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European Turtle Dove

European Turtle Dove

Streptopelia turtur

Identify the European Turtle Dove by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The European Turtle Dove is a slim, migratory dove that breeds across Europe, North Africa and western Asia and winters in the Sahel. It has warm, black-scaled wings, a blue-grey head, a black-and-white striped neck patch and a white-edged tail. Its soft, purring “turrr” song has long symbolised love. It has declined steeply because of agricultural change and hunting on migration and is listed as Vulnerable.

Did you know?

  • “Turtle” comes from the Latin turtur, imitating its purring song.
  • It has long symbolised faithful love in European folklore.

Voice

Song

About the species

Identification

A small, slim dove resembling a Collared Dove. The upperparts are scaly: the scapulars and wing coverts have dark centres and rufous fringes; the head is grey, the breast pinkish and the belly pale. A black-and-white striped patch shows on the side of the neck; the wings are pointed and the dark tail has white edges and tip. The voice is a soft, purring “turrr, turrr”.

Family

Columbidae

Size

Medium (thrush)

Colours

brown, grey, orange, black, white

About the habitat

Mosaics of open farmland with hedgerows and scrub, woodland edges, thickets, orchards and shelterbelts; winters in dry savanna.

Diet

Mainly small seeds of wild plants such as fumitory, as well as cereal grain and shoots, taken on the ground.

Behaviour

A wary, ground-feeding dove that forages quietly along field edges, then retreats to trees and hedges. It is a long-distance migrant that arrives late in spring and leaves early. Its flight is fast and direct, and display flights are high and circling with wing-claps. It builds a flimsy nest in bushes or trees.

Sources

Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur turtur) Hungary.jpg

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC730609, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/730609

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_turtle_dove

See also