Stock dove

Voice

A dull, two-syllable, faintly sighing ooo-wup, ooo-wup, stressed at the front and repeated in long series, far more monotonous and hollow than a Woodpigeon's cooing. Heard mainly from February to June in the early morning, and already on sunny days in midwinter.

Identification

Uniform blue-grey with a green-glossed neck patch, a wine-pink breast and two short, broken black bars on the wing. The eye is dark and the bill yellow with a white cere. In flight the grey central panel of the wing stands out, framed by a broad dark trailing edge and dark wingtips.

Confusion species

Woodpigeon is larger, with a white neck patch and a broad white wing bar; either feature rules Stock Dove out. Feral and Rock Doves show two broad, unbroken black wing bars and a white rump, or at least a pale body with contrasting white underwings, whereas Stock Dove has a plain grey rump and dark underwings.

Habitat

Old broadleaved woodland, parkland, hedgerow trees and farmyards with hollow trees, and also cliffs, dunes and even rabbit burrows. Feeds on arable fields, stubbles and grassland, often in mixed flocks with Woodpigeons and Jackdaws. Readily takes over Black Woodpecker holes and boxes put up for Tawny Owl or Jackdaw.

Range and movements

Breeds across nearly all of Europe, with strongholds in the lowland woods of western and central Europe; the Netherlands holds a large and growing population. Northern birds move south and swell winter numbers in France and Iberia. In Spain it is both a breeder and a numerous winter visitor on the meseta.

• Resident
• Breeding (summer)
• Winter
• Passage
• Migration direction
• dark = core range, pale = thinly spread

Where and when to look

Go to an old oak or beech wood at first light in March and listen for the monotonous cooing, then follow the sound to a tree with woodpecker holes. In October and November scan through migrating Woodpigeons: Stock Dove flies faster, looks darker and lacks any white wing bar.

Conservation status

After the crash caused by mercury seed dressings and pesticides last century the species has recovered strongly and is now increasing in the Netherlands, helped by the spread of the Black Woodpecker and by nest boxes. Felling of old hollow trees and the conversion of mixed farmland remain the main constraints.