I would like to know when and where pigeons (and/or sparrows, starlings etc.) from the UK migrate. I’ve been searching the web in vain. Ideally, I’d like a website with maps, depicting the routes they take, and information on how they accomplish this feat. Is there anyone out there who might be able to point me in the right direction? Thanx in advance.
AFAIK, in the UK, pigeons, starlings, and sparrows are year-round residents–they do not migrate. That would explain why you can’t find anything on the Web concerning this.
Columbidae found in the UK:
Rock dove (= feral pigeon); stock dove; woodpigeon; collared dove – all resident throughout the year. But the turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) is a summer visitor that spends the winter in Africa.
Sturnidae found in the UK:
Starling – resident throughout the year.
Ploceidae found in the UK:
Tree sparrow; house sparrow – both resident throughout the year.
Birds that visit the UK only as regular migrants, either in the summer or winter, include certain divers (loons in America), shearwaters, petrels, swans, geese, ducks, sawbills, the osprey, the white-tailed eagle, buzzards, harriers, falcons, quails, rails, plovers, various waders, skuas (jaegers), gulls, terns, cuckoos, nightjars, swifts, swallows, martins, the hoopoe, a woodpecker, larks, pipits, wagtails, the waxwing, shrikes, various warblers, flycatchers, chats, nightingales, thrushes, buntings and finches.
If you want to expand your definition of “etc.” I might be able to help further.
thanks guys. i finally found some info on the arctic tern, which migrates from the arctic cirlce to the edge of the antarctic. 20,000 mile round trip! i’ve found that some actually live in britain, which works for the story i’m writing about a flock of birds travelling from england to australia. i wanted to use pigeons though!
so these birds hardly ever stop for a rest. if a seagull or some other large bird were to mix in with a flock (lets say as a mistake for now!) how would it fare? how long could it keep up with the flock, would you say? of course this would never happen, i’m just speculating
There aren’t any individual birds that migrate from England to Australia except by accident. Arctic Terns from Europe migrate to Antarctica via Africa or South America. (See map) The Arctic Terns that reach Australia come from Siberia. They don’t travel farther than they have to.
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Pigeons migrate (mostly) by land, while gulls/terns migrate mostly coastally or along rivers. Arctic Terns in particularly migrate well off shore. Even as a “mistake” it would be very unlikely for a gull to accompany a flock of pigeons for any length of time.
Although many US starlings and pigeons are year-rounders, a substantial number also migrate. I’ve seen columns of millions of starlings traveling south in the fall. What a racket they made!
Remember the sparrows must go pretty far south since they have to bring the coconuts. Otherwise, we would have no way to use them to simulate horses hooves. 
african or european sparrow?
swallow?