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Stock Doves are large doves. The plumage of both sexes is indistinguishable in the field. They have a dark-grey throat and head with narrow light-grey eye-rings. Ontop of the red base of their otherwise pale bill they have a small white "operculum" (a membraneous, horny or cartilaginous flap). The sides of the neck are iridescent green, while the nape of the neck and the breast are iridescent purple. The rest of the front (belly, vent, undertail coverts) is light-grey. The back and the uppertail coverts are light-grey. The most easily identifiable features are the broad black fringes on the otherwise grey upperwing and underwing when in flight. The irises of both sexes are dark. The legs and feet are pink. Juvenile birds have duller colours than adults, basically in various shades of grey, with a lighter-grey front than the back.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Stock Dove is available HERE .

Stock Doves are found mostly in Europe, but their distribution also extends into north-western near-coastal Africa, parts of Asia Minor, parts of the Middle East, and eastwards into parts of western, central and southern Asia.

In Europe Stock Doves are resident in the South-west, West and South-east of the continent, winter visitors elsewhere around the Mediterranean Sea and breeding migrants eastward of a line connecting Hamburg, Germany, with Grenoble, France. Anywhere else, except the highest parts of major mountain ranges, they can be potentially be found during migration.

Stock Doves are rather shy and have a preference for forest and other undisturbed areas with mature trees, often oaks, for nesting. They sometimes also nest on rock ledges, in (abandoned or quiet) buildings and in rock crevices. Outside the breeding seasons they will form flocks and feed in more open habitats.

J. Pires reports spotting Stock Doves in Mora, Evora, Portugal, in February 2013. All sighting and photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by J. Pires.