Dove, Eurasian Collared

Physical Features

The Eurasian Collared Dove is medium-sized bird. It has a sandy gray body, with warmer light-brown tones on its back and its head with a black collar narrowly edged with white on its nape. It has a medium-long square tail. Male and females are identical in appearance although the males are slightly bigger. The juveniles are similar to the adult, but have reddish edges on their body feathers, with brown eyes, and brownish-red legs. The Eurasian Collared Dove is larger, less slender, and grayer in color compared to the Mourning Dove, which lacks the black collar. Its blunt-tipped tail is fan-shaped when spread, unlike the Mourning Dove's, which is much longer and pointed.

Habitat

The Eurasian Collared Dove is found in urban, suburban, and agricultural areas where grains are available. The Eurasian Collared Dove has spread rapidly across much of North America and made a similar expansion across Europe since the1900s. It is thought that the species historically occurred only in and around India, and that a massive expansion in the 1600s led it into Turkey and the Balkans. Since being introduced into the Bahamas in the mid-1970s, the Eurasian Collared-Dove has been established throughout the southeastern United States and has been seen across the continent.

Diet

The Eurasian Collared Dove's diet consists mostly of seeds, some greens, soft fruits, and garbage as well as agricultural grains and leaves and occasionally some insects. It prefers to forage on the ground but also picks berries from bushes.

Meat

Eurasian Collared Dove meat is very dense, dark, lean and rich in nutrients.

Behavior

Eurasian Collared Doves breed nearly year round in their native range and build flimsy nests in trees, on building ledges, and in thick bushes. Their nests are constructed from twigs, stems, roots, and grasses. The female lays 2 sub-elliptical, smooth white, slightly glossy eggs that both the male and female incubate for 14 - 16 days. The chicks are born helpless and covered in little down. The young fledge after about 15 - 18 days and leave the nest area after 21 days. Females may have between 3 to 6 broods in a breeding season. The Eurasian Collared Dove's song is a three-note 'koo-KOO-kook.' It also frequently makes a growling call in flight. Eurasian Collared Doves may become agricultural pests in areas where they feed on and destroy grains.

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