This highly variable city pigeon is familiar to all urban dwellers. Multicolored birds were developed over centuries of near domestication. Polytypic (12 ssp.; nominate in North America.). Length 12.5".

A medium-size compact pigeon with long wings and a short tail. Birds most closely resembling their wild ancestors are gray with head and neck darker than back, and a prominent white rump. Black tips on the greater coverts and secondaries form bold black bars on inner wing, and there is a broad black terminal band on the tail. Adult male: metallic green and purple iridescence on the neck and breast; iris orange to red; orbital skin blue-gray; bill grayish black; and feet dark red. Adult female: like male, but iridescence on neck