Streptopelia decipiens
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
The mourning collared dove or African mourning dove (Streptopelia decipiens) is a dove which is a widespread resident breeding bird in Africa south of the Sahara. This species is common or abundant near water. It often mingles peacefully with other doves. Despite its name, it is not closely related to the North American mourning dove (Zenaida macroura).
The mourning collared dove is a medium-sized, stocky pigeon, 28–30 cm in length. It has a pale grey head and pinkish-grey body, with a broad black half-collar finely edged in white on the back and sides of the neck. The wings are broad and pointed, pale brown with darker brown flight feathers. The legs, and a patch of bare skin around the eye, are red, and the iris is pale yellow to brownish. When flying, it shows dark flight feathers and extensive white in the tail, the latter being a distinction from the similar but slightly larger red-eyed dove; this also differs in having a red iris.
The sexes are similar, but immatures are duller than adults, and have scalloping on the body feathers. Six subspecies are accepted: Streptopelia decipiens shelleyi (Salvadori, AT, 1893) — Mauritania and Senegambia to... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maiduguri | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 2 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 3 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 4 | N'Djamena | 🇹🇩 Chad | |
| 5 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 6 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 7 | Addis Ababa | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 8 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report an African Mourning Dove sighting in Dakar on a given day, based on 82 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 26th most-seen of the 152 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and March
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report an African Mourning Dove in Dakar on a given day, against about 30% in February, May–July and September–December, the lowest months. Those are among Dakar's driest months, with about 5 mm of rain a month against 190 mm in August.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most African Mourning 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.
5th of 8
Of the 8 cities where we can rate African Mourning Dove sightings, Dakar ranks 5th at about 30%. The best odds are in Maiduguri (Nigeria, about 70%), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso, about 60%) and Serrekunda (Gambia, about 50%).
Same family: Columbidae
The closest relatives of the African Mourning Dove that you can see in Dakar (family Columbidae, Pigeons and Doves) are Laughing Dove (about 70%), Speckled Pigeon (about 40%) and Rock Pigeon (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Mourning Dove is recorded against all the birds logged in Dakar (82 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.
