Eurasian Collared-Dove

Eurasian Collared-Dove

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

Introduced into the Bahamas in the mid-1970s, the Eurasian Collared-Dove is now established throughout the southeastern United States and has been seen across the continent. Its spread across North America is still an evolving story, and the extent of its final range and the impact it will have on other bird species remains to be seen.

Cool Facts

• The Eurasian Collared-Dove has spread rapidly across much of North America. It made a similar expansion across Europe in the 1900s. It is thought that the species occurred historically only in and around India, and that a massive expansion in the 1600s brought it into Turkey and the Balkans.

• The Eurasian Collared-Dove is often kept as a pet. The occurrence of the species in some areas of the United States can be traced not to the dispersal of wild breeders, but to escaped or released cage birds.

• The domesticated Ringed Turtle-Dove is similar to the Eurasian Collared-Dove, and it frequently escapes or is released from captivity. The occurrence of the first Eurasian Collared-Doves in the United States went unnoticed for quite a while because of confusion with feral Ringed Turtle-Doves. The two species occasionally hybridize in wild populations.

Description

• Size: 29-30 cm (11-12 in)
• Wingspan: 35 cm (14 in)
• Weight: 140-180 g (4.94-6.35 ounces)

• Medium-sized bird; large dove.
• Sandy gray body and head with black half-collar on back of neck.
• Medium-long square tail.

Head and breast with pinkish wash. Narrow black collar on back of neck edged with white. Gray feathers in wrist of wing visible in flight. Primaries dark brown. Undertail coverts gray. Tail with broad white edge underneath. Underside of outermost tail feathers black at base. Bill black. Eyes deep red. Legs and feet red.

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike.

Immature

Juvenile similar to adult, but has reddish edges to body feathers, brown eyes, and brownish red legs.

Similar Species

• Mourning Dove has pointed tail with white outer tail feathers, and a spot, not a collar on its neck.
• Domesticated Ringed Turtle-Dove similar, but has white undertail coverts, no black on underside of tail feathers, and is paler.
• White-winged Dove has large white patch in wing, a black band above the white tail tip, and has a teardrop-shaped spot on face.
• Introduced Spotted Dove is darker, and has a broad collar of black and white spots on back of neck.

Sound

Song a three-note "koo-KOO-kook." Makes growling call in flight.

Range

Range Map

© 2003 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

About the map

Summer Range

Resident in southeastern United States from Texas to North Carolina. Found in scattered localities all across United States northward to Canada, except, for the moment, in the Northeast.

Habitat

Found in urban, suburban, and agricultural areas where grain is available.

Food

Seeds and cereal grain; some insects.

Behavior

Foraging

Feeds mostly on ground.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Nest made of twigs, stems, roots, and grasses. Placed in trees.

Egg Description

White, slightly glossy.

Clutch Size

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with some down.

Conservation Status

Populations increasing and spreading. May become an agricultural pest where it eats and fouls grain.

Other Names

Tourterelle turque (French)
Tórtola (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Romagosa, C. M. 2002. Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto). In The Birds of North America, No. 630 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.