Stock Dove

Stock Dove 

(Columba oenas), a bird of the family Columbidae. Somewhat smaller than the domestic pigeon (weighing about 250 g), it has grayish blue plumage, with a metallic gloss on the neck and crop. The beak is reddish with a yellow cere.

The stock dove is distributed in Europe, northwestern Africa, and Asia. In the USSR it is found from the western borders to the Altai and Middle Asia. In the north it is a migratory bird, and in the south, a settled bird. It lives in deciduous forests and gardens, nesting in tree hollows, in holes on cliffs, and more rarely on the branches of trees. The stock dove lays two clutches of two eggs each a year; the eggs are incubated 16–18 days. The nestlings spend about one month in the nest. The stock dove feeds on seeds. It is a game bird.