- Columba guinea
Identification
41cm. Rufous back and wings, wings heavily speckled with white spots. The rest of the upperparts and underparts are blue-grey, grey head is grey with red eye patches. Brown neck, streaked with white, and the legs are red. The call is a loud doo-doo-doo.
Sexes are similar, but immatures are browner than adults.
Distribution
Taxonomy
Columba guinea has two subspecies:[1]
- C. g. guinea
- C. g. phaeonota
- South-western Angola to Zimbabwe and South Africa
Habitat
A bird of open country with rocks and cliff ledges.
Behaviour
It feeds mainly on seeds along with newly germinated shoots, grain and groundnuts.
Originally Speckled Pigeons confined their breeding/roosting sites to cliff ledges but more recently have taken to breeding in buildings. This has helped the species to increase in number and range. It builds a large stick nest in a tree and 2 white eggs are laid.
References
- 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.
