Common woodpigeon
Columba palumbus
A large grey pigeon with a white neck patch and a broad white wing bar in flight. Confirmed in Georgia as a year-round resident, a passage migrant, and a winter visitor on the 2024 national bird checklist.
At a glance
Key facts in one look
Diet
Leaves, seeds, grain
Status in Georgia
Resident, migrant, winter visitor
Size
38–45 cm
Habitat
Woods, parks, farmland edge
Family
Columbidae
Conservation
LC
Human interaction: It is not venomous and is not a threat to people. Do not catch or keep wild birds without a permit. In Georgia it is a game species where hunting is lawful; follow current Georgian rules. Hunting in protected areas is forbidden unless the rules say otherwise.
Overview
What is Common woodpigeon
The common woodpigeon (Columba palumbus) is a large woodland pigeon (family Columbidae). The 2024 annotated checklist of the birds of Georgia codes it YR-R; M; WV: a breeder present throughout the year, a bird of passage, and a winter visitor. Seasonality is classed as high-quality (code A). Occurrence quality is high (H), with photographs and checklist evidence. The usual Georgian name is ქედანი; ტყის მტრედი is also used. Adults are about 38–45 cm long at species level. It is not a threat to people. IUCN lists the species as Least Concern. The 2024 checklist assigns the same category nationally.
Last updated
Gallery
Common woodpigeon in photos
Photo: Jakub Hałun
Kraków ·
Photo: Alexis Lours
Franconville, Val-d'Oise ·
Photo: Alexis Lours
Yvelines ·
Photo: Jakub Hałun
Rżuchów, Poland ·
Photo: Alexey V. Kurochkin
Yakhroma, Moscow Oblast ·
Identification
How to identify Common woodpigeon
Georgia’s largest pigeon: a white patch on each side of the neck, a broad white wing bar in flight, and a deep five-note coo. On the 2024 checklist it is a year-round resident, a migrant, and a winter visitor.
- 01
Length about 38–45 cm at species level, wingspan often about 75–80 cm, mass often about 300–615 g. A separate measured series from Georgia is not given on this page. The body is bulky, with a full breast. Adults have a grey head and back, a pink wash on the breast, and a white patch on each side of the neck next to green–purple iridescent feathers. The bill is pink-orange with a pale tip and a white cere; the eye is pale yellow. A white edge shows on the folded wing and becomes a broad white bar in flight. The tail is grey with a dark tip.
- 02
Juveniles lack a clean white neck patch or show it weakly; the overall tone is duller. Sexes look similar in the field. The song is a deep, repeated five-note coo, not the three-note coo of collared dove. Birds often feed on the ground and flush with a noisy wing clap.
- 03
Rock dove (Columba livia) is a year-round resident in Georgia on the 2024 checklist (YR-R). It is smaller, lacks the white neck patch, and does not show a broad white wing bar in flight; feral town birds are often piebald. Stock dove (Columba oenas), Georgian გულიო or გვიძინი, is listed as a breeder, migrant and winter visitor (BB; M; WV): more compact, with no white neck patch or white wing bar, and black spots on the wing. European turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) is much smaller, with a chestnut-and-black scaly back and a striped neck patch — see that species page in this atlas. Eurasian collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto) is paler grey-buff with a single black half-collar on the nape. This atlas does not yet have separate pages for rock dove, stock dove, or collared dove.
- 04
It is not a threat to people. A large grey pigeon in Georgia with a white neck patch and a white wing bar in flight is this species, not a town rock dove.
Biology
Habitat, diet, behavior, and conservation
Habitat and range
Look for it in woodland, woodland edge, parks, gardens, floodplain trees, and farmland where trees meet open ground. At species level it feeds on the ground and in trees; nests are usually in trees. The 2024 checklist confirms country-level resident, migrant, and winter-visitor status but does not publish a regional gazetteer. This page does not colour a municipality-by-municipality map. Do not assume it occurs evenly across Georgia, including treeless alpine plateaus or bare high mountains. An NPLG encyclopaedia entry says it occurs almost throughout Georgia, especially in the east, that numbers rise in winter with birds from the north, and that it uses various woods and scrub, mostly floodplain forest. That is older country-level description, not a 2024 regional map. A separate national elevation band for Georgia is not published here. The European IUCN regional assessment gives an upper limit around 1,600 m at species level; that is not a Georgian series.
Diet
There is no separate weighed Georgian diet study on this page. Across the range it takes mainly plant food: green leaves, buds, flowers, seeds, grain and berries; invertebrates are taken rarely. It often feeds on the ground and sometimes in trees. Nestlings are fed crop milk (a nutritious secretion from the crop of both parents). In Georgia it is a traditional game bird; hunting is regulated separately from the Red List.
Behavior
It is active by day. The song is a deep five-note coo, often rendered “ru-HOO hu-hu-hu”, with stress on the second note; it is often given from a treetop. Take-off is noisy, with clattering wings. In flight a broad white wing bar is obvious. The nest is a platform of twigs in a tree, sometimes quite high. Species-level clutches are usually two white eggs; incubation is about 17 days and both parents sit; young leave the nest after about three to four weeks, and more than one brood may be raised in a season — those figures are from the wider range, not a Georgian nest sample. The 2024 checklist treats it as a resident breeder in Georgia and also as a migrant and winter visitor. Northern and eastern populations are more migratory at species level; southern and central European birds are more resident or partial migrants. Exact arrival and departure dates for Georgia are not tabulated here.
Conservation
BirdLife International assesses Columba palumbus as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List; the global range and population are very large, and the European trend is increasing. The 2024 Georgian checklist assigns global and national category LC. It is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List (Government Resolution No. 190). Checklist evidence includes hunter-collected material (CH), so regulated hunting is part of the documented Georgian picture. Published Environmental Supervision Department seasons allow Columba palumbus (ქედანი) from the fourth Saturday of August to 15 February, with a daily limit of 10 birds — check the live DES notice for the hunting year. A pair count for Georgia is not given on this page. Do not disturb nests or take wild birds outside a lawful season and permit.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the most important questions about Common woodpigeon.
Yes. The 2024 annotated checklist of the birds of Georgia lists it as a confirmed year-round resident, migrant, and winter visitor (YR-R; M; WV).
In woods, woodland edge, parks, gardens, and farmland with trees. This page has no municipality list and does not colour the regional map. Presence is confirmed at country level.
Adults have a white patch on the side of the neck and a broad white wing bar in flight. Rock dove and stock dove lack that combination. Turtle dove is much smaller with a scaly chestnut back.
About 38–45 cm long at species level, with a wingspan often about 75–80 cm. A separate measured series from Georgia is not given on this page.
Mainly leaves, seeds, grain and berries; chicks are fed crop milk. Diet has not been studied separately in Georgia on this page.
All year as a resident breeder; it is also a migrant and winter visitor on the 2024 checklist. Exact arrival and departure dates are not tabulated on this page.
Yes. YR-R means resident breeder. Named nest sites inside Georgia are not listed on this page.
It is harmless to people. It is globally Least Concern and coded LC nationally on the 2024 checklist. It is not on the 2014 Georgian Red List. It is a game species in Georgia in the published season; do not hunt or catch birds outside the lawful rules.
- Budagashvili & Javakhishvili 2024 — The birds of Georgia (Sandgrouse 46)
- SABUKO — Bird checklist
- BirdLife DataZone — Common Woodpigeon
- IUCN Red List — Columba palumbus (Europe assessment)
- IOC World Bird List
- Avibase — Georgia bird checklist
- საქართველოს მთავრობის დადგენილება №190 (2014) — წითელი ნუსხა
- გარემოსდაცვითი ზედამხედველობის დეპარტამენტი — ნადირობის სეზონი
- NPLG Wiki Dictionaries — ქედანი
- RSPB — Woodpigeon
- BTO BirdFacts — Woodpigeon
- Birds of the World — Common Wood-Pigeon (Baptista et al.)
- Wikimedia Commons — Kraków (Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Franconville (Alexis Lours, CC BY 2.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — flight, Yvelines (Alexis Lours, CC BY 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Rżuchów (Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Yakhroma (Alexey V. Kurochkin, CC BY-SA 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.
Related guides
Continue with related pages
Accipiter gentilis
Eurasian goshawk
Year-round resident, migrant and winter visitor in Georgia
Accipiter nisus
Eurasian sparrowhawk
Year-round resident and migrant in Georgia
Aegypius monachus
Cinereous vulture
Year-round resident and migrant in Georgia
Anas platyrhynchos
Mallard
Year-round resident, migrant and winter visitor in Georgia