Have you ever seen a group of people cooing over a white dove and then scowling at a pigeon just a few feet away? Believe it or not, these birds are actually the same species – just with different colouring! :O That's right, the white dove and the common pigeon both belong to the same species, the Rock Pigeon (Columba livia). That means they eat the same, poop the same, and even spread the same diseases. I bring this last point up, because some people have taken to calling Rock Pigeons the ‘rats of the skies’ and treat these birds like vermin - rounding them up and culling them.
I'm happy you wrote about this. I have often thought about how pigeons and doves are pretty much the same but people don't treat them that way.