Stock dove

Scientific name: Columba oenas

How weight is recorded: Whole weight

Field notes

Appearance

Stock doves are compact pigeons with blue-grey plumage, two black wing bars, and iridescent green and purple neck patches. Males are marginally larger and more intensely coloured than females; both sexes lack the white rump patch of woodpigeons.

Size and weight

Adults typically weigh 270–330 g; body length 32–37 cm. Sexual dimorphism in size is minimal.

Habitat

Stock doves inhabit open and semi-open countryside with scattered trees, woodland edges, parkland, and cultivated areas. They favour terrain with access to both feeding grounds and cliff faces or tree cavities for nesting, typically at low to moderate altitudes.

Distribution

Stock doves are widespread across Europe, western Asia, and North Africa, with populations extending into temperate regions. They favour agricultural lowlands and open terrain with scattered woodlands or cliff systems for roosting and breeding.

Diet

Stock doves feed primarily on cereal grains, seeds from wild plants and legumes, and green crops; diet shifts seasonally toward available seeds and stubble gleaning in autumn and winter.

Behaviour

Stock doves are diurnal, most active during early morning and late afternoon. They are gregarious outside breeding season, often forming flocks of 20–100 birds; flight is swift and direct with characteristic rapid wingbeats.

Hunting tips

Look for flocks in stubble fields, grassland, and cultivated areas at dawn and dusk; droppings and feathers beneath roosting trees indicate activity. Approach into wind across open ground or use hedgerows as cover. Decoying over feeding areas is effective; birds respond to pigeon calls and decoy silhouettes, particularly in autumn and early winter.

Whole weight

This species is logged by whole weight — the animal weighed entire, as taken.

Where it is hunted

Listed as huntable in 8 countries in Huntify.

Names in other languages

These field notes are general species knowledge, not legal advice. Always check the current seasons, quotas and firearm rules where you hunt.