- Turtur tympanistria
Identification
Length 22 cm. White face, black spot behind the eye, white underparts, grey crown. pale grey brown back, hind neck, wings and tail, the folded wings have large dark purple patches, brown under tail, purple red eye ring and feet, purple bill.
The female - duller, white belly, pale grey brown face, breast and crown. The juvenile resembles the female but has chestnut fringes to the feathers of the back, breast and flanks.
Distribution
Senegal east to Ethiopia, Kenya, eastern Africa to south-eastern South Africa, and the Comoros Islands.
Taxonomy
Monotypic.
Habitat
Woodlands and thick vegetation, plantations of castor oil, cocoa and rubber.
Behaviour
It builds a stick nest low in a thicket. 2 cream-coloured eggs are laid and incubated by both sexes, although mainly by the female, for 13 days; 13-14 days later the young fledge. The chicks are fed regurgitated food.
Terrestrial.
The diet includes seeds, especially of the castor oil plant, small fruits, occasionally small insects and molluscs.
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
