Nesoenas picturatus
In 3 days >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 |
Very likely
About 80% of wildlife watchers report a Malagasy Turtle Dove sighting in Berenty Reserve on a given day, based on 204 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 5th most-seen of the 63 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
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.
Yes
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Malagasy Turtle Dove sightings, Berenty Reserve has the highest daily chance: about 80%. Next come Ankarafantsika National Park (Madagascar, about 60%) and Ranomafana National Park (Madagascar, about 20%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Columbidae
The closest relatives of the Malagasy Turtle Dove that you can see in Berenty Reserve (family Columbidae, Pigeons and Doves) are Namaqua Dove (about 60%) and Madagascar Green-Pigeon (about 20%), 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 Berenty Reserve (204 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.
