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They can find their way home over hundreds of kilometres using the Earth’s magnetic field and the sun’s position.
The common pigeon can distinguish ultraviolet rays, unlike humans and primates who see the rainbow spectrum. In the 1980s, they were used in search-and-rescue operations to find people wearing life jackets.
Humans have bred over 800 pigeon varieties, all descended from the common pigeon. These breeds differ greatly in body structure, size, plumage, and flight abilities.
The common pigeon found objects in 93% of cases, while rescuers found them in 38%. Pigeons can hear sounds of much lower frequencies than humans.
Common pigeons damage monuments by pecking seeds from microscopic cracks, enlarging them. This gradually destroys architectural structures as seeds are carried by wind.
The breast of an adult female common pigeon lacks a metallic sheen. It is less intense than in males and does not appear in this area.
Neuronal density in the brain is several times higher than in humans.
The common pigeon can fly at speeds up to 185 km/h. In mountains, birds dive almost vertically with a whistle.
Common pigeon chicks make weak hissing sounds or click their beaks at birth. Older chicks squeak when being fed. They squeak specifically when seeing a parent and during feeding.
Many pigeon breeds share a single wild ancestor, and the rock pigeon also participated in forming separate breeds. This is now well known.
Common pigeons feed their chicks with "pigeon milk" — a nutritious mixture from the crop, characteristic of all pigeon species. This mixture contains a lot of fat and protein, but few carbohydrates.

年齢

The rock dove, also known as a blue rock pigeon or common pigeon, has a typical lifespan of from 2 to 15 years, although its theoretical lifespan can extend from 30 years to 36 years and 4 months. The species reaches sexual maturity at an age ranging from 9 months and 1 week to 1 year and 3 months. A chick’s eyes open between 4 days and 1 week, following the embryonic stage where the embryo develops inside an egg and does not feed itself. The chick hatches from the egg and remains in the nest, being fed special milk from the parents’ crop. Subsequently, the young bird leaves the nest and learns to fly and find food during a period lasting from 1 month and 1 week to 6 months. This is followed by the adult stage, which lasts from 6 months to 20 years, when the bird is ready for reproduction and independent living.

表現型

The rock dove chick has a short beak that receives food from its parents, and its body is covered with yellowish down for warmth. Young birds after rapid growth have gray plumage with two dark bands on each wing, and their wings allow for fast flight and maneuverability. Adult common pigeons possess a short and strong beak for gathering seeds, and have short red legs with four toes for walking and perching. The adult’s neck feathers shimmer green and purple in sunlight, while the tail assists in flight control.

生理学

The rock dove’s body height ranges from 68 to 75 centimeters, with a body length of 32 to 36 centimeters and a weight between 274 and 291 grams; the wingspan measures from 67.8 to 70.2 centimeters. During the embryo stage, the developing young have a body mass of 15 to 20 grams and a body length of 3 to 4 centimeters. The nestling stage sees the young weighing from 15 to 250 grams and measuring 8 to 15 centimeters in length. Following rapid growth, the young weigh between 200 and 350 grams with a body length of 28 to 33 centimeters. Adult rock doves have a weight ranging from 250 to 400 grams and a body length of 32 to 36 centimeters.

生息地

The rock dove occupies elevations up to 2.5 kilometers above sea level and inhabits biomes including temperate mixed forests with warm summers and many oak, birch, and maple trees, flooded meadows with abundant grass where water frequently covers the ground, and taiga characterized by cold winters and numerous coniferous trees such as spruce and pine. The species’ landscape preference includes terrestrial areas and woodland. The climate varies, encompassing cool summers with temperatures from 15 to 20 degrees Celsius, very hot summers exceeding 25 to 30 degrees Celsius, consistently wet conditions with nearly constant rain and high humidity, a combination of abundant rainfall, warm summers, and snowfall in winter, and winters with significant snow and cold temperatures.

隠れ家

Rock doves are found on building ledges, cliffs, and in crevices. The species builds or utilizes nest structures for laying eggs and raising young. Nests are constructed from twigs, grass, and paper.

地理

Rock doves are distributed across six biogeographic realms, including Afrotropics, Australasia, Indomalaya, Nearctic, Neotropics, and Palearctic; the species occupies Celtic broadleaf forests, broadleaf forests of Western Europe, Canadian aspen forests and parklands, coniferous forests of Mount Cilia, low-lying forests of the Eastern Great Lakes, and low-lying forests of the Saint Lawrence Bay.

餌

The rock dove’s diet consists of seeds and grains; in urban environments, the species forages for bread crumbs and other food waste. It gathers food with its beak from the ground or surfaces, consuming plants, grains, seeds, fruit, insects, and organic detritus. The daily food requirement ranges from 20 to 40 grams. Young rock doves eat invertebrates, including beetles, butterflies, diptera (two-winged insects), hymenoptera (membrane-winged insects), bedbugs, orthoptera (straight-winged insects), dragonflies, mayflies, and net-winged insects. The feeding strategy involves searching for and swallowing food whole.

繁殖

The rock dove’s embryo develops for 2 months and 1 week. A clutch has 1 to 2 eggs, which are laid by the female. Both parents incubate the eggs and feed the young. The size of a brood is 1 to 2. Pairs remain together for a long time; the male attracts the female with cooing. The species reaches maturity from 5 to 7 months. The interval between breeding periods is from 1 to 2 months.