Pigeons (Columbidae) are medium-sized, compactly built birds with full and rounded chests. They are good fliers, and with clipped wing strokes they fly fast and deftly. Pigeons can drink with their beaks immersed in water, as they are the only birds that can drink by suction. A feature of some groups of birds, including pigeons, is the so-called crop milk – a thick secretion of cells in the wall of the digestive tract, which is extremely rich in proteins and fats. Parents feed their young with crop milk for a week or two after hatching, after which they gradually begin to introduce seeds into the diet of the young, seeds with which the adult animals are fed.
In Slovenia, three species of pigeons live: the rock pigeon, the turtle dove, and the grivar. In addition to these, there is also a subspecies of the rock dove – the domestic pigeon. The latter is a faithful companion of humans, as it lives in all larger settlements. In this family, besides pigeons (genus Columba), we also count doves (genus Streptopelia). Here we can hear and see two species: the Turkish dove and the wild dove.
