Streptopelia vinacea
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
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 |
Very likely
About 70% of wildlife watchers report a Vinaceous Dove sighting in Niokolo-Koba National Park on a given day, based on 421 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 8th most-seen of the 215 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 90% of wildlife watchers report a Vinaceous Dove in Niokolo-Koba National Park on a given day, against about 50% in November, the lowest month. That is one of Niokolo-Koba National Park's driest months, with almost no rain against 300 mm in August. May–July and October have too few records to rate.
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.
Yes
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Vinaceous Dove sightings, Niokolo-Koba National Park has the highest daily chance: about 70%. Next come Kidepo Valley National Park (Uganda, about 60%) and Murchison Falls National Park (Uganda, about 30%).
Same genus: Streptopelia
The closest relatives of the Vinaceous Dove that you can see in Niokolo-Koba National Park (genus Streptopelia, Turtle-Doves and Collared-Doves) are African Mourning Dove (about 50%), Red-eyed Dove (about 40%) and Adamawa Turtle Dove (about 30%), 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 Niokolo-Koba National Park (421 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.
