Eurasian Collared Dove

Eurasian Collared Dove
	;
Conservation status
	; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia;
Phylum:	Chordata;
Class:	Aves;
Order:	Columbiformes;
Family:	Columbidae;
Genus:	Streptopelia;
Species:	S. decaocto;
Binomial name
	Streptopelia decaocto; Frivaldszky, 1838

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

A young collared dove.

The Eurasian Collared Dove, Streptopelia decaocto, also spelled Eurasian Collared-Dove or called simply the Collared Dove,Kumru is one of the great colonisers of the avian world. Its original range was warmer temperate regions from southeastern Europe to Japan. However, in the twentieth century it expanded across the rest of Europe, reaching as far west as Great Britain by 1953; breeding in Britain for the first time in 1956, and Ireland soon after. It also now breeds north of the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia. It is not migratory.

It was introduced into the Bahamas in the 1970s and spread to Florida by 1982. Its stronghold in North America is still the Gulf Coast, but it is now found as far south as Veracruz, as far west as California, and as far north as British Columbia, the Great Lakes, and Central Saskatchewan. Its impact on native species is as yet unknown; it appears to occupy an ecological niche between that of the Mourning Dove and Rock Pigeon.

A profile of a collared dove.

It breeds wherever there are trees for nesting, laying two white eggs in a stick nest. The eggs are incubated by the female during the night and by the male during the day. Incubation lasts 14-18 days, and young fledge after 15-19 days. It is not wary and is often found around human habitation.

This is a medium sized dove, color in the range of buff grey with a darker back and a blue-grey underwing patch. It is substantially larger than the common Mourning Dove, and larger specimens may exceed six ounces in weight, and exceed fourteen inches in length from tip of beak to tip of tail, with a wingspan that occasionally exceeds 18 inches. The tail feathers are tipped white. It has a black half-collar on its nape from which it gets its name. The short legs are red and the bill is black. The iris is reddish brown, but from a distance the eyes appear to be black, as the pupil is relatively large and only a narrow rim of reddish-brown eye colour can be seen around the black pupil.

This is a gregarious species, and sizable winter flocks will form where there are food supplies such as grain. The song is a coocoo, coo repeated many times. It is phonetically similar to the Greek, decaocto ('eighteen'), to which the bird owes its name. Occasionally it also makes a harsh loud mechanical-sounding call lasting about 2 seconds, particularly when landing in the summer.

The males have an unusual mating display, consisting of a rapid nearly vertical climb to height, followed by a long glide downward in a spiral. At all other times, flight is typically direct without gliding.

The Eurasian Collared Dove is one of two species (the other, and the more likely, being the African Collared Dove, Streptopelia roseogrisea) that have been argued to be the wild ancestor of the domestic Barbary Dove, S. risoria. It is able to interbreed with the Barbary Dove.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2004). Streptopelia decaocto. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
"National Geographic" Field Guide to the Birds of North America ISBN 0-7922-6877-6
Handbook of the Birds of the World Vol 4, Josep del Hoyo editor, ISBN 84-87334-22-9
"National Audubon Society" The Sibley Guide to Birds, by David Allen Sibley, ISBN 0-679-45122-6

[edit] External links

Florida's Introduced Birds: Eurasian Collared-dove ("Streptopelia decaocto") - University of Florida fact sheet
RSPB factsheet
Collared Dove call at the BBC
Collared Dove audio and Quicktime video clip at the RSPB
Eurasian Collared Dove - Streptopelia decaocto - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
Eurasian Collared Dove Information and Photos - South Dakota Birds and Birding
Eurasian Collared Dove Species Account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Ageing and sexing (PDF) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta
Eurasian Collared-Dove Bird Sound

[edit] Gallery

in Lithuania	at Sultanpur National Park in Gurgaon District of Haryana, India.	at Sultanpur National Park in Gurgaon District of Haryana, India.	at Wagah Border in Amritsar District of Punjab, India.
at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India.	at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India.	at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India.	at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India.
at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India.	at Bardhaman, West Bengal, India.