Columba palumbus
Silhouette: Anthony Caravaggi · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The common wood pigeon (Columba palumbus), also known simply as the wood pigeon, is a large pigeon native to the western Palearctic. It belongs to the genus Columba, which includes closely related species such as the rock dove (Columba livia). It has a flexible diet, feeding mainly on plant material, including cereals, and is therefore considered an agricultural pest. Wood pigeons are extensively hunted over much of their range, but this does not appear to have a major impact on their population numbers.
The common wood pigeon was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other pigeons in the genus Columba and coined the binomial name Columba palumbus. The specific epithet palumbus is an alternate form of the Latin palumbes for a wood pigeon.
Five subspecies are recognised, one of which is now extinct: Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Madrid | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Paris | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 6 | Brussels | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 7 | Leeds | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 8 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 9 | Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 10 | Essen | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moscow Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 2 | Lusen National Park Centre | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Yerevan Zoo | 🇦🇲 Armenia | |
| 4 | Wildwood Discovery Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Santillana Zoo | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 7 | World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary and Monkey Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Yalta Zoo | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 9 | Zoo Koki (Parque zoológico y botánico) | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 10 | Castellar Zoo | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 11 | Parco Gallorose | 🇮🇹 Italy |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Wood Pigeon sighting in Bavarian Forest National Park on a given day, based on 447 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 8th most-seen of the 170 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March and April
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Wood Pigeon in Bavarian Forest National Park on a given day, against about 20% in February and November–December, the lowest months.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Wood Pigeon sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
10th of 26
Of the 26 parks where we can rate Wood Pigeon sightings, Bavarian Forest National Park ranks 10th at about 50%. The best odds are in Cairngorms National Park (United Kingdom, about 80%), Sierra de Guadarrama National Park (Spain, about 60%) and Kiskunság National Park (Hungary, about 60%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Wood Pigeon is recorded against all the birds logged in Bavarian Forest National Park (447 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
