Rock Pigeon
Description
The rock dove, rock pigeon, or common pigeon (/ˈpɪdʒ.ən/ also /ˈpɪdʒ.ɪn/; Columba livia) is a member of the bird family Columbidae (doves and pigeons).: 624 In common usage, it is often simply referred to as the "pigeon".
Distribution & Habitat
The Rock Pigeon is native to Europe and Asia, and has been
introduced throughout the world
(Oberle 2018), where it is now a
common resident in the northern
Bahamas, the Greater Antilles,
the Virgin and Cayman Islands,
and in large towns of the Lesser
Antilles (Raffaele and others
1998). It regularly inhabits many
town plazas throughout Puerto
Rico (Oberle 2018), and it is
also common in urban areas of
Vieques (Gemmill 2015). Habitat
includes mostly city streets
and parks, buildings (Oberle
2018), and populated rural areas
(Raffaele and others 1998). The
atlas fieldwork yielded a total of
603 records within 347 hexagons or 72 percent of the 479 total
hexagons (see map). Of the 347
hexagons where this pigeon was
found, breeding met the atlas
definition of confirmed in 32
percent (110) of the hexagons,
probable in 34 percent (117),
and possible in 35 percent (120)
(see map).
Breeding Habits
The Rock Pigeon builds a nest made of sticks and other plant
material that is often placed on
human-made structures such
as buildings, bridges, store
fronts (Oberle 2018), or any
other available ledge (Raffaele
and others 1998). Previously
published reports indicate that
breeding occurs throughout Rock Pigeon distribution. The map shows the highest breeding code by hexagon and overlaying the ecological life zones in
Puerto Rico. Note: percentages may not total 100 due to rounding. 41Rock Pigeon/Paloma Domésticathe year (Raffaele and others 1998). Atlas results show that
this species breeds throughout
the year with the most breeding
activity from March to June (see
chart). Overall, the breeding
activity peaks in June, and it
mostly takes place within the
subtropical moist forest life
zone (see chart). Atlas results
show that this species breeds
mostly within the subtropical
moist forest life zone (63 percent
of the hexagons) (see table)
but also in the subtropical dry forest life zone (17 percent
of the hexagons) and within
subtropical wet and subtropical
rain forest life zones at higher elevations (20 and <1 percent of
the hexagons, respectively) (see
table and map).
Conservation
The current population trend of the Rock Pigeon is described as
decreasing in Israel (del Hoyo
and others 2013), but elsewhere
the species is currently listed as a species of least concern by
the IUCN (BirdLife International
2016). Locally, this species is not
listed in any of the threatened
categories of PRDNER and
USFWS. In Puerto Rico, the Rock
Pigeon has a protected habitat
in land of 11 percent or 904
km2 of the total area covered by the hexagons where evidence
of breeding was found for this
species (8276 km2).
Related Species
Family:
pigeon