European Turtle Dove

The European Turtle Dove is a small, delicately patterned dove 27–29 centimetres long, with a 47–53-centimetre wingspan and mass of 99–170 grams. Adults have scaled grey-brown mantles, dark flight feathers edged narrowly in white, mauve-pink breasts, white bellies, and black-and-white neck patches. Their eyes are pale orange-yellow with broad dark pink rings, while the bill is blackish with a purplish cast. Females may look slightly duller; juveniles are browner, have buff-tipped feathers, and lack the striped neck patch. (Animal Diversity Web, European Turtle Dove account)

European Turtle Doves use forest-steppe, woodland edges, orchards, cropland, hedgerows, and thorny shrub thickets, often foraging on the ground for wild and cultivated seeds. Western Eurasian birds migrate to Africa outside the breeding season. Males collect twigs and other material, and females form a small platform nest in a tree, shrub, or hedge. The usual clutch is two eggs, although one to three are recorded. Both parents incubate for 14–20 days and feed the young crop milk; fledging occurs at about twelve days. (Animal Diversity Web, European Turtle Dove account)