Appearance:

Heaviest bird in area. Stocky with well developed chest. Male 50% larger than female. Mostly unmistakable, and differs from all other bustards in area in all plumages by pale, grey head (yellowish grey in female), clearly paler than the rufous upperparts and lower neck. Male with thick neck, rufous chest and long moustache feathers. Female with more slender neck and duller colours. In flight the big white wing-patch is conspicuous. Base of hand pale with smooth transition to dark tips. Secondaries black. When displaying the male raises wings and body feathers to a "foam-bath" posture with head held low, like a white ball of feathers. Flight heavy but majestic. Shy and alert bird.

Sound:

Mostly silent, especially away from breeding ground. Display call a short deep, hollow thud "omp", using resonating gular pouch. Most heard is a nasal grunt used in various types of excitement. Sometimes given in a flatulent series.

Excitement call:

Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

CC-photo:cruzperezmanuel, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Viskens Michel, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Paul Dirksen, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Sergey Yeliseev, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Cora de Groot en Ruud Versijde, Licence,Link.

Appearance:

Clearly smaller than Wood Pigeon. Plumage highly variable, and some morphs quite similar to Stock Dove. Differs from latter in complete dark wingbars on secondary coverts (not only inner coverts). Back light grey, contrasting with darker grey neck and head. Often with white patch at lower back, but not always. Underside of wings very pale, and dark trailing edge of tail fairly narrow. Lacks Wood Pigeon's white wing-patches. Feral Pigeon is the same species as Rock Dove. The existance of a population of pure wild Rock Doves without any mixed genes from feral populations anywhere in the world is debateable. There are many traits that can determine a bird as feral (like asymmetrical pigmentation), but birds with "classic" wild Rock Dove plumage also exists in the feral populations.

Sound:

Not loud. Song a two-syllable, but continuous cooing. First a rolling ascending "orrrrrr" immediately followed by a short descending "oohh". Wings produce a quite audible whistling sound.

Song:

Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

CC-sound:Albert Lastukhin, Licence,Link.