Band-tailed Pigeon

Our native pigeon is a lovely, soft gray color with a gracefully-shaped body that is longer and sleeker than that of a Rock Dove (a.k.a. city pigeon). Band-tailed Pigeons will readily come to an open, platform feeder offering millet, cracked corn and sunflower chips. They'll come to any feeder offering those food choices, as long as the feeder is large and stable enough to accommodate these relatively large backyard birds.

“Band-tailed Pigeon Invasion” by Dr. Carrie Burhenn

The Band-tailed Pigeon is the largest pigeon in North American, about 14 - 15 inches long.  Both sexes are colored a soft gray with a lighter gray, banded tail. The bill and feet are yellow, and the eye is black with a thin, red eye ring.  Adults sport a white collar at the nape of the neck with iridescent greenish-bronze feathers beneath it. Their undersides are described as pinkish-mauve. Juveniles are an overall gray.

Their owl-like voices are relatively quiet and low-pitched.  The call of a Band-tailed Pigeon is typically multiple utterances of two syllables that rise and then fall (huu-ooh) with even spacing between. 

They build a rudimentary platform nest out of twigs, and typically lay one or two eggs.  Both parents incubate the eggs, which hatch in 16-22 days. The peak nesting period is generally in early to midsummer. Second and even third successful nestings are not unusual.  Like other pigeons and doves, Band-tailed Pigeon young are fed a “crop milk” derived from sloughed-off, liquid filled cells that line the crops of both parents.  Outside the breeding season Band-tailed Pigeons gather together in flocks of as many as 50 birds.  While in the flocks they are often nomadic, following the acorn crop or moving to lower altitudes or other areas outside its breeding range. 

Band-tailed Pigeons eat grain seeds, wild and domestic fruits, acorns, pine nuts, and the buds and flowers of trees and bushes.  Welcome them to your backyard feeding area with an open feeder offering millet, cracked corn and sunflower chips.