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 & 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

Lifespan 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.