Pigeons (Columbidae): Facts, UK Types & Behaviour

Pigeons and doves make up one bird family, the Columbidae, with more than 300 species worldwide (RSPB (opens in new tab)). When most people say “pigeon” they mean the feral pigeon of towns and cities. It is the same species as the wild rock dove, Columba livia, and it descends from domestic pigeons that escaped or were released.

This guide starts with the bird itself: what it is, how big it gets, how long it lives and how to tell it from the four other pigeons and doves that breed in the UK. After that come behaviour, homing, common myths and what to do if you find a pigeon that needs help. Keeping pigeons gets a short summary with links to our detailed care guides.

A flock of grey feral pigeons with green and purple neck sheen feeding on park grass — Feral pigeons feeding in a park. Most show the rock dove pattern of a grey body, two black wing bars and an iridescent neck.

What is a pigeon?

There is no scientific line between a pigeon and a dove. Both names cover members of the same family, and in everyday English the smaller, slimmer species tend to be called doves and the stockier ones pigeons (RSPB (opens in new tab)). The difference between a dove and a pigeon is mostly a matter of habit, which is why the white “doves” released at weddings are usually white domestic pigeons.

The rock dove is the wild ancestor of every domestic pigeon breed. The RSPB notes that the first written evidence of pigeon domestication is more than 5,000 years old. Birds bred for food, sport and message carrying went on to escape, and their descendants are the feral pigeons that now live in towns across the world. Our article on where pigeons come from covers that history in more detail.

Quick facts about the feral pigeon

	Figure	Source
Scientific name	Columba livia (rock dove and feral pigeon)	RSPB (opens in new tab)
Length	30 to 36 cm	Cornell Lab (opens in new tab)
Wingspan	50 to 67 cm	Cornell Lab (opens in new tab)
Weight	265 to 380 g. UK adults average about 360 g	Cornell Lab (opens in new tab), BTO (opens in new tab)
Eggs	Usually 2 per clutch	BTO (opens in new tab)
Incubation	16 to 19 days, shared by both parents	BTO (opens in new tab)
Young leave the nest	25 to 32 days (Cornell); 35 to 37 days (BTO)	Cornell Lab (opens in new tab), BTO (opens in new tab)
Broods per year	1 to 6	Cornell Lab (opens in new tab)
Typical lifespan	3 years for a bird that reaches breeding age	BTO (opens in new tab)
Oldest ringed UK bird	7 years, 8 months	BTO (opens in new tab)
UK population	465,000 pairs (2016 estimate)	BTO (opens in new tab)
UK conservation status	Green list	BTO (opens in new tab)

Figures checked against the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and BTO BirdFacts on 28 October 2026. The two fledging figures come from different studies and are both given.

Pet and racing pigeons often live much longer than wild birds, which is why our pigeon age chart and the guide to how long pigeons live give wider ranges. For size comparisons with other breeds, see how big a pigeon is.

Pigeon species in the UK

Five species of pigeon and dove breed regularly in the UK (RSPB (opens in new tab)). The table compares them using RSPB identification notes and BTO data. Weights are BTO averages for adult birds caught and measured in Britain and Ireland.

Species	How to recognise it	Average weight	UK breeding population	UK status
Feral pigeon / rock dove Columba livia	Two bold black wing bars, pale rump, metallic green and purple neck. Feral birds come in many colours, from white to brick-red and checkered	360 g	465,000 pairs	Green
Woodpigeon Columba palumbus	The largest UK pigeon. White patch on the side of the neck, pink breast, white band across each wing in flight	507 g	5.2 million pairs	Amber
Stock dove Columba oenas	Blue-grey with a green neck sheen and pink breast. No white on the neck or wings and no pale rump. Short black marks on the wing and dark wing edges	326 g	320,000 territories	Amber
Collared dove Streptopelia decaocto	Pale pinky-beige with a black half-collar edged in white, red eye, darker wingtips	205 g	810,000 pairs	Green
Turtle dove Streptopelia turtur	Smallest of the five. Back and wings scalloped orange-brown and black, black-and-white striped neck patch. Summer visitor, mid-April to the end of August	157 g	3,600 territories	Red

Sources: RSPB species pages and ID guide; BTO BirdFacts (weights, 2016 population estimates and Birds of Conservation Concern status). Checked 28 October 2026.

The woodpigeon is the one most often confused with the feral pigeon. Look for the white neck patch and, when it flies, the white band across the wing; a feral pigeon has black wing bars instead. Stock doves are easy to overlook because they look like a neat, plain feral pigeon. Collared doves are slimmer and paler, and the turtle dove is now so rare that most people in Britain will never see one. Our guide to woodpigeons and the law and the article on the Eurasian collared dove go into those two species in more depth.

A woodpigeon perched on a park railing, showing the white neck patch and pink breast — Woodpigeon: note the white neck patch.

A stock dove standing on moss, blue-grey with a green neck patch and no white markings — Stock dove: no white on the neck and no pale rump.

A collared dove walking on a wall, pale beige with a thin black half-collar — Collared dove: the black half-collar gives it its name.

Which pigeon is this? A quick UK ID quiz

Answer up to five questions about the bird you saw. The quiz uses the same field marks as the table above. It cannot separate a wild rock dove from a feral pigeon on looks alone, and nor can experts, so for those birds it uses location as the RSPB suggests.

A note for readers in the US

In the US the city pigeon is usually called the rock pigeon. It was introduced to North America by European colonists in the early 17th century (Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (opens in new tab)) and now lives in towns across the country. The other pigeons and doves you are likely to meet are the native mourning dove, the band-tailed pigeon of the western forests (Cornell Lab (opens in new tab)), and the Eurasian collared-dove. Collared-doves were released in the Bahamas in the 1970s, reached Florida by the 1980s and have since spread across most of North America (Cornell Lab (opens in new tab)). Our comparison of the collared dove and mourning dove shows how to tell those two apart.

How UK pigeon numbers are changing

The BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) is based on counts in randomly selected 1-km squares (3,967 of them in 2024), and its trends are published as official statistics. The chart shows the change between 1995 and 2023 for the five species, taken from Table 2 of the BBS Report 2024 (opens in new tab).

The stock dove (+51%) and woodpigeon (+36%) have both increased. The collared dove, which only colonised Britain in 1955 when the first birds were found in Norfolk (BTO (opens in new tab)), has fallen by 21% since 1995. The turtle dove has lost 98% of its population over the same period, which is why it is red-listed and why the RSPB treats it as a priority species. The feral pigeon trend (−11%) is not statistically significant, and the BTO describes the species as poorly monitored.

Over a longer period the contrast is starker. BTO BirdFacts gives a 152% increase for the woodpigeon and a 99% decrease for the turtle dove between 1967 and 2024. If you want to know which pigeon species face the greatest risk worldwide, see our article on whether pigeons are endangered.

Wild, feral and domestic pigeons

Pure wild rock doves are now thought to survive in the UK only on remote coasts of north and west Scotland, offshore islands and parts of Northern Ireland (BTO (opens in new tab)). Everywhere else, the birds on cliffs and in cities are feral pigeons or a mix of the two, and the RSPB says it is impossible to tell them apart on sight.

A grey wild-type pigeon with black wing bars standing on heather above a loch in the Outer Hebrides — A wild-type pigeon in the Outer Hebrides, one of the areas where pure rock doves are thought to survive.

Domestic pigeons are the same species bred by people. Shapiro and colleagues (2013) put the number of domestic breeds at more than 350, and their genome study traced the origins of the major breed groups to the Middle East (Shapiro et al., Science (opens in new tab)). Darwin used pigeon breeds as a central example in The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication (opens in new tab) (1868). Breeds are usually grouped by what they were bred for: flying and sporting birds such as tipplers, utility breeds such as the king pigeon, fancy breeds such as the Indian fantail and Scandaroon, and homing or racing pigeons. Our overview of pigeon types lists many more.

A domestic pigeon usually wears a numbered ring. According to the RSPCA, show pigeons in the UK carry rings starting with NPA and racing pigeons rings starting with GB; birds without rings are usually wild.

Anatomy and senses

A pigeon is a compact, short-legged bird with a small head and broad, pointed wings. The diagram labels the parts of a feral pigeon that matter most for identification and care. For a more detailed tour, including feathers and the skeleton, see our pigeon anatomy guide.

The white, fleshy patch at the base of the beak is the cere. The crop, a pouch in the lower throat, stores food and, in breeding adults of both sexes, produces the crop milk that feeds the young (Cornell Lab (opens in new tab)). Pigeons drink by sucking water up with the bill, which most birds cannot do. The RSPCA describes a field of view of around 340 degrees, and our article on pigeon eyesight explains what pigeons can and cannot see.

Behaviour and intelligence

Feral pigeons are social and usually live in flocks. A male courts by puffing out his throat, cooing, bowing and strutting in circles around the female; the pair may preen each other, and the female builds the nest from material the male brings her one piece at a time (Cornell Lab (opens in new tab)). Nests are reused many times and the droppings are not removed, so an old nest becomes a solid mound. The bowing display and the sounds pigeons make each have their own article.

Pigeons are also among the most studied birds in psychology labs. In one experiment pigeons learned an abstract rule for ordering groups of objects by number and performed as well as monkeys given the same task (Scarf et al., 2011 (opens in new tab)). In another, trained pigeons learned to tell benign from malignant breast tissue in medical images and applied that to images they had not seen before (Levenson et al., 2015 (opens in new tab)). More examples are collected in how smart pigeons are.

Navigation and homing

Homing pigeons can find their way back to the loft from places they have never been. Experiments reviewed by Charles Walcott show that they use the sun as a compass and switch to a magnetic compass when the sun is hidden; how they work out which direction home lies from an unfamiliar site is still debated (Walcott, 1996 (opens in new tab)).

Close to home they navigate by what they see. GPS tracking found that experienced pigeons develop their own fixed, and often indirect, routes and return to them even when released off-route (Biro et al., 2004 (opens in new tab)). Near Rome, tracked pigeons followed motorways and a railway line towards home and turned off at particular junctions (Lipp et al., 2004 (opens in new tab)). Our guide to how pigeons navigate covers the competing theories, and you can work out race speeds with the pigeon velocity calculator.

Pigeons and people

Pigeons have carried messages for thousands of years, and the RSPB notes that pigeon post helped save lives during the Second World War. Their story in the earlier conflict is told in how many pigeons died in WW1, and individual birds are profiled in famous pigeons. The pigeon family also includes one of the best-known extinctions, the passenger pigeon of North America.

Myths and facts

Claim	What the evidence says
“Pigeons spread lots of disease.”	Feral pigeons can carry organisms that infect people, but cases are rare. A review of reports from 1941 to 2003 found 176 documented transmissions to humans, mostly through breathing in dust from droppings, and judged the risk to be very low for healthy people (Haag-Wackernagel and Moch, 2004 (opens in new tab)). The UK Health Security Agency says fewer than 10 confirmed cases of psittacosis, the best-known bird-borne infection, are usually reported each year in England (UKHSA (opens in new tab)). See do pigeons carry diseases for more.
“They are pests, so anyone can kill them.”	All wild birds in Great Britain are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (opens in new tab). Feral pigeons and woodpigeons can only be killed or taken under a licence, such as the general licences issued in England by Natural England since January 2026, and only for the specific purposes those licences set out (GOV.UK (opens in new tab)). Our article on whether it is legal to shoot pigeons explains the conditions.
“Feeding pigeons is illegal.”	There is no general ban in the UK, but some places forbid it. Feeding birds has been banned in Trafalgar Square under the GLA byelaws (opens in new tab), and councils can restrict it through Public Spaces Protection Orders (Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, s.59 (opens in new tab)). If you do feed them, our guide to what pigeons eat lists better choices than bread.
“A woodpigeon is just a pigeon that lives in the woods.”	The woodpigeon (Columba palumbus) and the feral pigeon (Columba livia) are separate species. The woodpigeon is larger, has white neck and wing patches and is the UK’s most numerous pigeon (RSPB (opens in new tab)).
“Pigeons in the garden are bad luck.”	Luck is folklore, not biology. Woodpigeons, collared doves and stock doves are ordinary garden and park birds in much of the UK. If you are curious about the superstitions, see pigeon symbolism and why pigeon poop is said to be good luck.

Keeping pigeons: a short summary

Pigeons are popular pets and sporting birds because they are calm, hardy and easy to handle once tame. A pet or racing pigeon needs a dry, well-ventilated loft or aviary with perches and nest boxes, a seed mix made for pigeons, clean water and grit, and regular checks for common illnesses. Most keepers start with a pair or a small group, because pigeons are social.

Domestic pigeons resting on wooden perches and nest boxes inside a loft

Our detailed guides cover each step:

Pigeons as pets: whether a pigeon suits you
How to build a pigeon coop
The best pigeon food and why pigeons need grit
Common pigeon diseases and signs of a sick pigeon
Caring for a baby pigeon
Pigeon pants, for house pigeons that live indoors

What to do if you find a pigeon

Check the legs first. A pigeon with a ring is someone’s bird: a GB ring means a racing pigeon and an NPA ring a show bird (RSPCA). Our guide on what to do if you find a racing pigeon explains how to trace the owner from the ring number.

A pigeon that is injured, cannot fly or is sitting still in the open needs help. Follow the RSPCA’s advice on sick and injured pigeons (opens in new tab) or the RSPB’s guide to who to call about a bird (opens in new tab), and contact a pigeon-friendly rescue: we keep a list of rescue centres. Our step-by-step guide to helping an injured pigeon covers what to do while you wait. While bird flu controls are in place, the RSPCA advises not touching sick or dead birds, and washing your hands thoroughly if you have to.

A young pigeon that is fully feathered and hopping about near its nest is probably fine. A bare or downy chick on the ground is not, and the guide to what baby pigeons look like will help you tell the difference.

Frequently asked questions

What is special about pigeons?

Pigeons were among the first birds domesticated, more than 5,000 years ago according to the RSPB, and they can find their way home from unfamiliar places using a sun compass, a magnetic sense and familiar landmarks. Both parents feed their young on crop milk, which few birds produce.

How many types of pigeon are there in the UK?

Five species of pigeon and dove breed regularly in the UK: the feral pigeon (rock dove), woodpigeon, stock dove, collared dove and turtle dove. The woodpigeon is the most numerous, with about 5.2 million pairs, and the turtle dove the rarest.

Are pigeons friendly?

Feral pigeons that are used to being fed in towns will come close to people, and hand-reared pigeons can become very tame. Wild pigeons in the countryside are usually wary. Like any wild animal, a pigeon should not be grabbed unless it needs rescuing.

What does it mean when a pigeon hangs around your house?

Usually that it has found food, water or a sheltered ledge to roost or nest on. If the bird has a ring on its leg, it may be a tired racing pigeon or a lost pet, and the ring number can be used to trace the owner.

Are pigeons good to have in the garden?

Woodpigeons, collared doves and stock doves are normal garden visitors and do no harm in small numbers. They eat seed, grain and some greens, so they may take bird food or nibble brassicas.

Is a pigeon good or bad luck?

Neither, in a scientific sense. Different cultures have different superstitions; some treat pigeon droppings landing on you as good luck, and the white dove is a symbol of peace.

How much does a pigeon weigh?

A feral pigeon weighs 265 to 380 g, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. BTO measurements of UK adults average about 360 g. Woodpigeons are heavier, at about 500 g on average.

How long do pigeons live?

The BTO gives a typical lifespan of three years for a wild feral pigeon that reaches breeding age. The oldest ringed bird in the UK was 7 years and 8 months old. Kept pigeons can live much longer.

Which US states have pigeons?

Rock pigeons live in cities and towns across the US. Mourning doves and Eurasian collared-doves are also widespread, while the band-tailed pigeon is found mainly in the West.

Sources

Every figure on this page was checked against the sources below on 28 October 2026. Where two good sources disagree, both figures are shown. If you spot an error, please contact us.

Changelog, 28 October 2026: rebuilt the guide around the bird itself. Added the quick facts and UK species tables, the BTO population chart, a new anatomy illustration, the ID quiz, myths and facts, advice on finding a pigeon, the FAQ and sources. The keeping section is now a summary that links to our care guides.

Last updated 28 October 2026 · Facts