Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They feed largely on plant matter, feeding on seeds (granivory), fruit (frugivory), and foliage (folivory).
In colloquial English, the smaller species tend to be called "doves", and the larger ones "pigeons", although the distinction is not consistent, and there is no scientific separation between them. Historically, the common names for these birds involve a great deal of variation. The bird most commonly referred to as "pigeon" is the domestic pigeon, descendant of the wild rock dove, which is a common inhabitant of cities as the feral pigeon.
Columbidae contains 52 genera divided into 353 species. The family occurs worldwide, often in close proximity to humans, but the greatest diversity is in the Indomalayan and Australasian realms. 118 species (34%) are at risk, and 13 are extinct, with the most famous examples being the dodo, a large, flightless, island bird, and the passenger pigeon, that once flocked in the billions.
Etymology is a French word that derives from the Latin , for a chick, while dove, shared with Old Norse and Gothic , is from a Proto-Germanic word imitative of the cooing calls of woodpigeon and stock dove. The English dialectal word appears to derive from Latin . A group of doves has sometimes been called a "dule", taken from the French word ().
Origin and evolution Columbiformes is one of the most diverse non-passerine clades of neoavians, and its origins are in the CretaceousPereira, S.L. et al. (2007) Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences support a Cretaceous origin of Columbiformes and a dispersal-driven radiation in the Paleocene. Syst Biol. 56:656–72 and the result of a rapid diversification at the end of the K–Pg boundary.Soares, A.E.R. et al. (2016) Complete mitochondrial genomes of living and extinct pigeons revise the timing of the columbiform radiation. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 16(230). Whole genome analyses have found Columbiformes is the sister clade to the clade Pteroclimesites a clade consisting the orders Pterocliformes (sandgrouses) and Mesitornithiformes (mesites). The columbiform-pteroclimesitean clade, or Columbimorphae, monophyly has been supported from several studies.
Taxonomy and systematics
The name 'Columbidae' for the family was first used by the English zoologist William Elford Leach in a guide to the contents of the British Museum published in 1819. Although the name of the author is not specified in the document, Leach was the Keeper of Zoology at the time. However, Illiger in 1811 established an older name for the family group ("Columbini") and would actually be the proper authority for Columbidae.
The interrelationships of columbids (between subfamilies) and the ergotaxonomy of them has been debated, with many different interpretations of how they should be classified. As many as five to six families, along with many subfamilies and tribes, have been used in the past including the family Raphidae for the dodo and the Rodrigues solitaire. A 2024 paper on the systematics and nomenclature of the dodo and the solitaire from Young and colleagues also provided an overview of columbid family-group nomina. They recommended treatment in three subfamilies, Columbinae (typical doves and pigeons, quail-doves, and cuckoo-doves), Claravinae (American ground doves), and Raphinae (fruit doves, green pigeons, and relatives, all in the Old World and mostly tropical, including the dodo and solitaire). A 2025 paper on the molecular phylogenetic placement of the Cuban endemic blue-headed quail-dove from Oswald and colleagues found the species to be a sister group to Columbinae, as opposed to being a true columbine or a raphine as previous authors have suggested in the past. These authors recommended that the blue-headed quail-dove should be placed in fourth monotypic subfamily, Starnoenadinae.
These taxonomic issues are exacerbated by columbids not being well represented in the fossil record, with no truly primitive forms having been found to date. The genus Gerandia has been described from Early Miocene deposits in France, but while it was long believed to be a pigeon, it is now considered a sandgrouse. Fragmentary remains of a probably "ptilinopine" Early Miocene pigeon were found in the Bannockburn Formation of New Zealand and described as Rupephaps; "Columbina" prattae from roughly contemporary deposits of Florida is nowadays tentatively separated in Arenicolumba, but its distinction from Columbina/Scardafella and related genera needs to be more firmly established (e.g. by cladistic analysis). Apart from that, all other fossils belong to extant genera.
The following genus level cladogram of the Columbidae is based mainly on a study by Andrew Sweet and collaborators that was published in 2026. The study sampled 43 of the 48 extant genera. The fruit doves in the genus Ptilinopus have been split into four genera based on a study by Alice Cibois and collaborators that was published in 2014. The number of species in each genus is taken from the taxonomy published by AviList in 2025. The number of species in a genus are listed, unless it only has one species (monotypy):
List of genera
Subfamily Raphinae Oudemans, 1917 (1835) (Old World tropics doves and pigeons)
Subfamily Claravinae Todd, 1913 (American ground doves) Genus Claravis (blue ground dove) Genus Uropelia (long-tailed ground dove) Genus Paraclaravis (2 species) Genus Metriopelia (4 species) Genus Columbina (9 species)
Subfamily Columbinae Illiger, 1811 (typical pigeons and doves) Genus Geotrygon (quail-doves, 9 species) Genus Leptotrygon (olive-backed quail-dove) Genus Leptotila (doves, 11 species) Genus Zentrygon (quail-doves, 8 species) Genus Zenaida (Zenaida doves, 7 species) Genus Reinwardtoena (cuckoo-doves, 3 species) Genus Macropygia (cuckoo-doves, 15 species) Genus Turacoena (cuckoo-doves, 3 species) Genus Patagioenas (American pigeons, 17 species) Genus Columba (Old World pigeons, 34 species of which 2 recently extinct) Genus Aplopelia (lemon dove) Genus Nesoenas (doves and pigeons, 3 species of which one extinct) Genus Streptopelia (turtle doves and collared doves, 15 species) Genus †Ectopistes (passenger pigeon; extinct 1914) Genus Spilopelia (doves, 2 species)
Species of uncertain placement Genus Starnoenas (blue-headed quail-dove)
Fossil and prehistoric species Genus †Arenicolumba Steadman, 2008 (Miocene of Florida) Genus †Rupephaps Worthy, Hand, Worthy, Tennyson, & Scofield, 2009 (Miocene of New Zealand) Genus †Tongoenas Steadman & Takano, 2020 (Tongan giant pigeon) (prehistoric, extinct c. 850–600 BC), affinities to Raphinae Genus †Natunaornis (Viti Levu giant pigeon) (prehistoric extinct c. 3000 BC), affinities to Raphinae Genus †Bountyphaps Worthy & Wragg, 2008 (Henderson Island pigeon) (prehistoric, extinct c. 1000 AD), affinities to Raphinae Genus †Deliaphaps De Pietri, Scofield, Tennyson, Hand, & Worthy, 2017 (Zealandian dove, Miocene of New Zealand) Genus †Primophaps Worthy 2012 Late Oligocene of Australia Genus †Dysmoropelia Olson, 1975 (Saint Helena dove) (prehistoric extinct Late Pleistocene-Holocene), affinities to Columbinae
Description
Anatomy and physiology
Overall, the anatomy of Columbidae is distinguished by short legs, short bills with a fleshy cere, and small heads on large, compact bodies. Like some other birds, the Columbidae have no gall bladders. Some medieval naturalists concluded they have no bile (gall), which in the medieval theory of the four humours explained the allegedly sweet disposition of doves. In fact, however, they do have bile (as Aristotle had earlier realised), which is secreted directly into the gut.
The wings of most species are large, and have eleven primary feathers; pigeons have strong wing muscles (wing muscles comprise 31–44% of their body weight) and are among the strongest fliers of all birds.
In a series of experiments in 1975 by Dr.Mark B. Friedman, using doves, their characteristic head bobbing was shown to be due to their natural desire to keep their vision constant. It was shown yet again in a 1978 experiment by Dr.Barrie J. Frost, in which pigeons were placed on treadmills; it was observed that they did not bob their heads, as their surroundings were constant.
Feathers
Columbidae have unique body feathers, with the shaft being generally broad, strong, and flattened, tapering to a fine point, abruptly. In general, the aftershaft is absent; however, small ones on some tail and wing feathers may be present. Body feathers have very dense, fluffy bases, are attached loosely into the skin, and drop out easily. Possibly serving as a predator avoidance mechanism, large numbers of feathers fall out in the attacker's mouth if the bird is snatched, facilitating the bird's escape. The plumage of the family is variable.
Granivorous species tend to have dull plumage, with a few exceptions, whereas the frugivorous species have brightly coloured plumage. The genera Chalcophaps, Ptilinopus and Alectroenas include some of the most brightly coloured pigeons. Pigeons and doves may be sexually monochromatic or dichromatic. In addition to bright colours, some pigeon species may have crests or other ornamentation.
Flight Many Columbidae are excellent fliers due to the lift provided by their large wings, which results in low wing loading. They are highly maneuverable in flight and have a low aspect ratio due to the width of their wings, allowing for quick flight launches and ability to escape from predators, but at a high energy cost. A few species are long-distance migrants, with some populations of the European turtle dove migrating in excess of 5,000 km between northern Europe in summer and tropical Africa in winter, and the Oriental turtle dove nearly as far in eastern Asia between eastern Siberia and southern China.
Size Pigeons and doves exhibit considerable variation in size, ranging in length from , and in weight from to above . The largest extant species are the crowned pigeons of New Guinea, which are nearly turkey-sized, with lengths of and weights ranging . One of the largest arboreal species, the Marquesan imperial pigeon with a length of , currently battles extinction. The extinct, flightless dodo is the largest columbid to have ever existed, with a height of about , and a range of suggested weights from , although the higher estimates are thought to be based on overweight birds.
The least massive columbids belong to species in the genus Columbina; the common ground dove (Columbina passerina) which is only slightly larger than a house sparrow, weighing as little as . The dwarf fruit dove, which may measure as little as long, has a marginally smaller total length than any other species from this family.
Distribution and habitat Pigeons and doves are distributed everywhere on Earth, having adapted to most terrestrial habitats available on the planet, except for the driest areas of the Sahara Desert, Antarctica and its surrounding islands, and the high Arctic. They have colonised most of the world's oceanic islands, reaching eastern Polynesia and the Chatham Islands in the Pacific, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Réunion in the Indian Ocean, and the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean.
Columbid species may be arboreal, terrestrial, or semi-terrestrial. They inhabit savanna, grassland, shrubland, desert, temperate woodland and forest, tropical rainforests, mangrove forest, and even the barren sands and gravels of atolls.