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Species › Birds

Common Wood Pigeon

Columba palumbus

Order
Columbiformes
Family
Columbidae
Presence in the Strait
Resident
Abundance
common
IUCN (global)
LC · Least concern
In Spanish
Paloma torcaz

Photograph: hedera.baltica, CC BY-SA, vía iNaturalist

Length
40–42 cm
Wingspan
75–80 cm
Weight
450 g
020406080LENGTH40–42 cmWINGSPAN75–80 cmcentimetres

Presence in the Strait

Common resident in forests. Abundant during winter (>10,000).

Identification

The largest pigeon, with greyish body, robust pinkish breast and small head. Different from other pigeons because of the white wing-bands and neck patch. In flight, long tail, large body and strong, noisy wing-beats.

Movements

Sedentary with addition of winter visitors. In August and 1st hf. September numbers increase due to flocking of birds from the Peninsula. In October, non-Iberian birds begin to arrive, which return to their breeding areas in February and March.

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Gallery

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.