Page 233 - Complete Birds of Britain and Europe (DK - RSPB)

PIGEONS AND DOVES/CUCKOOS
Family Columbidae
PIGEONS AND DOVES

HIS IS A RATHER ARTIFICIAL distinction Nests are flimsy affairs and eggs are always pure,
Tin a large family found worldwide. In unmarked white. Shells may be found on the
Europe, some species commonly called “doves” ground where they are dropped, far from the
(Stock Dove and Rock Dove) are more like the nest, by the parent birds after hatching. Breeding
“pigeons”, being rather larger and heavier, and seasons are long and nesting is timed to coincide
shorter-tailed, than the more delicate species with a local abundance of food.
that are usually called doves.
They are all round-bodied, soft-plumaged
birds whose plumage seems to come away easily
in an “explosion” of feathers in any collision,
perhaps helping them to escape predators.
They have short, usually red, legs and small
bills with the nostrils in a fleshy bump at
the base (the “cere”). Bill and leg colours
can be bright and obvious but are of
limited value in identification, which
more often rests on differences in wing
and tail patterns.There is little variation
in appearance between sexes and seasons,
and juveniles look much like their parents,
generally being a little duller or marked
with paler feather edges.
Pigeons and doves drink by sucking water
up in a continuous draught, unlike other birds
that have to raise their heads to tip water back
into their throats.They have loud, simple
vocalizations with little obvious differentiation
between calls and songs, which are good
identification clues, but, with the exception of
the Collared Dove, do not call in flight.Their COLOURFUL
wings make loud clapping sounds, either in Far from being a dull, grey bird,
display or in a sudden take-off when disturbed, a Woodpigeon seen close-up is
a handsome bird.
serving the purpose of alarm calls.

Family Cuculidae
CUCKOOS

UROPE HAS TWO SPECIES but there are many
E cuckoos elsewhere; they are brood parasites,
laying their eggs in the nests of other species
which then unwittingly rear their young. Hence
PARASITE cuckoos are not found in family groups.
A young Cuckoo Cuckoos have short, curved bills, small heads,
soon outgrows its rather long, broad tails, and wide-based, tapered
parent, such as this wings that give a curious appearance in flight,
Reed Warbler, which
will feed it for days. beating below body level.

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