Laughing dove

Laughing dove
At Zighy Bay in the Musandam Peninsula, Oman
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Columbiformes
Family: Columbidae
Genus: Spilopelia
Species: S. senegalensis
Binomial name
Spilopelia senegalensis
(Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms
  • Streptopelia senegalensis
  • Stigmatopelia senegalensis

The laughing dove (Spilopelia senegalensis) is a small pigeon that is a resident breeder in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East east to the Indian Subcontinent. This small long-tailed dove is found in dry scrub and semi-desert habitats where pairs can often be seen feeding on the ground. A rufous and black chequered necklace gives it a distinctive pattern and is also easily distinguished from other doves by its call. Other names include palm dove and Senegal dove while in India the name of the little brown dove is often used. It was introduced in Western Australia and has established itself in the wild around Perth and Fremantle.

Description

S. s cambayensis eating rice in Bhopal, India

The laughing dove is a long-tailed, slim pigeon, typically 25 cm (9.8 in) in length. It is pinkish brown on the underside with a lilac tinged head and neck. The head and underparts are pinkish, shading to buff on the lower abdomen. A chequered rufous and grey patch is found on the sides of the neck and are made up of split feathers. The upper parts are brownish with a bluish-grey band along the wing. The back is uniform and dull brown in the Indian population. The African populations senegalensis and phoenicophila have a bluish grey rump and upper tail coverts but differ in the shades of the neck and wing feathers while aegyptiaca is larger and the head and nape are vinous and upper wing coverts are rufous.[2] The tail is graduated and the outer feathers are tipped in white. The sexes are indistinguishable in the field. Young birds lack the chequered neck markings. The legs are red. The populations vary slightly in plumage with those from more arid zones being paler.[3] Abnormal leucistic plumages have been noted.[4]

The chuckling call is a low rolling croo-doo-doo-doo-doo with a rising and falling amplitude.[5]

Distribution and habitat

It is a common and widespread species in scrub, dry farmland and habitation over a good deal of its range, often becoming very tame. The species is found in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. It is also found in Israel, Lebanon, Syria, the UAE and Turkey (these populations may be derived from human introductions). They are mostly sedentary but some populations may make movements. Birds ringed in Gujarat have been recovered 200 km north in Pakistan and exhausted birds have been recorded landing on ships in the Arabian Sea.[3][6] The species (thought to belong to the nominate population) was introduced to Perth in 1889 and has become established around Western Australia.[7] Birds that land on ships may be introduced to new regions.[8]

Systematics and taxonomy

This species was described by Linnaeus who placed it in the genus Columba along with other pigeons. It was later placed in the genus Streptopelia but studies of molecular phylogeny indicated that this and the spotted dove stood out from the remainder of the Streptopelia species[9] leading to the use of an older genus name that has been used for the species by Carl Sundevall. Unfortunately Sundevall used the name Stigmatopelia senegalensis and Spilopelia for the spotted dove (he used the genus for chinensis as well as for suratensis and tigrina, which are now subspecies) on the same page of his 1872 book.[10] Some authors have argued that Stigmatopelia is the valid name as it has priority due to appearing in an earlier line on the page[11] but Schodde and Mason in their zoological catalogue of Australian birds chose Spilopelia citing clause 24(b) of the ICZN Code which supports the decision of the first reviser.[12]

Feral S. s. senegalensis (Rottnest Island, Western Australia)

Several populations with minute plumage and size differences have been given the status of subspecies and these include:[13]

Behaviour and ecology
Laughing dove call
Call of S. s. cambayensis (Dindigul, India, Feb. 2006)
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Sonogram of call (South India)

The species is usually seen in pairs or small parties and only rarely in larger groups. Larger groups are formed especially when drinking at waterholes in arid regions. Small numbers assemble on trees near waterholes before flying to the water's edge where they are able to suck up water like other members of the pigeon family.[14] Laughing doves eat the fallen seeds, mainly of grasses, other vegetable matter and small ground insects such as termites and beetles.[15][16] They are fairly terrestrial, foraging on the ground in grasslands and cultivation. Their flight is quick and direct with the regular beats and an occasional sharp flick of the wings which are characteristic of pigeons in general.[3]

Eggs, Collection Museum Wiesbaden
Nest on an olive tree with a typical clutch of two eggs, Djerba island

The male in courtship display follows the female with head bobbing displays while cooing. The male pecks its folded wings in "displacement-preening" to solicit copulation form the female. A female accepts by crouching and begging for food. The male may indulge in courtship feeding before mounting and copulating. Pairs may preen each other.[17] Males may also launch into the air with wing clapping sounds and then glide down in a gentle arc when displaying. The species has a spread out breeding season in Africa. Almost year round in Malawi and Turkey;[18] and mainly May to November in Zimbabwe, February to June in Egypt and Tunisia. In Turkey they breed In Australia the main breeding season is September to November.[7] The nest is a very flimsy platform of twigs built in a low bush and sometimes in crevices or under the eaves of houses. Both parents build the nest with males bringing the twigs which are then placed by the female. Two eggs are laid within an interval of a day between them and both parents take part in building the nest, incubating and feeding the young. Males spend more time incubating the nest during the day.[19] The eggs are incubated after the second egg is laid and the eggs hatch after about 13 to 15 days.[3][20] Nesting adults may feign injury to distract and draw predators away from the nest.[21] Multiple broods may be raised by the same pair in the same nest. Seven broods by the same pair have been noted in Turkey.[17] The young fledge and leave the nest after about 14 to 16 days.[22][23] The Jacobin cuckoo sometimes lays its egg in the nests of the laughing dove in Africa.[24]

Feral populations in Australia are sometimes infected by a virus that causes symptoms similar to that produced in parrots by psittacine beak and feather disease.[25] Several ectoparasitic bird lice have been found on the species and include those in the genera Coloceras, Columbicola, Bonomiella and Hohorstiella.[26] A blood parasite Trypanosoma hannae has been recorded in the species.[27] Southern grey shrike have been observed preying on an adult laughing dove in northwestern India while the lizard buzzard is a predator of the species in Africa.[28][29] South African birds sometimes show a beak deformity in which the upper mandible overgrowth occurs.[30]

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2009). "Stigmatopelia senegalensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved February 4, 2010.
  2. ↑ Hartert, E (1916). "Notes on pigeons". Novitates Zoologicae 23: 78–88.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Ali, S & S.D. Ripley (1981). Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan. Volume 3 (2 ed.). New Delhi: Oxford University Press. pp. 155–157.
  4. ↑ Javed, S (1992). "Albinism in little brown dove". Newsletter for Birdwatchers 32 (3&4): 12.
  5. ↑ Whistler, Hugh (1949). Popular handbook of Indian birds (4 ed.). London: Gurney and Jackson. pp. 397–398.
  6. ↑ Ticehurst, CB (1923). "The Birds of Sind. (Part V.)". Ibis 65 (3): 438–473. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1923.tb08108.x.
  7. 1 2 Frith, HJ; JL McKean & LW Braithwaite (1976). "Sexual cycles and food of the doves Streptopelia chinensis and S. senegalensis in Australia". Emu 76: 15–24. doi:10.1071/MU9760015.
  8. ↑ Kumar, Ashoke (1977). "Assisted migration of birds by ships". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 74 (3): 531–533.
  9. ↑ Johnson KP; De Kort S; Dinwoodey K; Mateman AC; Ten Cate C; Lessells CM; Clayton DH (2001). "A molecular phylogeny of the dove genera Streptopelia and Columba" (PDF). Auk 118 (4): 874–887. doi:10.1642/0004-8038(2001)118[0874:AMPOTD]2.0.CO;2.
  10. ↑ Sundevall, Carl (1872). Methodi naturalis avium disponendarum tentamen. p. 100.
  11. ↑ Cheke, Anthony S (2005). "Naming segregates from the Columba-Streptopelia pigeons following DNA studies on phylogeny". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 125 (4): 293–295.
  12. ↑ Schodde R; I J Mason (1997). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Aves (Columbidae to Coraciidae). Volume 37.2. CSIRO publishing. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-643-06037-1.
  13. ↑ Peters, JL (1937). Check-list of birds of the World. Volume 3. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp. 98–100.
  14. ↑ Siegfried WR & LG Underhill (1975). "Flocking as an anti-predator strategy in doves". Animal Behaviour 23 (3): 504–508. doi:10.1016/0003-3472(75)90126-8.
  15. ↑ Satheesan SM; Prakash Rao; H Datye (1990). "Biometrics and food of some doves of the genus Streptopelia". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 87 (3): 452–453.
  16. ↑ Adang, KL; Ezealor AU; Abdu PA; Yoriyo KP (2008). "Food habits of four sympatric columbids (Aves:Columbidae) in Zaria, Nigeria". Continental Journal of Biological Sciences 1: 1–9.
  17. 1 2 Biricik,Murat; Ahmet Kılıç; Rüştü Şahin (1989). "Fortpflanzungsverhalten der Palmtaube (Streptopelia senegalensis): Paarbildung bis Eiablage". Journal für Ornithologie 130 (2): 217–228. doi:10.1007/BF01649756.
  18. ↑ Biricik, Murat (1997). "Winterbrut freilebender PalmtaubenStreptopelia senegalensis". Journal für Ornithologie 138 (3): 335–336. doi:10.1007/BF01651560.
  19. ↑ Biricik, Murat; Ahmet Kılıç; Rüştü Şahin (1993). "Brutablösung bei freilebenden Palmtauben (Streptopelia senegalensis)". Journal für Ornithologie 134 (3): 348–351. doi:10.1007/BF01640432.
  20. ↑ Nene, RV (1979). "Incubation and incubation period in the Indian Little Brown Dove Streptopelia senegalensis". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 76 (2): 362–363.
  21. ↑ Manakadan, Ranjit (1995). "Distraction display in the Little Brown Dove Streptopelia senegalensis (Linn.)". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 92 (2): 265.
  22. ↑ George, M John (2000). "Multiple brooding of the Little Brown Dove Streptopelia senegalensis". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 97 (2): 280–283.
  23. ↑ Kumar, CR Ajith; Ramachandran, NK (1990). "Incubation period of Indian Little Brown Dove Streptopelia senegalensis (Linn.)". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 87 (2): 299–300.
  24. ↑ Friedmann, H (1964). "Evolutionary trends in the genus Clamator". Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 164 (4): 1–106.
  25. ↑ Raidal, SR & PA Riddoch (1997). "A feather disease in Senegal doves (Streptopelia senegalensis) morphologically similar to psittacine beak and feather disease". Avian Pathology 26 (4): 829–836. doi:10.1080/03079459708419256. PMID 18483948.
  26. ↑ Ledger, JA (1969). "Ectoparasite load in a laughing dove with a deformed mandible" (PDF). Ostricth 41 (3): 191–194. doi:10.1080/00306525.1970.9634364.
  27. ↑ Bennett GF, Earlé RA, Squires-Parsons D (1994). "Trypanosomes of some sub-Saharan birds". The Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research 61 (3): 263–271. PMID 7596580.
  28. ↑ Sharma, Ashok Kumar (1994). "A Grey Shrike Lanius excubitor Linnaeus killing a full grown Little Brown Dove Streptopelia senegalensis (Linnaeus)". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 91 (1): 142–143.
  29. ↑ Howland, N & S. Howland (1987). "Lizard Buzzard taking Laughing Dove". Honeyguide 33: 100–101.
  30. ↑ Markus, MB (1962). "Laughing Dove Streptopelia senegalensis (Linnaeus) with a deformed upper mandible". Ostrich 33: 37. doi:10.1080/00306525.1962.9633457.

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