Zebra Dove

Photo by RoosterBrewster
Big Island, Hawaii, November 2004

Geopelia striata

Identification

20·5–21·5 cm; long, narrow tail

• Brownish-grey upperparts with black-and-white barring
• Pinkish underparts
• Black bars on the sides of the neck, breast and belly
• Blue-grey face
• Bare blue skin around the eyes
• White tipped tail feathers
  

Juvenile: duller and paler than the adults

Fledglings
Photo by Avian Seeker
Singapore, July 2012

Distribution

South-east Asia: found in southern Myanmar to Malaysia, Sumatra and Java.

Possibly also in the Philippines.

Introduced in the Hawaiian Islands, where it is abundant.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

Habitat

Mangroves, forests, hotel grounds, bush, parks; rural and urban areas.

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists of a wide variety of grain, weed and grass seeds; supplemented with insects.

Breeding

The males display to the female by bowing the head and spreading the tail. The platform nest is formed from leaves and grass and usually found in a bush or tree. The 1 or 2 white eggs are incubated by both adults for 13-18 days; the young fledging after 2 weeks.

Vocalisation

Call:a soft, staccato cooing.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2013. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.8., with updates to August 2013. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved August 2014)
3. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Zebra Dove. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 19 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Zebra_Dove

External Links

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