Turtur chalcospilos
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The emerald-spotted wood dove or emerald-spotted dove (Turtur chalcospilos) is a bird of the family Columbidae, resident across eastern and southern Africa. It is a species of open drier deciduous woodland and second growth. It is absent from evergreen rainforests and semidesert areas.
The emerald-spotted wood dove is a small plump pigeon, typically 20 cm in length. Its back, hindneck, wings, and tail are pale grey-brown, and the folded wings have green metallic patches. There are blackish bands on the lower back and tail. The forehead, crown, and nape are bluish-grey, fading to pinkish-grey on the throat. The underparts are mauve-pink, becoming whiter on the belly.
The bill of this dove is blackish with a red base. The sexes are similar, but the female may be slightly duller than the male. The immature has duller green spots and buff fringes to the feathers. When flying, the black-billed wood dove is told from this species by its bright chestnut underwings.
The call is in three parts: two soft long coos, followed by a series of slow descending coos lasting 10 seconds, and concluding with 4 seconds of rapid coos, which decrease in volume. This species shows some... Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report an Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove sighting in Addo Elephant National Park on a given day, based on 121 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 68th most-seen of the 243 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and September
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report an Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove in Addo Elephant National Park on a given day, against about 10% in April–July and October–December, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
30th of 43
Of the 43 parks where we can rate Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove sightings, Addo Elephant National Park ranks 30th at about 20%. The best odds are in uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 80%), Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe, about 80%) and Mana Pools National Park (Zimbabwe, about 70%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove is recorded against all the birds logged in Addo Elephant National Park (121 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
