Common Wood Pigeon

• It is the most commonly shot bird in the United Kingdom, being regarded as an agricultural pest.
• It eats leaves, shoots, flowers, seeds and berries, plus the occasional invertebrate.
• One bird reached a record 17.7 years.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - pneumatised bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat and environment

Woodland, farmland, parks and town gardens across much of western and central Europe, east to western Siberia

Birth weight

Weight at hatching not found as a precise figure

Size at birth

Born blind and naked, fed on crop milk regurgitated by both parents

Sexual maturity

1 year

Gestation / incubation

16-27 days (usual reference 17-19 days)

Litter / clutch size

1 to 3 eggs per clutch (2 most often), with up to 2 broods a year

Life expectancy in captivity

Documented record of up to 17.7 years in a ringed bird in the wild

Sources consulted: Bird Spot · Birdfact · AnAge (genomics.senescence.info) · Garden Wildlife Direct · iNaturalist · Bilderreich · Omlet

Best time: All year round; in winter it forms very large flocks in dehesas and cereal fields.