Rock Dove Call MP3s
Download a clean Rock Dove recording for pest-control scouting, decoy testing, or getting familiar with feral pigeon vocalisations before heading out.
Also known as
Recordings (3)
About this species
A member of the Columbidae (pigeons and doves) measuring roughly 33 cm, the Rock Dove (Columba livia) is unmistakable — blue-grey with two black wing-bars and a glossy green-and-purple neck, ancestor of the feral pigeon. Originally a cliff-dweller, it now thrives on buildings and ledges in towns and cities.
It gives a rolling, moaning 'oo-roo-coo', the ancestral song of the domestic pigeon. It gleans seeds, buds and shoots, and in towns almost any scraps it can find. Long associated with people, it is resident year-round, often in dense urban colonies. Its migration funnels great numbers through Greece and the Mediterranean each autumn.
Legal use
Truly wild Rock Doves survive only in small, localized populations (parts of the Mediterranean, coastal cliffs of Scotland, Ireland, and North Africa/the Middle East), while the vast majority of birds encountered as "pigeons" are feral descendants of domestic stock found worldwide in cities and farmland. Feral pigeons are generally excluded from migratory-bird protections and are managed as a pest species rather than hunted game in most countries: in the US they fall outside the Migratory Bird Treaty Act because they are a non-native, introduced species, and in the UK they can be controlled under general pest-control licences rather than as licensed game. Banded racing/homing pigeons remain the property of their owner and are a distinct legal category that should never be taken. Because pest-control rules, permits, and municipal ordinances vary widely by location, check current local requirements and see our full country-by-country disclaimer.