James Lewis

Pigeons and doves constitute the bird family Columbidae, which include some 300 species of near passerines. In general, dove and pigeon are almost the same. Their names are used interchangeably. And historically the common names for these birds involve a lot of variations. However, there is a tendency for dove to be used for smaller species and pigeon for larger ones. This family of bords occurs worldwide, but the greatest variety is in the Indomalaya and Australasia ecozones.

Pigeons and doves are stout-bodied birds with short necks, and have short slender bills with a fleshy cere. The species commonly referred to just as “pigeon” is the feral Rock Pigeon, common in many cities.

Doves and pigeons build flimsy nests from debris, which may be placed in trees, on ledges or on the ground. They lay one or two eggs, and both parents care for the young, which leave the nest after 7 to 28 days. Doves feed on seeds, fruit and plants. Both sexes produce highly nutritious substance to feed to the baby.

Pigeons and doves are distributed everywhere on Earth. They have colonised most of the world’s oceanic islands, reaching eastern Polynesia and the Chatham Islands in the Pacific, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Réunion in the Indian Ocean, and the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean.

The family has adapted to most of the habitats available on the planet. The largest number of species are found in tropical forests and woodlands. Various species also inhabit deserts, savannas, grasslands, temperate woodlands and forests, etc..

The distribution of the species vary a lot. Some species have large natural ranges. The Eared Dove ranges across the entirety of South America, the Eurasian Collared Dove has a massive distribution from Britain across Europeto China, and the Laughing Dove across most of sub-Saharan Africa as well as India and the Middle-east.

Many other species have a tiny restricted distribution, which is most common in island endemics. The Whistling Dove is endemic to the tiny island of Kadavu in Fiji, the Caroline Ground-dove is restricted to two islands, Truk and Pohnpei in the Caroline Islands and the Grenada Dove is restricted to Grenada in the Caribbean. Even some continental species also have small distributions. For example the Black-banded Fruit-dove is restricted to a small area of the Arnhem Land of Australia, the Somali Pigeon is restricted to a tiny area of northern Somalia.

The largest range of any species is that of the Rock Pigeon, or named as Rock Dove. The species had a large natural distribution from Britain and Ireland to northern Africa, across Europe, almost everywhere, up into China and Mongolia. The range of the species increased dramatically upon domestication as the species went feral in cities around the world. The species is not the only pigeon to have increased its range due to actions of man. Several other species have become established outside of their natural range after escaping captivity, and other species have increased their natural ranges due to habitat changes also caused by human activities.

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