Streptopelia vinacea
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The vinaceous dove (Streptopelia vinacea) is a bird species in the pigeon family Columbidae that widely resident across northern Sub-Saharan Africa. The vinaceous dove was formally described in 1789 by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other doves and pigeons in the genus Columba and coined the binomial name Columba vinacea. Gmelin based his description on the earlier publications by French ornithologists Mathurin Jacques Brisson and Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. The vinaceous dove is now placed with 14 other species in the genus Streptopelia that was introduced in 1855 by French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte. The genus name is from the Ancient Greek στρεπτός (streptós) – literal meaning "twisted", but by extension, "wearing a torc" (i.e., twisted metal collar) – and πέλεια (péleia) meaning "wild dove". The specific vinacea is from Latin vinaceus, meaning "of wine" or "vinaceous". The species is monotypic; no subspecies are recognized.
The vinaceous dove is a small, stocky pigeon, typically 26 to 30 centimeters (10.2 to 11.8 inches... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niokolo-Koba National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 2 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 3 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 4 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 2 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 3 | Maiduguri | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 4 | Accra | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 5 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 6 | N'Djamena | 🇹🇩 Chad | |
| 7 | Lomé | 🇹🇬 Togo |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Vinaceous Dove sighting in Abuja on a given day, based on 17 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 77th most-seen of the 131 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September and October
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Vinaceous Dove in Abuja on a given day, against under 5% in April, June–July and November, the lowest months. Those are among Abuja's wettest months, with about 170 mm of rain a month against almost none in December.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Vinaceous Dove sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 7
Of the 7 cities where we can rate Vinaceous Dove sightings, Abuja ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso, about 60%), Serrekunda (Gambia, about 60%) and Maiduguri (Nigeria, about 10%).
Same genus: Streptopelia
The closest relatives of the Vinaceous Dove that you can see in Abuja (genus Streptopelia, Turtle-Doves and Collared-Doves) are Red-eyed Dove (about 80%) and African Mourning Dove (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Vinaceous Dove is recorded against all the birds logged in Abuja (17 verified sightings), 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.
