Stock Doves

Hi Johnnyboy,

That stumped me, so I consulted my Bird Bible (a.k.a. the RSPB Handbook of British Birds).  As with all birds they need nesting sites and food, but these guys appear quite picky.  Nesting sites can be old trees with holes in them, cliffs, quarries, old buildings or even holes in the ground.  They do nest in parkland with old trees, so I imagine there are some gardens out there whose lucky owners have these visitors.  I wonder if they're often overlooked, that people mistake them for woodpigeons?  I'm sure I've done this in the past.  Apparently they can be helped by putting up 'suitably designed nestboxes' - although I don't know what that design would be! 

Food is often cereal crops, linking them to arable farmland.  The book says their historical expansion was linked directly to the increase in arable farming, and later decline due to chemicals used on crops.  Now they're apparently doing a bit better again.  As much birdseed is cereal, don't they realise there's a free lunch in many gardens...?

So after all that I don't have an answer, but I hope that's interesting anyway.  May I ask why the question?  Have you some stock doves locally that you're trying to attract?

L

My parents get a pair quite regulalry in their garden and they are in an urban area.... Oh and welcome Johnnyboy 2009!! :-)

I often get a couple in my back garden hoovering up the fallen seed from my feeders.

Although there is a small wooded area about 500ft down the road at the end of the street, so perhaps they are in there.

Welcome Johnnyboy - Stock Doves do seem to prefer arable land although there is no golden rule with any bird as far as I can see - they exist to prove us wrong!    We have farm buildings etc.across a field at the bottom of our garden and stock doves seem to live around those buildings permanently and nested there as well this year in fact they only leave the buildings to make their twice daily visitors to my garden taking corn and sunflower seed mainly.  I can watch them from dawn till dusk from my window so am quite cued up on 'my stock doves' but others probably live an entirely different lifestyle!

I have just caught up with this thread and am wondering if I am overlooking a pair, mistaking them for feral pigeons. I do have a few pairs of feral pigeons who vary so much in their colouration. I've just looked Stock Doves up in my books and they are very like one of my feral pairs. I am now confused, as normal!

Any suggestions for an easy ID. Would you expect them to hang about with pigeons?

I too suspect I have overlooked Stock Doves in the past.  Not in the garden but on the walkway (fields and trees), I remember once wondering why there were feral pigeons on there as we don't get them here.

Ooops, sorry Stock Doves!

Some birds just don't seem to be what we would call regulars though, heck, even finches aren't a regular here so I have no chance with a Stock Dove, lol!