EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE

(Streptopelia decaocto)

eBird gives this description of the Eurasian Collared-Dove:  Smoothly-colored grayish-brown dove. Body is uniformly chalky-beige with a black crescent on the nape. Smaller and paler than Rock Pigeon, with a proportionally longer, square-tipped tail. Favors farms and suburbs and avoids areas with extensive forests. Gives a cooing “Ooh-OOH-ouh.” Introduced from Eurasia to the Bahamas, from where it has spread rapidly across southern and western North America; escapees may also occur elsewhere.  All About Birds adds this description:  With a flash of white tail feathers and a flurry of dark-tipped wings, the Eurasian Collared-Dove settles onto phone wires and fence posts to give its rhythmic three-parted coo. This chunky relative of the Mourning Dove gets its name from the black half-collar at the nape of the neck. A few Eurasian Collared-Doves were introduced to the Bahamas in the 1970s. They made their way to Florida by the 1980s and then rapidly colonized most of North America.

I saw my first Eurasian Collared-Dove near the trailhead of the Guadalupe River South Trail below Canyon Dam on the morning of June 14, 2020.  The bird was perched on a wire and I thought it was a Mourning Dove until I got home and looked closely at the picture and determined it was a Eurasian Collared-Dove.

Eurasian Collared-Dove near the Guadalupe River Trail South on June 14, 2020.
Another shot of the Eurasian Collared-Dove on June 14, 2020.


“Cool Facts” About The Eurasian Collared-Dove From All About Birds…

  • Eurasian Collared-Doves made their way to North America via the Bahamas, where several birds escaped from a pet shop during a mid-1970s burglary; the shop owner then released the rest of the flock of approximately 50 doves. Others were set free on the island of Guadeloupe when a volcano threatened eruption. From these two sites the birds likely spread to Florida, and now occur over most of North America.
  • People have helped make the Eurasian Collared-Dove at home in North America. Bird feeders and trees planted in urban and suburban areas are cited as two of the main factors in the species’ colonization of the continent.
  • The Eurasian Collared-Dove’s species name, decaocto, comes from Greek mythology. Decaocto was a servant girl transformed into a dove by the gods to escape her unhappy treatment; the dove’s mournful cry recalls her former life.
  • While most birds meet their chicks’ protein needs with insects, doves feed their newly hatched chicks a fat- and protein-rich “crop milk.” This whitish fluid comes from liquid-filled cells that slough off the lining of the crop, a portion of the esophagus. After 5 or 10 days, the chicks switch to a diet of regurgitated seeds or fruit.
  • Eurasian Collared-Doves are one of very few species that can drink “head down,” submerging their bills and sucking water as though drinking through a straw. Most birds must scoop water and tip the head back to let it run down into the throat.
  • The oldest recorded Eurasian Collared-Dove from the wild was at least 13 years, 8 months old.