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Columba livia
Normally I don't pay much attention to Rock Pigeons since they're everywhere. But today they were flying around me on a nice sunny day so I started taking shots of them in flight.
Spotted on Mar 24, 2014
Submitted on Mar 25, 2014
4 Comments
Shanna thanks for the nice comment. Here's what Wikipedia says about where they come from and about their distribution:
The Rock Dove has a restricted natural resident range in western and southern Europe, North Africa, and into South Asia. The Rock Dove is often found in pairs in the breeding season but is usually gregarious.[4] The species (including ferals) has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 10,000,000 km2 (3,900,000 sq mi). It has a large global population, including an estimated 17–28 million individuals in Europe. Fossil evidence suggests the Rock Dove originated in southern Asia and skeletal remains unearthed in Israel confirm their existence there for at least three hundred thousand years. However, this species has such a long history with humans that it is impossible to tell exactly where the species' original range was. 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. The species was first introduced to North America in 1606 at Port Royal, Nova Scotia.
Beautiful. Are they native or introduced where you are? They're everywhere in Australia too, but everyone just treats them like 'flying rats' as they're feral. They're really very lovely when you look at them properly.
Interesting about the crop milk. Thanks for the info Ava!
Pigeons are under-appreciated. Like flamingos and some penguins, all doves make Crop Milk -- amazing! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_milk