From Opus

Alternative name: Barbary Dove, African Turtle Dove, Pink-headed Collared-Dove, Ringed Turtle Dove, Rose-grey Dove

Photo by Layzeboy

Streptopelia roseogrisea

[edit] Identification

• Pale creamy buff
• White chin, belly and undertail coverts
• Black half-collar around back of neck
• Red eye
• Black bill
• Crimson feet

[edit] Distribution

Original range is Sub-Saharan Africa
Northern Africa: Morocco, Egypt
Western Africa: Mauritania, Senegambia, Senegal, The Gambia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia
Middle East: Israel, Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Yemen

Frequent escape in the United States. Introduced to New Zealand as a cage bird but has become feral.

Photo by AJDH
Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, June 2006

[edit] Taxonomy

Polytypic. Consists of two subspecies.

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

• S. r. roseogrisea:

• South-western Mauritania and Senegambia to southern Sudan and western Ethiopia

• S. r. arabica:

• Coastal Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia to Arabia

[edit] Habitat

Savanna and thornscrub.

[edit] Behaviour

Noted for their gentle nature.

[edit] Diet

They eat clover and weed seeds, split grain and newly sown or stubble grain supplemented with occasional invertebrates such as snails.

[edit] Breeding

Breeding is mainly between October and February and they re-nest several times a season. They lay 2 white eggs on a simple platform of twigs. Both adults incubate for about 15 days and the chicks fledge at about 15 days old

[edit] Vocalisation

Call: a persistent coo-crooo.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. Avibase

• List of references

[edit] External Links