Peaceful Dove

Photo by Nrg800
Cairns, Queensland, April 2009

Geopelia placida

Identification

19 to 21 centimetres (7.6 to 8.4 inches).

• Pink-grey breast
• Grey-brown chequered wings
• Striations of black around neck and nape
• Grey-white eye with blue-grey ring.
• Juveniles paler, less striated and duller eye ring.
• Calls of the Peaceful Dove are high-pitched doodle-doo, co-co-coo and croorrr!.

Distribution

New Guinea and Australia: found in New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 3 subspecies^[1]:

• G. p. papua:

• Savanna of southern New Guinea (Merauke to Port Moresby)

• G. p. placida:

• Northern and eastern Australia

• G. p. clelandi:

• North-central Western Australia (Pilbara region)

An additional subspecies tranquilla, is generally considered to be invalid^[2].

Habitat

Open forest, woodlands, Scrubland, watercource,

Behaviour

They may be seen in pairs, groups and flocks. They are ground feeders.

Breeding

Breeds throughout the year, but most likely from August-January, often several broods in a season. Nest is a small rough bowl on a platform in many locations (a Stag-horn for example) from 1-10m up in the trees. Clutch is made of too eggs (21x17mm). Both parents incubate for about two and a half weeks and young leave the nest after upto three weeks.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2012. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2012. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Avibase
3. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Peaceful Dove. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 21 December 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Peaceful_Dove

External Links

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