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Barbary Doves -more questions

To: <>, <>
Subject: Barbary Doves -more questions
From: michael wood <>
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:25:10 +1030
Hello Katrina and others



Having listened to the Barbary Dove recordings in the links you referred to, 
personally, I would say that neither of the calls sounded like the birds here 
around Adelaide, South Australia. There were, however, two other youtube 
recordings that I thought captured the essence of the birds call: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5PfygLaHm0&feature=related and 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poSlq6R2EbE&feature=related. It would be 
interesting to see what you think. It could be, as you say, that these birds 
are more closely related to the Asian birds, and if that's so confusing matters.



I would agree with you, Katrina, when you say that the some Barbarys can look 
like a paler version of the Laughing Dove of Africa, and they're roughly the 
same size. However, some of the local birds tend to have a soft (faint) 
rose-pink flush across their throat and chest (Is this a diagnostic of the 
Eurasian Collared Dove?) and only a minimal amount of grey, or darkness, in the 
outer primaries. And, there can be varying amounts of black/dark in the 
undertail coverts. In saying that, most seem to have about the amount depicted 
for the Ringed Turtle-Dove outlined in your link. There can be a good deal of 
mottling and variation on the upper body plumage too. Whether this is a further 
sign of hybridization I couldn't say.
 I hope I haven't confused things even more. Regards,Michael Wood (ps. A bird 
was seen when in Gawler, approximately 40km north of Adelaide, when there for 
the start of the Tour Down Under a few days ago.)


I did some research into doves with collars a while back when I wanted to 
identify a bird that showed up in my mother's yard. There seems to be a lot of 
confusion about these birds, partly because they have multiple names and partly 
because Barbary Doves are probably not really a good separate species.

Barbary Doves are known as Streptopelia risoria. They're also called Ringed 
Turtle-Doves or Ringed Doves.

They're generally regarded as a domestic form of the Streptopelia senegalensis, 
which is commonly called African Collared-Dove, Laughing Turtle-Dove or 
Laughing Dove depending on who is doing the calling. Typically, Barbary Doves 
look like a much paler version of the African Collared-Dove/Laughing Dove. In 
some places, Barbary Doves are reputed to look more like a paler version of 
Eurasian Collared-Doves, and there may or may not be some hybridization going 
on where they meet. (I can't tell from the information in Pizzey & Knight 
whether the Barbary Doves established in Australia are a form with more 
Eurasian Collared-Dove genes in them. If they are, that complicates the issue.) 
Eurasian Collared-Doves are Streptopeleia decaocto. The appearance of all three 
can be similar if you're not familiar with them. I've seen numerous Eurasian 
Collared-Doves but only one Barbary/African Collared-Dove. (The one that I saw 
looked like the wild version, but given that it was visiting my mother's back 
yard in the eastern US, I think it is safe to say that it actually was a 
domestic escapee.) The differences become more obvious if you're familiar with 
at least one of them. There's some simple information about separating Eurasian 
Collared-Doves from Barbary Doves here 
<http://www.birdsource.org/Features/EUCDOV/>.

Eurasian Collared-Doves sound very different from typical Barbary Doves. Sound 
is generally considered the

easier way to tell them apart if there's a chance of both being there. If 
you're dealing with Barbary Doves that have Eurasian Collared-Dove ancestors, 
I'm not sure what sounds they'd make though. I would expect that enough 
Eurasian-collared Dove ancestry could result in Barbary Doves that sound more 
like Eurasian Collared-Doves as well as well as looking more like them.

In any case, there's a recording of a Barbary Dove here 
<http://drc01.drc.ohiolink.edu/handle/2374.OX/55686?show=full> and a video with 
sound of two of them here <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVXEgl2B9Pc>. There 
are links to several clips of Eurasian Collared-Doves here 
<http://www.junglewalk.com/sound/dove-sounds.htm>.

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