Tom Hibbert at Discover Wildlife:
The names ‘dove’ and ‘pigeon’ can be deceptive. Scientifically speaking, neither of them carry much merit. All the birds we know as either pigeons or doves belong to the same family, Columbidae. This large group of often plump, slender-billed birds encompasses around 350 species, with five regularly found in the UK.
The name dove is usually given to the smaller members of this family. But in taxonomy (the scientific process of naming and classifying living things), there is no real distinction between a dove and a pigeon.
The stock dove is more closely related to the woodpigeon than it is the collared dove or turtle dove, and the feral pigeons in our towns are descended from rock doves. In fact, the birds we know as pigeons may even be called doves in other languages, or vice versa.
More here.
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