Paloma Zurita Extremadura

The stock dove (Columba oenas) measures 28 to 32 centimetres in length with a wingspan of 60 to 66 centimetres, making it roughly the size of a feral pigeon and clearly smaller than the wood pigeon. The plumage is uniformly blue-grey, the sides of the neck show a green metallic sheen, the breast carries a pale orange wash and the wings have narrow black trailing edges. Unlike the wood pigeon (Ringeltaube), the stock dove lacks any white neck patch and any white wing bar; unlike the pale grey collared dove (Tuerkentaube), it lacks the black hind-neck crescent.

The stock dove is the only native pigeon species that depends on tree cavities for breeding. It is tightly bound to old-growth stands with black woodpeckers, since it relies on abandoned black woodpecker cavities as nesting sites. Preferred habitats are open deciduous and mixed forests with old beech, as well as large parklands and floodplain forests. Breeding takes place inside the cavity, the clutch normally contains two eggs, and incubation lasts sixteen to seventeen days. Central European stock doves are partial migrants that winter in southern and western Europe.

In Germany, the Federal Hunting Act lists the stock dove among huntable species, but it carries a year-round closed season and may not be hunted. In addition, it is strictly protected as a European bird species under the Federal Nature Conservation Act, and its breeding sites and cavity trees may not be damaged. For hunters and ground managers this means above all: preserve old cavity trees, treat black woodpecker territories carefully, and never confuse the stock dove with huntable pigeon species in the field.