Stock Dove
Columba oenas
Also known as: Stock Pigeon, Xixella
Habitat
Ground
Diet
PlantSeed
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
291 g
About This Species
Look for this stocky, dark-eyed pigeon feeding quietly on stubble fields, pasture and parkland, often alongside larger wood pigeons but lacking their white neck patch and wing bars. It nests in holes in old trees and quarry faces, so mature parkland and farmland with veteran trees are the best places to find pairs from early spring onward. The display flight is a slow, wing-clapping glide over open ground, most noticeable on calm mornings in the breeding season.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- A gentle 20-30 metre distance with binoculars is plenty for a species this tolerant of open farmland, and there is no need to approach a feeding flock directly.
- In much of its European range nests and eggs are protected while in use, so tree cavities should not be probed or disturbed, particularly during the spring and summer breeding months.
- General countryside access rules on keeping to paths and away from field margins during nesting season are the practical baseline here.
LCAvesColumbiformesColumbidae
Seasonal Activity
1,371,679 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Columbiformes
- Family
- Columbidae
Traits
- Diet
- PlantSeed
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 291 g
Photo
(c) Frank Sengpiel, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Frank Sengpiel
CC-BY-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.