Domestic Pigeon

Paloma Doméstica

Columba livia

Length: 330mm. Sexes alike. Bill black with whitish nares; iris red; head and neck bluish plumbeous grey, the sides of neck and hind neck show a metallic sheen in green and violaceous; breast, flanks, abdomen and undertail coverts slate grey. Back, scapulars and uppertail coverts slate grey; rectrices slate grey with broad blackish terminal band. Lesser and median wing coverts bluish ash-grey; greater wing coverts and secondaries blackish with bluish ash-grey terminal band; primaries dark grey to blackish; underwing coverts and axillaries ash-grey. Legs red.

The Domestic Pigeon descends from the Rock Dove (Columba livia), which originally was distributed in southern Eurasia and northern Africa. Apart from the common phase of its life in the wild, in its domestic form it exhibits several varieties consisting of entirely white to brown, blackish and intermediate tones. This species was introduced from Europe. It lives semiwild in cities and towns all over Argentina, its population increasing each year.