Columbidae

Columbidae is the family of doves and pigeons, the only family in the order Columbiformes, established by Illiger in 1811 and now comprising 52 genera and 353 species, with smaller species generally called doves and larger ones called pigeons. The family occurs worldwide, with greatest diversity in the Indomalayan and Australasian realms, and inhabits most terrestrial environments except the Sahara, Antarctica and the high Arctic. Members are stout bodied with small heads, relatively short necks, slender bills sometimes bearing fleshy ceres, and large wings suited to powerful flight, feeding largely on seeds, fruit and other plant matter. About a third of the species in this family, 118 in all, are considered endangered, and thirteen species including the dodo and the passenger pigeon are already extinct.