Locally taken photo of the Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis)...
Spotted Doves are native to India and Southeast Asia.
Doves are unique from other birds as they drink by sucking, so they don't have to tilt their heads back to swallow.
They are found singly or in pairs, seldom in flocks.
Adults: Length 28-33 cm.
Color: Light gray head; head and breast cinnamon grey; black nape with white spots; dark cinnamon-gray back broadly streaked with black; buffy chest and belly; bill black; feet red. Pale brown wing coverts contrast with dark flight feathers. In flight, long blunt tail looks black with flashy white tips. Juveniles lack collar on hindneck.
Breeding: monogamous nests all year, 1-2 white eggs Courting behavior of the male is a rhythmic bowing. To advertise his nesting site, a male performs a flight display of a steep climb accompanied by loud wing claps followed by a downward swoop in a circular dive with stiff wings and fanned tail.
Nesting: Nest is a flimsy stick platform of twigs, grasses and roots in a tree, tall bush, or on a building, often quite low. 11-15 cm in diameter and shallow, 2-3 cm deep.
Incubation: 14 days. Both parents brood young. Both tend to the young and provide a very rich substance called pigeon milk for the chick’s first six or seven days. The next week food for the chick is regurgitated seeds and grain.
Fledging: 14-16 days As soon as the young leave the nest, a new clutch is begun.
Voice: low coo-croo-coo; soft te-croo-croo; three note coo-coo-croo with emphasis on last note.
Lifespan: 1-4 years in the wild; reported as up to 20.
Diet: seeds and grains. Forages on the ground.
Habits: solitary to paired, non-migratory but known to expand range as territories fill.
Habitat: Suburban, parks, gardens, dense trees for nesting, areas with available grit.
Threats: preyed upon by cats. They are easily harmed by pesticides and herbicides.
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