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Columba palumbus

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
ANIMALIA CHORDATA AVES COLUMBIFORMES COLUMBIDAE

Scientific Name: Columba palumbus
Species Authority: Linnaeus, 1758
Common Name/s:
English – Common Woodpigeon, Common Wood-pigeon, Common Wood Pigeon, Common Wood-Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Wood Pigeon
French – Pigeon ramier

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Published: 2012
Assessor/s: BirdLife International
Reviewer/s: Butchart, S. & Symes, A.
Contributor/s:
Justification:
This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be increasing, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
History:
2009 – Least Concern
2008 – Least Concern
2004 – Least Concern

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description: Columba palumbus has a wide distribution across the western Palearctic. It occurs in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Andorra, France, Monaco, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, Germany, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, India and Nepal (del Hoyo et al. 1997). The Madeiran subspecies maderensis went extinct in the early 20th century (Fuller 2000).
Countries:
Native:
Afghanistan; Albania; Algeria; Andorra; Armenia (Armenia); Austria; Azerbaijan; Belarus; Belgium; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; China; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Faroe Islands; Finland; France; Georgia; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Iceland; India; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Iraq; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Kazakhstan; Kuwait; Kyrgyzstan; Latvia; Lebanon; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of; Malta; Moldova; Mongolia; Montenegro; Morocco; Nepal; Netherlands; Norway; Oman; Pakistan; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Russian Federation; Russian Federation; Serbia (Serbia); Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Syrian Arab Republic; Tajikistan; Tunisia; Turkey; Turkmenistan; Ukraine; United Kingdom; Uzbekistan; Western Sahara
Vagrant:
Egypt; Gibraltar; Jordan; Mauritania; Svalbard and Jan Mayen; United Arab Emirates
Range Map: Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population: In Europe, the breeding population is estimated to number 9-17 million breeding pairs, equating to 27-51 million individuals (BirdLife International 2004). Europe forms 75-94% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 30-70 million individuals, although further validation of this estimate is needed.
Population Trend: Increasing

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Systems: Terrestrial

Bibliography [top]

BirdLife International. 2004. Birds in Europe: population estimates, trends and conservation status. BirdLife International, Cambridge, U.K.

del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. 1997. Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 4: Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.

Fuller, E. 2000. Extinct birds. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 2012.1). Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 19 June 2012).

Tryjanowski, P.; Kuzniak, S.; Sparks, T. H. 2002. Earlier arrival of some farmland migrants in western Poland. Ibis 144: 62-68.

Tryjanowski, P.; Kuzniak, S.; Sparks, T. H. 2005. What affects the magnitude of change in first arrival dates of migrant birds? Journal of Ornithology 146: 200-205.

Vahatalo, A. V.; Rainio, K.; Lehikoinen, A.; Lehikoinen, E. 2004. Spring arrival of birds depends on the North Atlantic Oscillation. Journal of Avian Biology 35: 210-216.

Zalakevicius, M.; Bartkeviciene, G.; Raudonikis, L.; Janulaitis, J. 2006. Spring arrival response to climate change in birds: a case study from eastern Europe. Journal of Ornithology 147: 326-343.
Citation: BirdLife International 2012. Columba palumbus. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 18 May 2013.
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