Overview
Their body feathers are darkest on the upper side, where they are coloured in dull tones of grey and brown, with shades of lavender on the nape. It is paler below, where a tint of pinkish lavender is usually present. The lower belly and crissum (the undertail coverts surrounding the cloaca) is white. As with related species, they have white fringes and conspicuous white tips to the otherwise slate grey tail feathers. The tail pattern is particularly noticeable during the display flight. Juveniles are more dull and lack the semi-collar of an adult. It also has buff edges to all the upper part and wing covert feathers, while the plumage below is broadly edged greyish-white.
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Bird
- Family
- Columbidae
- Genus
- Streptopelia
- Species
- capicola
Habitat
It occupies a diverse range of habitat types, including semi-desert scrub, Boscia and Acacia savannah, a variety of woodland types, farmlands, open plantations and alien acacia thickets. Only closed forest or plantations, or the extensive waterless dune fields and gravel plains of the Namib desert are unsuited to their requirements.
Diet
Seeds, fruits, berries, insects.
Behavior
These doves are usually found alone or in pairs, although they do form larger flocks around roosts or sources of food and water, sometimes comprising hundreds of birds. They are quite noisy in these groups, not only for the various calls they make throughout the day, or often into (mainly moonlit) nights, but also due to the loud clatter of their wings when they take flight. Their song is a loud and harsh “kuk-COORRRR-uk, ...” (sometimes interpreted as 'how's father?' or 'work harder') which they may repeat ten to forty times. Less often a repeated “wuh-ka-RROOO, ...” may be given. A raspy, snarling “kooorr”, or “knarrrrrr”, call is often given when it alights on a perch, arrives at an incubating mate or chases another dove away. Ring-necked doves roost in treetops during the night and forage for food on the ground by day. Peak foraging times are early morning and late afternoon, and they drink mainly in the morning. When they walk on the ground, their heads bob back and forth with each small step. They are monogamous, territorial nesters. Males display by flapping up a steep gradient before spiraling down with wings and tail spread out. From a perch or on the ground the male will engage in a bowing display, synchronized with a rolling crooning, “uk-carrroooo, ...”, while the throat is inflated. A pair will give a double coo with a long second syllable when selecting a nest site. The female takes two to three days to construct the flimsy, platform nest. It is made of twigs and leaf petioles that are carefully selected by the male (as in other dove species), and delivered to her at the nest site. The nest is placed 2 to 10 meters above ground, on a horizontal branch fork. Quite often an old nest of another species may be used. Two to four pure white eggs are laid, and both sexes participate in the incubation that takes around two weeks. Chicks are fed regurgitated food by both parents and fledge after about 16 days. Several broods (up to 5) may be raised in a season.
Hunting
Hunted across its range.
Conservation Status
Listed as Least Concern by IUCN.