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FERAL PIGEON
Columba livia

Feral Pigeon © John Tully
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: green
Long-term trend
UK: possible increase
UK population size
>100,000 pairs in 1968–72 (1968–72 Atlas: APEP06); 100,000–250,000 pairs in 1988–91 (BiE04)
Status summary
CBC samples for Feral Pigeon were consistently too small for annual monitoring, and there was no trend information before BBS began in 1994. Breeding atlas data show a 39% increase in occupied 10-km squares between 1968–72 and 1988–91 (Gibbons et al. 1993), suggesting that Feral Pigeons may be on an upward trajectory, like the other Columba species in the UK. At the time of the first atlas, however, Feral Pigeons were commonly excluded from bird surveys, and some of the reported subsequent range increase may have been due to greater observer awareness. It is now clear that Feral Pigeons are almost ubiquitous in the UK, nesting in rural as well as urban habitats, and avoiding only the highest ground. No distinction can realistically be drawn between birds of domestic origin and true wild-type Rock Doves, although birds of wild-type plumage may still predominate on remote Scottish islands. In field conditions, it is not usually possible to distinguish between Rock Doves, wild-nesting Feral Pigeons, semicaptive dovecote breeders, and passing racing pigeons, and BBS counts are likely to include all these groups. BBS indices have yet to reveal any trends.
 

Population changes
BBS UK graph
 
BBS acknowledgement
 
BBS England graph
BBS Scotland graph
 

Productivity trends
Productivity information is not currently available for this species

Additional information
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This report should be cited as:
Baillie, S.R., Marchant, J.H., Crick, H.Q.P., Noble, D.G., Balmer, D.E., Barimore, C., Coombes, R.H.,
Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Joys, A.C., Leech, D.I., Raven, M.J., Robinson, R.A. & Thewlis, R.M. (2007)
Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2007.
BTO Research Report No. 487. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends)

Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 3 January, 2008