A pigeon that nests in rocky seaside crevices in the wild. Feral pigeons seen in towns are the same species, descended from domestic birds.
Many have blue-grey bodies with two dark wing bars. Feral pigeons show a variety of plumage colours.
North Uist in Scotland supports wild Rock Doves with little genetic mixing from domestic-origin pigeons. Some use stone buildings among farmland as roosts, alongside the island’s cave-roosting birds. Wild birds can incorporate human-made places into their lives.
In July 2023, seven birds at a farm were fitted with small GPS tags, and movement data were recovered from five. Tracking periods ranged from four to 29 days. All five remained in agricultural surroundings, with recorded positions within three kilometres of the roost. They returned to buildings repeatedly during the day.
Other flocks on the island commute from caves to distant feeding areas. These five could instead sleep within the farmland where they fed, avoiding trips across extensive moorland. The authors suggested that such associations with people offer clues to the pathway into domestication. Even within a wild population, the connection between sleeping and feeding places can take different forms.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
A genetic study published in 2022 detected differing levels of mixing with domestic-origin pigeons among wild populations in Scotland and Ireland. Outer Hebridean birds showed very little admixture and were identified as important remnants of a wild lineage. The authors warned that hybridization could replace distinctive wild lineages and called for broader comparisons of wild, feral and captive populations around the world.