Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Bird Watching - Spotted Dove

Spotted Dove




The spotted dove is a small and somewhat long-tailed pigeon. There is a half collar on the back and sides of the neck made of black feathers that bifurcate and have white spots at the two tips. The wing feathers are dark brown with grey edges. The center of the abdomen and vent are white. The tail tips are white and the wing coverts have light buff spots. Sexes are similar, but juveniles are duller than adults and do not acquire the neck spots until they are mature.

Local Names : Chitroka Fakhta, Panduk (Hindi)
                     Chakkara kutta pravu, Aripravu ( Malayalam)
                     Pulli pura (Tamil)



These doves are mostly found on the ground where they forage for seeds and grain or on low vegetation. The flight is quick with regular beats and an occasional sharp flick of the wings. 



They fly from the ground with an explosive flutter and will sometimes glide down to a perch.



Nest is the customary filmsy dove structure of  'two crossed sticks' low down in a tree or bush; also under eaves and on cornices and beams etc., Eggs- 2 white. Both sexes shares all the domestic duties.

References
The Book of Indian Birds (Salim Ali)
Wikipedia


Pictures:
Bangalore (2019) 



No comments:

Post a Comment