Oena capensis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The Namaqua dove (Oena capensis) is a very small species of pigeon. It is the only species in the genus Oena. It is found over much of Sub-Saharan Africa as well as Arabia and Madagascar. The Namaqua dove is the only species in the monotypic genus Oena. It is most closely related to doves in the genus Turtur, and some phylogenetic evidence suggests that Oena may be a part of Turtur.
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the Namaqua dove in his six volume Ornithologie based on a specimen collected near the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. He used the French name La tourterelle du Cap de Bonne Espérance and the Latin Turtur capitis bonae spei. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the Namaqua dove which he placed with the other pigeons in the genus Columba. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riyadh | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | |
| 2 | Manama | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | |
| 3 | Kuwait City | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | |
| 4 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 5 | Luxor | 🇪🇬 Egypt | |
| 6 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 7 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 8 | Tel Aviv | 🇮🇱 Israel |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Warsaw Zoo | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 3 | Tierwelt Herberstein | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 4 | Halls Gap Zoo | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Santillana Zoo | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 6 | Parc exotique de Nguerigne | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 7 | herpetarium warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 8 | akwarium warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Namaqua Dove sighting in Hwange National Park on a given day, based on 79 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 76th most-seen of the 308 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Namaqua Dove in Hwange National Park on a given day, against about 10% in April and July–November, the lowest months. That is one of Hwange National Park's wettest months, with about 120 mm of rain against almost none in July.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Namaqua 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.
18th of 44
Of the 44 parks where we can rate Namaqua Dove sightings, Hwange National Park ranks 18th at about 20%. The best odds are in Berenty Reserve (Madagascar, about 60%), Samburu National Reserve (Kenya, about 60%) and Tsavo East National Park (Kenya, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Columbidae
The closest relatives of the Namaqua Dove that you can see in Hwange National Park (family Columbidae, Pigeons and Doves) are Cape Turtle Dove (about 70%), Emerald-spotted Wood-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 Namaqua Dove is recorded against all the birds logged in Hwange National Park (79 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.
