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Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) — photo 1 of 5
© xulescu_g CC BY-SA 2.0

Pigeons and doves

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Streptopelia decaocto

Year-round

Voice

Song

Lionel Triboulin

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Song

Lionel Triboulin

0:08

How to recognize it

  • Size of a pigeon, 31–33 cm

  • Plain pale beige-brown, slightly darker above

  • Black half-collar on the nape

  • Direct flight with fast clipped wingbeats; long tail

About the species

The Eurasian Collared-Dove has a calm, tidy look. It feels slim and a little long-tailed, with plain pale plumage and a dark incomplete collar on the neck.

It stays close to people and often keeps to parks, gardens, and quiet residential areas. Its voice is a soft three-part coo, and during display flight it gives rough, repeated notes.

It favors human-shaped places with a few conifers for nesting. Its food is simple too — seeds, grain, and fruit — and it usually breeds near buildings rather than far from them.

Where to find

  • In quiet residential blocks with a few conifers, look up for soft cooing from the tops of pines and spruces.

  • Along the edges of old parks and courtyard gardens, it often lands on wires or low roofs before giving a short rasping call.

  • On lawns and seed-strewn vacant lots, it walks on the ground, pecking at grains and fallen fruit.

  • Near grain stores, markets, and places where food is scattered, small groups gather to pick up seeds.

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Sources