Colours of Wildlife: Red-Eyed Dove
Created | Updated Feb 21, 2016
Red-Eyed Dove
Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"
This, the Red-Eyed Dove, Streptopelia semitorquata, is South Africa's largest dove species, and also one of the most beautiful, which is saying a lot, since the pigeon-and-dove family is one just loaded with lovely species. Its beauty is not in vivid colours and bold markings, however. It has a soft, elegant beauty, in the way it carries itself, in the pastel-like greys, blue-greys, purple-greys and reddish tints of its plumage. It always looks neat, not a feather out of place. Reaching 35 cm/14" in overall length, it is larger than all other African doves, indeed about the size of a rock pigeon.
This is one of the collared doves, a group that is well-represented and widespread in Africa, some species inhabiting Europe and Asia also. The collared doves all have a black semicircle at the backs of their necks. The redeyed doves has a particularly broad and bold black collar. (Its scientific name means 'ringed dove with a half collar'). The other collared doves in South Africa are the mourning dove and the Cape turtle dove, both of which are markedly smaller than the redeyed dove. Apart from its size, it also differs from them in having a deep red eye, circled by a dull to light red, fleshy ring. It also differs in having only a broad, light grey band at the tip of its tail, where the other local collared doves also have white tips to the feathers at the sides of their tails.
Like other pigeons and doves, red-eyed doves are mainly vegetarians, eating seeds and small fruits. They will on occasion eat nutritious insects like the flying termites that emerge in masses after spring and summer rains. They sometimes peck out and eat small subterranean bulbs like those of sedges. They typically have well-developed routines: they roost in large trees during the evening and night, then set out to feed early in the morning, feeding until it becomes too hot, when they return to the roost to rest out the hottest part of the day, setting out to feed again as the afternoon cools down. But on cool or overcast days, they may spend the whole day outside, feeding.
Unlike the African Rock Pigeon, this species is not considered a pest of human crops. That is largely because it doesn't gather fruit or seeds from the living plants, instead walking around and pecking up what has already fallen to the ground.
Typically, red-eyed doves are monogamous, a male and female pairing up when young and then remaining together for life. The couple strengthen the bond between them by cooing and displaying to each other, as well as by mutual grooming, which is why this dove's feathers are so neat! Their nests are not, sad to say, though they seem to serve the purpose well enough. The nest is not quite as flimsy as that of some other doves; it is made of sticks, placed in a tree to form a small platform with a hollow at the top, which is lined with fine leaves, grass blades or pine needles. The clutch is mostly two eggs, rarely one. Both sexes incubate, the female often at night. The eggs hatch after about 15 days. The chicks, or squabs, are rather unlovely in appearance at first, with leathery skin and scruffy down, but are fully feathered and fledge at the age of fifteen or sixteen days.
Like other doves and pigeons, the red-eyed dove has a distinctive voice. It makes a greater variety of coos and other sounds than other doves, though. Its typical call is a loud coo, starting with two quick coos, a brief pause, and then another four coos, the first two of which are closer in time than the final two. There are several other coo patterns, some associated with specific regions, like the accents of humans. Another kind of call is a growl followed by a few coos; this seems to be what the birds say when they're looking for a safe nest site. While doing their bowing display, they give a throaty double-coo call; their alarm or 'excitement' call is a rather nasal bleat. This they often give to chase other doves away from food, but also when the male and female exchange roles at incubation. A last sound of these doves comes not from their vocal chords but from their wings; when a bird is startled from a tree, the wingflap-sounds are quite loud, and the wings are also audible when they give their 'towering' display flights to indicate their territories to neighbour birds. This flight goes like this: first, with loudly flapping wings, the bird goes up into the air at a steep climb; then as it reaches the top, it glides down slowly and smoothly, its wings and tail feathers spread.
This is a species that has extended its range in South Africa since the coming of humans. It likes habitat with both tall trees and more open spaces; also it appreciates access to clean water for drinking and bathing. Gardens seem to suit it very well and it is one of the most common garden birds here in Polokwane. (In fact there is one singing outside my window even as I am writing this article!) In the wild, it is associated with woodland and savannah with large trees, such as are often found on the banks of rivers. In Africa as a whole, it occurs almost everywhere south of the Sahara, being only absent from dense rainforests and open grasslands or semi-deserts. Right now it is definitely not threatened, flourishing indeed in many regions alongside humans.
