Confirmation please

[Kenn]

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i316/kenliz/Birds/ARockdove-1.jpg

Can any one confirm that this is a pair of Rock Doves please?
They were found at Duncansby Head last Thursday and I would be delighted to know that I am correct as have never seen them in the UK before although have seen them on The Mediterranean.

[Stefan]

They look like bog standard doves to me. See them in Germany all the time. What do doves in the UK look like ?
Haven't seen any in ages as I never go into town here and the ones in the tree in my back garden fly upwards so I can't really see them.

[Kenn]

Rock Doves are the ancestors of the pigeon,they are smaller and breed on cliffs but will interbreed with feral pigeons which are the birds that plague our streets and cities and I think that would be the ones you are referring to Stefan as to the best of my knowledge this dove does not live or breed in your home country.

[Stefan]

If they are just smaller than the pigeons that poop all over statues, well, how do you distinguish them? Hard to tell from a picture unless we knew what size the rocks are...
However, the anoying pigeons that you practically fall over in the city and that poop on your head if your not careful, they don't seem to have a greenish shiny marking , they seem more purple/blue from what I remember.

The ones I was referring to in my email would sit in our small village on the side of large rock like building (15th century built) and they were rather shy and wouldn't come near people. I was a child then and I can't remember if they were smaller than pigeons on the market place.

BTW, Germany is my birth country, not my home country. "Home is were the heart is" and that is certainly in Scotland for me.

[Stefan]

I found a page about doves which live in Germany:

http://www.stadttauben-online.de/Wildtauben/Felsentauben/felsentauben.html

Sorry, all in German but lists Felsentauben (= rock dove) who breed at the side of buildings...

Have a look at the pictures.

[the_count]

If there is little or no contact with "townies" then i would say that they are rock doves lizz. The problem is that "townies" which are generally feral homing pigeons tend to cross with rock doves quite regularly. This is hardly surprising as homing pigeons were originally bred from rock dove stock. There are quite a few colonies of rock dove along the coast of scotland but where-ever there are large towns/cities nearby there is a good chance that "townies" will have cross bred with the rock doves thereby weakening the genetic strain. hope that clears things up for you :D

[domino]

If I remember correctly the Rock Pigeon is the same colours as those in the photo. Any other colour would be a feral cross. Having said that there is no reason that that feral pigeons of the same colour would not cross breed