Nesoenas picturatus
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The Malagasy turtle dove or Madagascar turtle dove (Nesoenas picturatus) is a bird species in the pigeon and dove family, Columbidae. The bird has several subspecies. The Rodrigues pigeon, an extinct but fairly enigmatic taxon from Rodrigues on the Mascarenes, was for some time suspected to be another subspecies of N. picturata, but today is generally considered a distinct species (N. rodericanus).
The pink pigeon (N. mayeri) is its closest living relative, and together they form a lineage apart from both the typical pigeons (Columba) and the typical turtle doves (Streptopelia), slightly closer to the latter, if anything. Consequently, either these two are both placed in Streptopelia, or – as is probably the most accurate solution at present – separated as Nesoenas. The present species was in former times sometimes placed in a monotypic genus Homopelia. While this is not outright wrong, if the Rodrigues population is also placed in Homopelia and Nesoenas is considered distinct too, it would probably be considered oversplitting by modern authors.
It is found in Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros, Réunion, Mayotte, Seychelles and the Chagos Archipelago... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berenty Reserve | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 2 | Ankarafantsika National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 3 | Ranomafana National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 4 | Mantadia National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antananarivo | 🇲🇬 Madagascar |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zürich Zoo | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | |
| 2 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Berlin Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Zoo Santo Inácio | 🇵🇹 Portugal | |
| 5 | Bird Paradise | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 6 | Rainforest Wild Asia | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 7 | Aquarium Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Malagasy Turtle Dove sighting in Ankarafantsika National Park on a given day, based on 335 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 14th most-seen of the 83 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Malagasy Turtle Dove in Ankarafantsika National Park on a given day, against about 40% in April, the lowest month. That is one of Ankarafantsika National Park's wettest months, with about 280 mm of rain against almost none in August. January–March and May have too few records to rate.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Malagasy Turtle 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.
2nd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Malagasy Turtle Dove sightings, Ankarafantsika National Park ranks 2nd at about 60%. The best odds are in Berenty Reserve (Madagascar, about 80%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Columbidae
The closest relatives of the Malagasy Turtle Dove that you can see in Ankarafantsika National Park (family Columbidae, Pigeons and Doves) are Madagascar Green-Pigeon (about 40%) and Namaqua Dove (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Malagasy Turtle Dove is recorded against all the birds logged in Ankarafantsika National Park (335 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.
