Mourning Collared Dove

Alternative names: African Mourning Dove, Angola Collared-Dove

Streptopelia decipiens

Photo by Alan Manson
Location Satara, Kruger Park, South Africa

Identification

31cm. Pale brown back, wings and tail, grey head, pink underparts, pale grey belly, black hind neck patch edged with white, yellow eyes, ring of bare red skin around eye, dark brown bill, purple-pink legs and feet. Black flight feathers, white in tail. Sexes similar.

Variation

The six subspecies are differentiated based on their size and differences in the colouring of their underparts (shades of grey on the flanks, and extent of the white on the belly) as well as to color and extent of bare skin around the eye. Description above fits the southern race is S. d. ambigua.

Distribution

Africa south of the Sahara.
In 2010 recorded for the first time in the Western Palearctic near Abu Simbel, Egypt.

Taxonomy

Despite its name, the Mourning Collared Dove is not a close relative of the North American Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura.

Six subspecies are recognized^[1]: The southern race is S. d. ambigua (described above). Other subspecies are S. d. decipiens, S. d. shelleyi, S. d. logonensis, S. d. elegans, and S. d. perspicillata.

Habitat

Moist lowland savanna, riverine Acacia woodland, and cultivated areas.

Behaviour

It builds a stick nest in a tree, often a mangrove, and lays 2 white eggs.

Diet includes mainly grass seeds, grains and other vegetation, but also eat termite alates.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ & Ryan PG (eds) 2005. Robert's Birds of Southern Africa, 7th edition. Cape Town: John Voelcker Bird Book Fund. ISBN 0620340533

External Links

Search for photos of Mourning Collared Dove in the gallery