Wood Pigeon

Columba palumbus (Linnaeus, 1758)

		adult juvenile
2006-05-14 Uralsk, Kirov park, West Kazakhstan oblast 2010-06-23 Naurzum State Reserve, Kostanai oblast	© Askar Isabekov © Aleksey Timoshenko

Distribution

Breeds in Ural valley, foothills of southern and south-eastern Kazakhstan, and in some places of northern Kazakhstan. Please see the detailed distribution in the section Subspecies.

Biology

Numerous breeding migrant. Inhabits the elm, poplar, oak flood-plain forests, the steppe birch-asp forests, the spots of mixed forests, groves, the old elm shelterbelts, the apple-tree groves and coniferous mountain forests at altitudes 1000-2500 m. Appears in mid-March – April by flocks of one-two dozen birds. Migration finishes in early May. Breeds by separate pairs at distance 50-100 m one from another. Nest is built from thin twigs on deciduous (elm, poplar, apple) or coniferous (spruce, juniper) trees at height 1.2-20 m above the ground. Clutch of 2 eggs is laid in end of April – early July; the latest clutches were found in end of August. Both parents (mostly female) incubate clutch for 17-18 days and feed juveniles which fledge at age about 20 days old. Rears two broods per season, re-nesting after loss of first clutch is common. In late summer broods join in large flocks of to several hundred birds and often feed on stubble fields. Autumn migration begins in September, latest birds observed in mid-October.

Subspecies

Columba palumbus palumbus (Linnaeus, 1758) Description. General colour is darker than casiotis. Neck-spots are large, pure white. Male wing length 237-262 (249) mm. Distribution. Breeds near Dzhanybek and Urda, in Ural valley in south to Atyrau, in island forests in middle current of Ural, and shelterbelts on Kushum river; in places breeds in Northern Kazakhstan, in particular at Naurzum, Kokchetav forests and Karaganda area. In summer observed in Pavlodar Trans-Irtysh are, on Irtysh and Ulba valleys. On migration occurs in western part of Kazakhstan, eastward to Kurgaldzhino, Chulak-Espe and middle current Syrdarya valley. Rare recorded in winter (28 December 1975, 19 February 1992 and 25 March 1978) near Ust-Kamenogorsk.

Columba palumbus casiotis (Bonoparte, 1854) Description. General colour lighter than palumbus. Neck-spots are less than palumbus and mostly with buffy shade. Male wing length 238-269 (256) mm. Distribution. Breeds in Tien Shan and Karatau, in Dzhungarskiy Alatau and its foothills, up to lower reaches of Tentek river. In said range occurs during migration.

References

Gavrilov E. I., Gavrilov A. E. "The Birds of Kazakhstan". Almaty, 2005. Э.И.Гаврилов. "Фауна и распространение птиц Казахстана". Алматы, 1999. В.К.Рябицев. "Птицы Урала, Приуралья и Западной Сибири". Екатеринбург. Изд-во Уральского университета, 2000.