Description
The Collared Dove is small, slim dove with quite a long tail - it is much
smaller than a Wood Pigeon.
The plumage of this elegant dove is mostly a pale brown-grey but the breast is a
pinkish buff colour. Adults can be distinguished from juveniles by the narrow
black and white band round the back of the neck (which juveniles lack).
In flight, the length of its tail in proportion to its body can make its
silhouette look like that of a Sparrow hawk, and sometimes other birds make the
same mistake, giving alarm calls and dashing for cover.
Voice
The monotonous cooing song of the Collared Dove sounds like
"coo-Coo-coo".
Feeding
The Collared Dove feeds mainly on cereal grain and small seeds on the ground,
but will also eat berries in the autumn, and caterpillars and aphids in the
spring. In the garden, they will occasionally feed on small bird seed or bread
crumbs placed on either the ground or the bird table. The nestlings are fed on
"crop milk", which is rich in protein and fat, that is secreted from the crop.
Breeding
The Collared Doves nest is almost incredible: a flimsy platform of twigs in a
tree, but sometimes on a building. The white oval eggs are smooth and glossy,
and about 31 mm by 23 mm in size. Both parents share the duty of incubating the
eggs and feeding the nestlings.
| Breeding Starts |
Number of Clutches |
Number of Eggs |
Incubation (days) |
Fledge (days) |
| March |
2-5 |
2 |
14-16 |
18-21 |
Comments
Collared Doves are now such common visitors to the garden, imagining that this
bird did not live in Britain before the early 1950's is difficult. One reason
for this is their long breeding season: March to October.
Reproduced with kind permission of
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