Turtur chalcospilos
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove sighting in Lusaka on a given day, based on 17 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 52nd most-seen of the 87 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report an Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove in Lusaka on a given day, against under 5% in April–May, September and November–December, the lowest months. That is one of Lusaka's wettest months, with about 210 mm of rain against almost none in August.
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.
3rd of 6
Of the 6 cities where we can rate Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove sightings, Lusaka ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Mombasa (Kenya, about 60%) and Dar es-Salaam (Tanzania, about 20%).
Same family: Columbidae
The closest relatives of the Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove that you can see in Lusaka (family Columbidae, Pigeons and Doves) are Red-eyed Dove (about 80%), Cape Turtle Dove (about 30%) and Laughing Dove (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove is recorded against all the birds logged in Lusaka (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.
