Larch Creek Birds

What the birds (and frogs) are saying at a creek in western Washington
Plate 11
Rock Pigeon
John Gerrard Keulemans, 1873
Bird

Rock Pigeon

Columba livia
Pigeons and Doves (Columbidae)
Year-round resident. Expected at the creek in every month.
Field marks
The familiar city pigeon: blue-grey with two black wing bars and an iridescent neck, though feral flocks come in every colour from white to rusty, like a species that has been through a paint department.
Male & female
Alike; the male is slightly bulkier with more shine on the neck.
Voice
A soft, rolling 'coo-roo-coo' and wing-claps on take-off.
Diet
Seeds, grain, scraps, and whatever was dropped near a bench.
Habitat
Towns, bridges, barns and cliffs; rarely far from people.
Nesting
A flimsy platform on a ledge; two eggs, several broods a year.
Size
12–14 in long, 9–13 oz: about a can of soup, perched on a ledge, judging you.

Originally a Mediterranean cliff-dweller and the ancestor of every racing, homing and fancy pigeon. Darwin kept dozens and wrote about them at length, to the mild despair of his publisher.

Season how expected it is here, week by week

50%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecheard at the creektoday
Fig. 1. BirdNET's range model for this location: the chance this species is present in each week of the year. Orange ticks mark weeks it has actually been heard at the creek; the dashed line is today.

At the creek 13 calls on 4 days, first Oct 28, last Oct 31

2400:00 — 0 calls001:00 — 0 calls02:00 — 0 calls03:00 — 0 calls304:00 — 0 calls05:00 — 1 calls06:00 — 0 calls607:00 — 0 calls08:00 — 0 calls09:00 — 0 calls910:00 — 1 calls11:00 — 1 calls12:00 — 0 calls1213:00 — 0 calls14:00 — 2 calls15:00 — 4 calls1516:00 — 0 calls17:00 — 2 calls18:00 — 1 calls1819:00 — 0 calls20:00 — 0 calls21:00 — 0 calls2122:00 — 0 calls23:00 — 1 callssunrisesunset
Fig. 2. When it calls: all detections by hour of day (today's sunrise and sunset shown).
47Oct 2 — 0 callsOct 3 — 0 callsOct 3Oct 4 — 0 callsOct 5 — 0 callsOct 6 — 0 callsOct 7 — 0 callsOct 8 — 0 callsOct 9 — 0 callsOct 10 — 0 callsOct 10Oct 11 — 0 callsOct 12 — 0 callsOct 13 — 0 callsOct 14 — 0 callsOct 15 — 0 callsOct 16 — 0 callsOct 17 — 0 callsOct 17Oct 18 — 0 callsOct 19 — 0 callsOct 20 — 0 callsOct 21 — 0 callsOct 22 — 0 callsOct 23 — 0 callsOct 24 — 0 callsOct 24Oct 25 — 0 callsOct 26 — 0 callsOct 27 — 0 callsOct 28 — 2 callsOct 29 — 7 callsOct 30 — 2 callsOct 31 — 2 callsOct 31
Fig. 3. Calls per day over the last 30 days.

Recordings

Clearest recording · Oct 28 6:37 pm · 96% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 31 2:08 pm · 90% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 29 5:35 pm · 89% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 29 3:44 pm · 86% sure
spectrogram

From the encyclopedia

The rock dove, also known as the common pigeon or rock pigeon, is a member of the bird family Columbidae. In common usage, it is often simply referred to as the "pigeon", although the rock dove is the wild form of the bird; the pigeons familiar to most people are the domesticated forms of the wild rock dove.
From Wikipedia, "Rock dove", CC BY-SA 4.0.