Listen to the rock dove
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
About the rock dove
The rock dove is a bird in the family Columbidae (order Columbiformes). Its conservation status on the IUCN Red List is “least concern”. Adults have a wingspan of about 69 cm and weigh around 294 g.
What does the rock dove sound like?
Most birds have two kinds of vocalisation: songs, which are learned or innate phrases delivered mainly in spring and summer, and calls – brief contact, alarm and begging notes heard all year round. Listening for both helps with identification.
The recordings here are labelled as call. Listen for differences in rhythm, pitch and repetition – the spectrum display makes it easy to see whether a sound is a pure whistle (a thin line), a harsh call (a broad band) or a trill (rapid repeated marks).
From Wikipedia
The rock dove (Columba livia), also known as the common pigeon or rock pigeon (but see also Petrophassa), is a member of the bird family Columbidae (doves and pigeons). In common usage, it is often simply referred to as the "pigeon", although the rock dove is the wild form of the bird; the pigeons familiar to most people are the domesticated forms of the wild rock dove.
Wild rock doves are uniformly pale grey with two black bars on each wing, with few differences being seen between males and females; i.e. they are not strongly sexually dimorphic. The domestic pigeon, often called "Columba livia domestica", which includes about 1,000 different breeds, is descended from this species. Escaped domestic pigeons are the origin of feral pigeons around the world. Both forms can vary widely in the colour and pattern of their plumage unlike their wild ancestor, being red, brown, checkered, uniformly coloured, or pied.
Related birds in the genus Columba
More from the family Columbidae
Eurasian collared dove
Streptopelia decaocto
European turtle dove
Streptopelia turtur
Spotted dove
Spilopelia chinensis
Laughing dove
Spilopelia senegalensis
Mourning dove
Zenaida macroura
Kererū
Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae
Orange-breasted green pigeon
Treron bicinctus
Zebra dove
Geopelia striata
Crested pigeon
Ocyphaps lophotes
Frequently asked questions
What does a rock dove sound like?
You can hear 2 recordings of the rock dove on this page, including its call. Most birds have two kinds of vocalisation: songs, which are learned or innate phrases delivered mainly in spring and summer, and calls – brief contact, alarm and begging notes heard all year round.
Is the rock dove endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the rock dove as “least concern”.
What family does the rock dove belong to?
The rock dove (Columba livia) belongs to the family Columbidae in the order Columbiformes.
Sources & credits
- Call · Paris, Arrondissement de Paris, Île-de-France, France by Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Call · Paris, Arrondissement de Paris, Île-de-France, France by Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q42326 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Rock dove – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo by william_stephens – CC BY 4.0