Africa Wild Bird Book

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348. Rock Dove (formerly known as Feral Pigeon) Columba livia (Tuinduif)
Order: Columbiformes. Family: Columbidae



Description
33 cm. Feral; plumage is very variable, with black, blue, grey, white and reddish forms occurring and highly variable, most with 2 bold black bars on folded wing. Blue-grey birds usually have iridescent purple and green on upper breast and neck. Overall colours may vary from white to pure black. Legs and feet magenta. Sexes alike.
Juveniles are less iridescent.

Distribution
Originally native to south-eastern Europe, south-western Asia, India, Arabia, north Africa and British Isles but it is now common in many southern African cities, as well as other cities around the world.

Habitat
Mostly urban areas, city parks and industrial sites.

Diet
Mainly eats seeds, as well as discarded human food and plant matter. It typically forages on open ground, such as pavements, roads, lawns and bare soil.

Breeding
It builds its own nest, which is a scruffy collection of twigs, wire, feathers and other material, usually placed on ledges of buildings or bridges.
It can lay 1-2 eggs at any time of year. Incubation starts with the first laid egg, and is done by both sexes for 16-19 days.

Call
Typical domestic pigeon coo-roo-coo. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Common and abundant resident.

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348. Rock Dove Columba livia (Tuinduif)

© ExFmem

© ExFmem

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2

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349. Speckled Pigeon Columba guinea (Kransduif)
Order: Columbiformes. Family: Columbidae



Description
33 cm. Robust grey and maroon-brown pigeon with conspicuous white spots on wing-coverts, a patch of bare red skin around the yellow eyes, and a pinkish and white striated neck. Neck, breast, back and upper-wings are a rufous; speckled with white on its neck and spotted with white on its wings ('speckeled'). Head, rump and the rest of the underparts are grey. Black bill. The legs are red. The sexes are alike.
Immatures are browner than adults and lack the red eye patches.
Similar species: The only similar pigeon in the region is African Olive Pigeon, which is larger and darker, and has bright yellow (not red) bare eye patches and legs.

Distribution
Widespread throughout Africa South of the Sahara. Occurs from Senegal to Ethiopia south to Tanzania, with a separate population in south-western Angola and southern Africa. With in southern Africa it is common in western and central Namibia, southern Botswana, Zimbabwe (marginally extending into Mozambique), Swaziland, Lesotho and South Africa.



Habitat
It generally prefers mountain ranges, rocky terrain, coastal cliff and cities. But it has recently taken to urban and rural buildings, where it often roosts and nests.

Diet
It feeds mainly on seeds, rarely eating fruits and leaves. It typically forages on the ground, usually on farmland, lawns or roads.

Breeding
The Speckled Pigeon is monogamous. It makes its own nest, with the male collecting material and giving it to the female, who then puts it into the nest. This consists of a collection of twigs, grass, herbs and sometimes wire, shotgun shells and nails, usually placed on ledges of cliffs, in caves, gullies or often in buildings. It lays 1-3 white eggs, at any time of year. Incubation is done by both parents for about 14-16 days, changing shifts at mid-morning and late afternoon. The chicks are brooded for the first six days of their lives, after which brooding ceases. The nestling period is highly variable with different regions, ranging from 21-37 days. Unlike most other birds, doves and pigeons produce “crop milk”, which is secreted by cells lining the crop. Both males and females produce this highly nutritious 'milk' to feed to the young.

Call
The call is a loud series of coos-doo-doo-doo, which may be repeated up to twenty times. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
A common resident throughout South Africa.

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349. Speckled Pigeon Columba guinea (Kransduif)

© Peter Connan
Garden in Gauteng

© steamtrainfan

© Flutterby

Links:
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds: http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/349.pdf
Sabap2: http://sabap2.adu.org.za/species_info.p ... #menu_left
Oiseaux net
Biodiversity Explorer
Africa Wild: The courtship of the Speckled Pidgeon - Adults only!

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350. African Olive-Pigeon (Formerly known as Rameron Pigeon) Columba arquatrix (Geelbekbosduif)
Order: Columbiformes. Family: Columbidae

African Olive-Pigeon.jpg (28.95 KiB) Viewed 1452 times

Description
37-42 cm. The largest pigeon in the region.
Male: Maroon back and wings. Shoulders heavily speckled with white spots. Maroon underparts with heavy white spotting. Grey head with yellow patches around the eye and yellow bill. Neck plumage (used in display) streaked maroon and white. Dark grey underwing and undertail. Yellow feet.
Female: Similar but somewhat duller.
Juvenile: Dark brown plumage. Bare parts are dull greeny-yellow, and the wing feathers have pale fringes.

Distribution
From Ethiopia through Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Angola to southern Africa. Within southern Africa it is common in eastern and southern South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe's eastern highlands and adjacent Mozambique.

Habitat
It generally prefers evergreen forests, riverine forests and thickets, alien tree plantations, urban gardens and parks, provided there are plentiful fruit trees and bushes.

Diet
It feeds almost exclusively on fruit.

Breeding
It builds its own nest, the male collecting material then giving it to the female, who then adds it to the structure. The nest is a circular collection of twigs, with a depression in the middle, sometimes lined with leaves. Nests can be found in forks in trees. Egg-laying season is year-round. It lays 1-2, usually one egg, which are incubated by both sexes for about 20 days, changing shifts in the early morning and late afternoon. The chicks are fed by both parents, leaving the nest after 19-20 days.

Call
Deep, fast and quivering du-du-du-du.... and krooo notes. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Common resident.

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350. African Olive-Pigeon Columba arquatrix





© Sharifa
Loskop Dam

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2

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360. Lemon Dove (Cinnamon Dove) Columba larvata (Kaneelduifie)
Order: Columbiformes. Family: Columbidae

Lemon Dove.jpg (35.86 KiB) Viewed 1449 times

Description
In size (25-30 cm) it is similar to the Ring-necked Dove and African Mourning Dove. Dark brown plumage with cinnamon underparts, black bill, glossed green on sides of neck and cinnamon brown below. The feet, iris and orbital skin are red. Sexes are alike but the female is duller.
Juveniles are similar to the adults but with buff barring on the mantle.

Distribution
Found in isolated patches of southern and eastern Africa. In southern Africa it is confined to the eastern and southern coastal areas, Zimbabwe's eastern highlands and adjacent Mozambique.

Habitat
The Lemon Dove is a forest-dwelling species in the undergrowth of evergreen forests. In the Western Cape it sometimes moves into pine and oak plantations.

Diet
It forages, solitarily or in pairs, in leaf litter on the forest floor. It feeds on seeds, berries, insects, molluscs, bulbs and tubers.

Breeding
A flat platform nest is built bby both sexes, made of twigs and rootlets or pine needles. It is usually placed 2.5 m above ground, usually in the mid-canopy of a tree or creeper. Egg laying season is from September-December in the Eastern and Western Cape, but from July-April elsewhere in southern Africa. The female lays 1-3 (usually 2) creamy white eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 14-18 days. The chicks stay in the nest for about 20 days, after which they remain with their parents for about two months.

Call
Deep resonant woo-oop, woo-oop, woo-oop, each note rising slightly at end. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Common resident.

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360. Lemon Dove (Cinnamon Dove) Columba larvata




© Duke
Dlinza Forest, Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2

[nan]

919. European Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur (Europese Tortelduif)
Order: Columbiformes. Family: Columbidae



Description
Size 26-28 cm. About the size of a Cape Turtle Dove.
Adult has greyish-brown scaled mantle. Rump and lower back are tinged blue-grey. Upperwing shows conspicuous scaled effect on inner wing coverts and scapulars of which each dark feather is broadly edged orange-buff, involving bold spotted pattern. Flight feathers are dark grey to blackish, finely bordered whitish. Uppertail coverts and central rectrices are greyish. Outer rectrices are darker with white terminal bar and white outer webs on the outermost tail feathers. On the underparts, upper throat is white whereas lower part and breast are mauve-pink, blending into white belly and undertail coverts. Flanks are pale grey. Underwing is bluish-grey. Undertail is black and white.On the head, forehead is pale bluish-grey, darker in crown, nape and hind neck. We can see some black and white lines on neck sides and rear neck forming a patch. Bill is blackish. Eyes are pale orange surrounded by broad, bare dark pinkish eye-ring. Legs and feet are pinkish.
Female may be slightly paler and duller.
Juvenile is duller and browner than adults, with buff-tipped feathers. Juvenile lacks the neck patch and has barred and mottled upperparts, which distinguish it from juvenile Laughing Dove.
This species can be distinguished from Laughing Dove by its scaled upperparts and lacks that species' freckled breast band. It has an obvious and diagnostic oval black-and-white striped patch on either side of the neck.

Distribution
Breeds in Europe, western Asia and the far north of Africa, heading south in the non-breeding season to the Sahel, from Mali to Ethiopia. It is a rare vagrant to southern Africa, with four records in northern Namibia, Botswana, Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park and the Limpopo Province.

Habitat
South African sightings have been made in thornveld, near water. It generally prefers open bushwillow (Combretum) and Acacia savanna, coastal bush, orchards, parks and gardens.

Diet
Mainly grasses, Devil thorn, crops and sedge rhizomes, doing most of its foraging on the ground.

Breeding
Turtle Doves return from their wintering grounds around late April and immediately start nesting. The nests are usually made in hedges or scrub, two broods may be produced in the season each consisting of two eggs. Both parents share the incubation and feeding duties.

Call
Not recorded in the region.

Status
Vagrant.

[nan]

919. European Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur (Europese Tortelduif)



Links:
Oiseaux net