rock Pigeon. Rock Pigeons breed any time of the year. Their natural preferred nesting sites were coastal cliff faces; these birds... Read more »
Boo! Birdorable wishes everyone a fa-boo-lous, wand-erful and t-eerie-fic Halloween! Enjoy this spooktacular weekend and try to not eat too much candy! Read more »
