Family: Columbidae, Pigeons and Doves view all from this family

Description 13-14" (31-34 cm). W. 25-28" (63-70 cm). Larger than a Mourning Dove. Generally gray-brown with vinous pink flush, especially on chest. Distinctive black collar marking on nape, edged in white, not always visible in the field. Dark primaries and pale gray-brown mantle separated by a silvery patch on the wing wrist; underwings white. Tail not sharply pointed as in Mourning Dove, banded white below, dark near rump. Dark eye and bill; legs red.

Habitat Adaptable to human settlement; suburbs, small towns, agricultural areas.

Nesting 2 white eggs in nest on tree or building ledge; nesting period variable across range, may be essentially continuous in warmer habitats.

Range Broadly distributed in Eurasia. U.S. populations, originating in southern Florida, are rapidly expanding to the north and west.

Voice   Call a deep, repeated kuk-kooooo-kuk, accented on middle syllable; also a harsh, mewing nasal call note, reminiscent to many observers of a loud Gray Catbird call.

Discussion Originally a Mideastern species, the Eurasian Collared-Dove has extended its range dramatically into western Europe since about 1930. It was inadvertently released in the Bahamas in the 1970s then spread to South Florida, probably by natural means, in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Florida birds were initially mistaken for feral populations of Ringed Turtle-Dove (S. risora), a domestic cage bird with no natural populations anywhere in the world. This mistake was soon corrected, and the species was officially recognized in the U.S. in the 1990s. It is expanding its presence rapidly north and west, having already reached Georgia, Louisiana and Arkansas; based on European experience, likely to become the "beige Starling" of U.S. avifauna.