By Calvin Jones

The woodpigeon is a common resident, and can be found all over Ireland throughout the year. Originally a bird of woodland, farmland and open countryside, it is becoming an increasingly regular sight in the parks and gardens of our towns and cities, strutting around on its short legs pecking frantically at the ground in search of food.

This is by far the largest of Ireland’s dove and pigeon species, and is easily recognised by it’s stocky build, prominent white neck patch (although this is missing in juvenile birds) and the distinctive white bars on the wings when it takes to the air. Its plumage is predominantly grey, with a dusky pink breast, black wing tips and a black band at the tip of the tail. Males and females are similar in appearance.

Woodpigeons are between 38-43cm (c. 15-17 inches) long with a wingspan of 75-80 cm (c. 30-31.5 inches) and weigh from 284 to 614 g (c. 0.6 to 1.35 lb). In flight the woodpigeon’s bulk lends it a more ponderous appearance than other members of the dove and pigeon family, with a noticeably deeper belly and longer tail.

The cooing call of the woodpigeon is a familiar sound of woodland and farmland. It consists of five notes that sound like “coo coooo coo cu-cu”, although the last two notes are sometimes omitted. Another familiar sound is the rapid “clatter” made by the wings as a disturbed bird takes flight.

In general the woodpigeon can be considered a vegetarian. It’s diet consists of crops like cabbage, peas, sprouts and grain along with buds, shoots, seeds, nuts and berries. Now and again it may pick at the occasional invertebrate.

Woodpigeons are big eaters, and can consume a lot of food in one sitting, storing it in their engorged crops. As they are so much bigger than other seed eaters they can cope with much larger, tougher seeds like wheat, maize and even dried peas. Up to thirty five acorns have been found in the crop of one wood pigeon, and more than 250 beech “nuts” in the crop of another.

Food passes from the bird’s crop through into the gizzard, a muscular grinding organ that performs a function similar to our teeth. In pigeons this organ is incredibly strong and is lined with hard abrasive plates that grind and break down the toughest of food before it passes into the bird’s stomach.

The woodpigeon’s capacity to consume large volumes of food in one sitting means that a flock can quickly decimate a field of crops. They are widely regarded as pests by farmers, and are frequently shot. It also means that their increased use of gardens can be a mixed blessing. As well as eating large quantities of bird-seed left out for other, smaller birds, they are also likely to descend on any well-tended vegetable patch leaving complete destruction in their wake.

Nesting typically takes place between April and June, although if weather conditions are favourable birds can lay eggs as early as February and as late as October. The nest itself is a very rudimentary platform of twigs built high in a tree. This platform is sometimes so sparse that you can actually see the eggs from the ground by looking up through the structure of the nest.

Onto this uncertain platform the female lays two white eggs. The eggs are incubated for around 17 days by both parents. Once they hatch the young birds are fed on “crop milk” – a fat-rich substance produced from cells sloughed from the wall of the crop. At hatching as much as 90% of a hatchling’s food intake is crop milk, dwindling to around 20% after two weeks. Young pigeons fledge after about 30 days and woodpigeons will typically rear three broods per year.

Estimates put the Irish woodpigeon population at more than a million breeding pairs, and surveys suggest that number is on the increase.