Hi.

In the Canary Islands, the great majority of Rock Doves seen in the field are feral birds (Columba livia domestica). Only in a few isolated places, like the islets to the north of Lanzarote, it is possible to find individuals showing true wild features.

Best regards. 

Hi Ruben,

I always wondered how one could determine whether some of the Rock Doves on the bigger islands were feral or not...? E.g. you can see nice flocks in Fuerteventura and Lanzarote that 'seem' wild. How do you (or has anyone) decided on their provenance? 

Best regards

I thought the "subspecies" in Macaronesia were all derived from feral birds (which also means I didn't pay attention to their appearance much).

The situation of the Rock Dove must be quite similar to that of Mallard: from completely feral to mostly wild?

Hi again.

Well, we know that there has been a great degree of interbreeding between domestic/feral and wild pigeons for decades in the Canary Islands. If you see from close distances the supposedly true wild Rock Doves in the majority of our islands, many of the individuals are impure, even with white feathers or partly white heads. In the Canaries, there is a great passion for the sport of pigeon racing, and this can explain (at least in part) the situation with the wild insular Columba livia. Certainly, it is true that in some isolated places of several islands (e.g. El Hierro, La Gomera, Fuerteventura, or even Tenerife) you can discover individuals that seem to be "more or less wild". In my own opinion, probably one of the best present refuges for our true wild Rock Doves are the islets to the north of Lanzarote. 

Best regards. 

Voor de liefhebbers van Rotsduiven – met een verrassende voorgestelde split!

Redefining rock doves, Columba livia, using historical whole genome sequences (biorxiv.org)

Wow, cool! Wie had dat gedacht...!

Het taxon 'gymnocyclus' die in het artikel als een potentiële split wordt aangemerkt lijkt niet in de 'WP sensu BWP' voor te komen. In Birds of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East van Dominic Mitchell wordt (waarschijnlijk foutief) aangegeven dat dit taxon in Noord-Mauritanië zou voorkomen maar wordt dit gebied verder niet gedefinieerd. Volgens BWP komt dit taxon (alleen) veel zuidelijker voor zoals in Senegal, Guinee, Ghana en Nigeria.