A baby collared dove.

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 and the Great Lakes. 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; some have suggested that its spread represents exploitation of a niche made available by the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon.

A profile of a collared dove.

This is a small dove, buff grey with a darker back and a blue-grey wing patch. 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 sizeable 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 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.

References

• 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

External links

• 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

Gallery

<gallery> Image:Eurasian_Collared_Dove-Mindaugas_Urbonas-1.jpg| in Lithuania Image:Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) at Sultanpur- Preening I Picture 027.jpg| at Sultanpur National Park in Gurgaon District of Haryana, India. Image:Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) at Sultanpur I Picture 025.jpg| at Sultanpur National Park in Gurgaon District of Haryana, India. Image:Eurasian Collared Dove- Amritsar I IMG 4033.jpg| at Wagah Border in Amritsar District of Punjab, India. Image:Eurasian Colllared Dove I IMG 8968.jpg| at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India. Image:Eurasian Collared Dove I IMG 9742.jpg| at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India. Image:Eurasian Collared Dove I IMG 9588.jpg| at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India. Image:Eurasian Collared Dove I IMG 8977.jpg| at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India. Image:Eurasian Collared Dove I2 IMG 8990.jpg| at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India. </gallery>

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