Black-billed Wood-Dove Turtur abyssinicus Scientific name definitions

20 cm; 51–78 g. Similar in size and colour to T. chalcospilos, but a little lighter and greyer in overall coloration ; wing-spots are dark blue and somewhat smaller; bill black. Sexes alike. Juvenile is dusky-coloured, barred buff or rufous.

S Mauritania and Senegambia E to Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria, and E through N Cameroon and N Central African Republic to Eritrea, W Ethiopia, N Uganda and extreme NW Kenya.

Occurs from sea-level to 1800 m, in arid habitats such as savanna woodland with Acacia and Combretum; also frequents bushes around desert wells, woods at edges of marshes and dense woodland edge; often found in cassava plantations in N Ghana. Prefers heavier woodland and forest in Ethiopia. In N part of range, with the coming of the dry season, species concentrates in thicker vegetation close to water .

Resident in most of range, but possibly a partial migrant in some areas; apparent non-breeding migrants have been recorded in Togo, Benin and Nigeria south of 10° N.

Eats mostly seeds of grasses and herbs, each weighing 0·2–0·5 mg; occasionally takes much larger items, e.g. grains of Sorghum, Pennisetum and Oryza. Seeds of at least 63 species documented in Senegambia, with Panicum laetum constituting 56% of total food weight.

Advertising call is a plaintive cooing phrase lasting c. 17 seconds with a distinct cadence, starting very faint and hesitant, gradually gaining amplitude and speed, and ending in a somewhat stuttering series of notes, which are marginally lower-pitched than the initial notes, totalling c. 25 notes. Phrase typically repeated several times, at a rate of c. 3 phrases/minute. Differs from T. chalcospilos by its longer phrase with longer pauses between notes, and often includes one or more triple notes before the stuttering series (vs. only double notes).

Season Aug–Apr in W Africa; Sept–Oct and Jan in Sudan. Nest consists of a platform of thin sticks concealed in vegetation e.g. Balanites, Acacia nilotica, Zizyphus mau­ritiaca, Salvadora, Boscia and Maytenus, 1–2·5 m above ground. Clutch 2 brownish cream eggs; incubation 15 days; fledging 17 days.

Not globally threatened. Common to abundant throughout much of range, e.g. Togo, Nigeria. Density of c. 5 birds/ha recorded in riparian woodland in Senegambia. Habitat not threatened, and species appears secure. CITES III in Ghana.