Range of Mourning Collared Dove (3 Viewers)

[SzimiStyle]

Hi, I recently fine tuned my life list in bubo.org with the help of my trip records and the IOC subspecies list. When I checked the range of Mourning Collared Dove I was surprised that is not even reaching southern Africa. I saw this species in South Africa and found common in the Kruger National Park.

What is the actual range of it or has there been a split I did not recognise?

Any comment is appreciated.

Best, Szimi
My personal bird gallery is here: http://500px.com/SzimiStyle

 

[Richard Klim]

Szimi, the range of ssp ambigua is rather abbreviated/truncated in the IOC list (e Angola to e DR Congo and Malawi).

Baptista et al 1997 (HBW 4) gives the range as E Angola, SE Zaire, Zambia and Malawi to R Zambezi and R Limpopo and adjacent lowlands.

'R Limpopo and adjacent lowlands' presumably includes Kruger NP; and the range map in Gibbs et al 2001 (Pigeons & Doves) includes Kruger NP.

PS. Just noticed that photo 3 at the HBW/IBC link above is from Kruger NP.

 

[Alan Manson]

Range map from the Southern African Bird Atlas Project 2. Also SABAP1 atlas text and map.

 

[njlarsen]

Alan really hammered this one home, but for supplement: the range in the Sinclair field guide clearly includes Kruger, and I had them there too (down to the middle and southern sections).

Niels

 

[Sally Conyne]

Thanks for pointing this out. I'll correct it for the next version. I'm working in a location without many resources so I've got an additional question: Are the ambigua birds in s Zimbabwe, s Mozambique and ne South Africa a disjunct population more northerly ambigua in Angola, Zambia, etc?

Sally

 

[Richard Klim]

Are the ambigua birds in s Zimbabwe, s Mozambique and ne South Africa a disjunct population more northerly ambigua in Angola, Zambia, etc?

Sally, both Baptista et al 1997 and Gibbs et al 2001 show the population in e Botswana, s Zimbabwe, s Mozambique & ne S Africa as disjunct from the more northerly population of ambigua. (Both also map another disjunct population in sw Angola/nw Namibia.)

 

[Sally Conyne]

Thanks, Richard ... but now you've generated another question. I have failed to encounter any reference to a population of ambigua in sw Angola and nw Namibia. Is this population shown in addition to the birds in e Angola and ne Namibia? Are any notes provided about it?

Again, thanks

Sally

 

[Richard Klim]

Well, Gibbs et al 2001 gives the range of ambigua as 'Angola (rather than E Angola as in Baptista et al 1997), southern Zaire, western Zambia and populations in the Zambezi and Limpopo valleys'. So the disjunct western population (mapped but not mentioned by Baptista et al) is probably considered to be included within 'Angola', although mapped as extending into nw Namibia.

 

[Daniel Philippe]

In Urban et al. 1986 (BoA II), there are 3 disjunct populations in Angola:
- Cuanza valley (north-west)
- Cunene valley (south-west)
- Okavango valley (south)

 

[Richard Klim]

The nw Angola population isn't mapped by my refs. I've never visited sub-Saharan Africa, so this is a useful geography lesson for me!

 

[njlarsen]

And the range maps from the Southern African bird atlas project that Alan linked to above shows birds present more or less along the entire northern border of Namibia, more or less in agreement with the maps in Sinclairs field guide. The bird atlas seems to have had its limit at the border with Angola and Zambia, but for areas south of there, this is probably the best reference you can get.

Niels

 

[SzimiStyle]

Thanks for the help. I think IOC needs some fine tuning in the subspecies range list.

Best, Szimi

 

[Paul Clapham]

Thanks for the help. I think IOC needs some fine tuning in the subspecies range list.

I would say they have a long way to go yet. I was just looking at the ranges for various Greenbuls and the range for Arizelocichla fusciceps says merely "se".

 

[SzimiStyle]

Indeed, but we all can help them clarifying the rows.
If others did not do it I will send them a note. :t:

Best, Szimi