Oena capensis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Namaqua Dove sighting in Pilanesberg National Park on a given day, based on 22 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 171st most-seen of the 233 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January–February, May, September and November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Namaqua Dove in Pilanesberg National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–April, June–August, October and December, the lowest months.
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.
35th of 44
Of the 44 parks where we can rate Namaqua Dove sightings, Pilanesberg National Park ranks 35th at under 5%. 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 Pilanesberg National Park (family Columbidae, Pigeons and Doves) are Cape Turtle Dove (about 60%), Laughing Dove (about 60%) and Speckled Pigeon (about 40%), 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 Pilanesberg National Park (22 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.
