Stock Pigeon nest in earthen walls

peaks of Earth Pyramids in the Melnik Municipality. The area is part of the Natura 2000 zone “Melnik Pyramids”. Here the Earth Pyramids are about 40-50 meters high. The birds sang and displayed characteristic mating flights high in the air, and one of the pairs was observed entering a tunnel in a very dense vegetation, on the sloping platform at the top of one of the pyramids overgrown mostly with Butcher’s-Broom (Ruscus aculeatus).

The Stock Pigeon is a rare species for Bulgaria. One of the reasons for this is the lack of old enough, hollow trees in which it usually nests. The known localities are mainly in the mountainous and semi-mountainous areas, in places with well-preserved old forests. In other parts of the range, it is found nesting in ruins, rocks and even earth holes. Finding it in earthen walls near Melnik is an indication that we can expect to find it in more unusual places. Examine very well the pigeons you see during your ornithological trips, it is possible to come across Stock Pigeons.

Ivaylo Angelov