From Opus

Photo by safariranger
Johannesburg, South Africa

Columba guinea

[edit] Identification

41 cm. Rufous back and wings, wings heavily speckled with white spots. The rest of the upperparts and underparts are blue-grey, grey head is grey with red eye patches. Brown neck, streaked with white, and the legs are red. The call is a loud doo-doo-doo.

Sexes are similar, but immatures are browner than adults.

[edit] Distribution

Africa south of the Sahara.

[edit] Taxonomy

Columba guinea has two subspecies:^[1]

• C. g. guinea

• Senegambia to Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania

• C. g. phaeonota

• South-western Angola to Zimbabwe and South Africa

[edit] Habitat

A bird of open country with rocks and cliff ledges.

[edit] Behaviour

It feeds mainly on seeds along with newly germinated shoots, grain and groundnuts.

Originally Speckled Pigeons confined their breeding/roosting sites to cliff ledges but more recently have taken to breeding in buildings. This has helped the species to increase in number and range. It builds a large stick nest in a tree and 2 white eggs are laid.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.

[edit] External Links