Spotted dove

The spotted dove was formally described in 1786 by the Austrian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli and given the binomial name Columba chinensis. Scopoli based his account on "La tourterelle gris de la Chine" that had been described and illustrated in 1782 by the French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat in the second volume of his book Voyage aux Indes orientales et à la Chine. This species was formerly included in the genus Streptopelia. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2001 found the genus was paraphyletic with respect to Columba. To create monophyletic genera the spotted dove as well as the closely related laughing dove were moved to the resurrected genus Spilopelia that had been introduced by the Swedish zoologist Carl Sundevall in 1873. Sundevall had designated Columba tigrina as the type species, a taxon that is now considered a subspecies of the spotted dove. This spotting is lacking on populations further north and east of India, such as tigrina, which also differ greatly in vocalizations from the Indian forms. The population from Hainan Island is placed in hainana. Others like vacillans (=chinensis) and forresti (= tigrina) and edwardi (from Chabua = suratensis) have been considered invalid. • Spilopelia chinensis suratensis (Gmelin, JF, 1789) – Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bhutan • Spilopelia chinensis ceylonensis (Reichenbach, 1851) – Sri Lanka (has shorter wings than suratensis) • Spilopelia chinensis tigrina (Temminck, 1809) – Bangladesh and northeast India through Indochina to Philippines and the Sunda Islands • Spilopelia chinensis chinensis (Scopoli, 1786) – northeast Myanmar to central and east China, Taiwan • Spilopelia chinensis hainana (Hartert, 1910) – Hainan (off southeast China) The subspecies S. c. suratensis and S. c. ceylonensis differ significantly from the other subspecies in both plumage and vocalization. This has led some ornithologists to treat S. c. suratensis as a separate species, the western spotted dove. Spotted dove (Spilopelia chinensis ceylonensis).jpg|S. c. ceylonensisnear Galle, Sri Lanka Spotted dove -- Spilopelia chinensis cropped & noise-processed.png|S. c. tigrinaKuala Lumpur, Malaysia Spilopelia chinensis Zhengzhou 20220915, crop.jpg|S. c. chinensisZhengzhou, China ==Description==

}} }} |unit = mm |massunit = g |lengthm = 275-305 |lengthf = 272-315 |culmenm = 15-17 |culmenf = 15-17 |wingm = 139-157 |wingf = 137-149 |tailm = 131-140 |tailf = 123-146 |tarsusm = 23-25 |tarsusf = 20-26 |weightm = 120-142 |weightf = 120-145 }} |unit = mm |massunit = g |lengthm = 300-305 |lengthf = 310-320 |culmenm = 15-17 |culmenf = 15-16 |wingm = 148 |wingf = 144 |tailm = 151-156 |tailf = 147-158 |tarsusm = 24-24.5 |tarsusf = 24-25 |weightm = 130-190 |weightf = 130-156 }} }} The ground colour of this long and slim dove is rosy buff below shading into grey on the head and belly. There is a half collar on the back and sides of the neck made of black feathers that bifurcate and have white spots at the two tips. The median coverts have brown feathers tipped with rufous spots in the Indian and Sri Lankan subspecies which are divided at the tip by a widening grey shaft streak. Abnormal plumages such as leucism can sometimes occur in the wild. File:Bifidfeather.jpg|The bifid neck feathers File:Streptopelia chinensis-flying.jpg|In flight File:Juvenile Spotted Dove.jpg|A juvenile bird ==Distribution and habitat==

The spotted dove in its native range in Asia is found across a range of habitats including woodland, scrub, farmland and habitation. In India it tends to be found in the moister regions, with the laughing dove (S. senegalensis) appearing more frequently in drier areas. These doves are mostly found on the ground where they forage for seeds and grain or on low vegetation. The species has become established in many areas outside its native range. These areas include Hawaii, southern California, Mauritius, Australia and New Zealand. In Australia they were introduced into Melbourne in the 1860s and have since spread out, but there is insufficient evidence that they compete with native doves. They are now a common urban wildlife species found in streets, parks, gardens, agricultural areas, and tropical shrublands in diverse locations throughout eastern Australia and around the cities and major towns across southern Australia. ==Behaviour and ecology==

Spotted doves move around in pairs or small groups as they forage on the ground for grass seeds, grains, fallen fruits and seeds of other plants. They may however take insects occasionally and have been recorded feeding on winged termites. The flight is quick with regular beats and an occasional sharp flick of the wings. A display flight involves taking off at a steep angle with a loud clapping of the wing and then slowly gliding down with the tail spread out. In southern Australia, they breed mostly from September to January, and in the north in autumn. They nest mainly in low vegetation, building a flimsy cup of twigs in which two whitish eggs are laid. Nests are sometimes placed on the ground or on buildings and other structures. Both parents take part in building the nest, incubating and feeding the young. The eggs hatch after about 13 days and fledge after a fortnight. The vocalizations of the spotted dove include cooing softly with a Krookruk-krukroo... kroo kroo kroo with the number of terminal kroos varying in the Indian population and absent in tigrina, chinensis and other populations to the east. In the Philippines, the species may be outcompeting the Streptopelia dusumieri. Their habit of flushing into the air when disturbed makes them a hazard on airfields, often colliding with aircraft and sometimes causing damage. ==References==