#spilopelia

photograph by Kim Choji

Photo by Jacquiline Singh

Medium sized light brown and pink dove with a single blue-gray wing band and a checkered black collar. It has a significantly long tail with white corners and a gray center, but is all white underneath. Lives in much of Africa and Europe and some parts of Asia. Usually associated with scrub, farmland, and human-modified spaces, such as gardens, plantations, and even urban areas if trees are present. Usually seen in pairs or small groups, rarely seen in large flocks. Gives a repetitive rising and falling “croo-ru-doo-doo-doo” call, with a similar rhythm to laughter, hence the bird’s name.

Spotted Dove (Spilopelia chinensis) - (c) SaritaWolf - please do not repost

May breed at almost any time of year, depending on which part of the world you’re in. In Australia, the squabs are raised from September to November.

Now, I couldn’t tell you if the laughing dove has a much of a sense of humour, but I can tell you that the name was inspired by their call, sounding rather like a person giggling. In aviculture, they are more often referred to as Senegal doves as the multiple dove species are known to produce sounds resembling human laughter (most notably the African collared dove and its domesticated form, the Barbary dove).

半夜撿到一隻受傷的珠頸斑鳩 脖子看起來好像圍了領巾 🐦