Red Collared-Dove Streptopelia tranquebarica Scientific name definitions

20·5–23 cm; 104 g. Head bluish grey, merging into whitish grey above bill and in front of half-collar spanning hindneck; throat whitish; mantle, upper back, wing-coverts, scapulars and inner secondaries deep mauvish pink; neck, breast and belly slightly paler, a more greyish pink shading into pinkish grey and then white on undertail-coverts; lower back, rump and uppertail-coverts dark bluish grey; central rectrices drab grey, lateral ones dark grey on basal half and greyish white distally; outer webs of outermost pair entirely white; underwings pale bluish grey to whitish grey; outer wing-coverts with same bluish grey edgings; primaries black; underside of tail black on basal half and white distally; iris ranges from brown to brownish black; orbital skin greyish; bill black to greyish black; legs purplish black or purplish red. Female  quite different: drab brown where male is vinous pink and brownish grey where he is bluish grey. Juvenile female is a paler version of adult, most feathers edged with buff; juvenile male resembles juvenile female but plumage is suffused with a reddish tinge. Race humilis   darker all over.

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Also Peninsular Malaysia (2 MNS-Bird Conservation Council (2010). A Checklist of the Birds of Peninsular Malaysia. MNS Conservation Publication 10. Malaysian Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur. Close ) and Sulawesi (3 Fitzsimons, J.A., Thomas, J.E. and Argeloo, M. (2011). Occurrence and distribution of established and new introduced bird species in north Sulawesi, Indonesia. Forktail. 27: 23–28. Close ), where presumed to have been introduced.

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SUBSPECIES

Streptopelia tranquebarica tranquebarica Scientific name definitions

Distribution

Sind and Punjab E to W Nepal, Bihar and Bengal, and S through peninsular India.

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SUBSPECIES

Streptopelia tranquebarica humilis Scientific name definitions

Distribution

NE Tibet, Nepal, NE India (Sikkim and Assam) and Andaman Is to Myanmar, Thailand and Indochina and on to N China, Taiwan and N Philippines.

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Inhabits open country with trees, scrub, jungle and dry woodland. Unlike its Asian congeners, it is seldom found close to human activity. Summer visitor to Himalayas below 800 m; ascends to 1300 m in Bengal and Assam; elsewhere it is mostly a bird of lowlands.

N populations migratory, most birds moving to S Asia for winter. In Pakistan, present only in summer to breed, arriving from India. In Hong Kong, known only as migrant. Vagrant to Masirah I, S Arabia.

Feeds on seeds of grasses and herbs, as well as cultivated seeds, including rice and maize, buds and young leaves. Most if not all food taken from the ground . Usually occurs in twos or threes but may gather in flocks of 50 or more at good food sources.

Advertising call a continuously repeated three- or four-note phrase, with pause between phrases slightly longer than those between notes. Notes sound very hoarse and dry, e.g. “grroh..grroh..grroh... grroh..grroh..grroh....”. Second note sometimes bisyllabic: “grroh..grroh-uh..grroh”. In display, a hurried “croo..croo..croo..” (4 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2012). Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Volumes 1 and 2. Second edition. National Museum of Natural History—Smithsonian Institution, Michigan State University, and Lynx Edicions, Washington, DC, East Lansing, MI, and Barcelona, Spain. Close ).

S populations breed when food is available; N populations await the favourable conditions of summer. Nest is a skimpy saucer or platform of twigs and grass stems, usually placed 3–7/8 m up a tree (higher than in congeners), often near the extremity of a leafy branch. Lays 2 white or creamy white eggs, rarely 3.

Not globally threatened. Common to relatively abundant in some areas. Abundant in Pakistan, mainly in Punjab; not uncommon in Andaman Is; very common in Thailand; fairly common in Philippines. Common in C Sulawesi, where species presumed to be introduced, perhaps from nearby Philippines, or brought by people immigrating from India in about 1930.