Columba livia lives in Georgia year-round and nests there. It is usually bluish-gray, with two black bars on its wings and a dark tip to its tail. Pigeons in cities belong to the same species; some are descendants of domesticated pigeons. Color alone cannot tell us whether a pigeon seen in a city is of wild origin. It is not venomous.
Identification
How to identify Rock Dove
It is usually bluish gray, with two black bars on the wing and a dark band at the end of the tail. Its neck often has a green and purple sheen. Birds living in cities may be white, reddish, black or mottled. A bird without two bars on its wing may still belong to this species.
Often confused with
It is about 30–36 cm long. It has a stocky body, a relatively small head and pointed wings. Two distinctive black bars on each wing are clearly visible even when the wing is folded. Males and females look very similar.
Columba palumbus is larger. Adults have a white patch on the side of the neck and a broad white band on the wing that shows in flight. Young birds may not yet have the white neck patch, so check the wing too. Columba oenas grows to a similar size but lacks the two distinct black wing bars typical of a wild pigeon.
საყელოიანი გვრიტი is lighter in color and has a black half-ring on the back of its head.
Distribution
Where Rock Dove distribution is confirmed in Georgia
363 field records2007–20269 confirmed regions
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- Field observation
- Several records in one spot
- Photo record
- Confirmed distribution region
The Rock Dove map uses public iNaturalist photo observations in Georgia. Regions come from the records-by-region table: only confirmed status counts as distribution; otherwise a region is not treated as part of the range. These records do not separate genetically wild birds from free-living city pigeons. Record counts reflect observation effort, not population density.
Data: Reptiles.ge + iNaturalist · Methodology
Biology
Diet, behavior, and conservation
Diet
It mainly eats seeds and grains it finds on the ground. It sometimes eats fruit and, rarely, animals without backbones. In cities, it also eats food left by people.
Behavior
It is active during the day; it often walks on the ground and feeds in groups. It has a low coo. It nests in a crevice or on a ledge of a cliff or building. It usually lays two white eggs; both parents feed the chicks a milk-like food brought up from their crops.
Conservation
The 2024 assessment does not consider this species threatened globally or in Georgia. The assessment for Georgia is a draft and does not establish a legal status. Pigeons of wild origin are hard to distinguish from domesticated pigeons living in cities. So the number of city pigeons cannot tell us how the wild population is doing.
Yes. According to 2024 records, this species lives year-round and nests.
It is on the list of birds of the Alazani Valley. City pigeons are also found in Georgia, but where they are found alone cannot tell us whether they are of wild origin.
The kedani is larger. Adults have a white patch on the neck and a broad white band on the wing that is visible in flight. A typical wild pigeon has two black bands on its wing.
An adult bird is about 30–36 cm long.
Yes. Pigeons living freely in cities also belong to Columba livia; some are descendants of domesticated pigeons. Their coloring does not prove wild ancestry.
It mainly eats seeds and grains. It is not venomous, but avoid breathing in dust from accumulated dried droppings; do not disturb its nest or young.
References
Sources
References
Sources
- Budagashvili & Javakhishvili 2024 — The birds of Georgia (Sandgrouse 46)
- ილიას სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი — საქართველოს ფრინველთა ჩამონათვალი
- ილიას სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი — ალაზნის SPA 2-ის სახეობათა სია
- iNaturalist — Columba livia-ის საჯარო დაკვირვებები საქართველოში
- IOC World Bird List — Rock Dove
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology — Rock Pigeon identification
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology — Rock Pigeon life history
- BTO BirdFacts — Rock Dove
- BTO — Identification of pigeons
- Smith et al. 2022 — Limited domestic introgression in a final refuge of the wild pigeon
- CDC/NIOSH — დაავადების რისკი ფრინველის განავალთან კონტაქტისას
- UK Health and Safety Executive — დაავადებების რისკი ფრინველის განავლის მტვრისგან
- xeno-canto XC977797 — Columba livia (Pietro Bonanno, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — გარეული მტრედი შოტლანდიაში, dipper12 (CC BY 4.0)
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
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