Turtle Doves

It may be to your surprise, but turtle doves are much more than a pretty bird mentioned in one of the most famous Christmas songs, they are also lovely birds for bird watching expeditions as well as adorable pets. This migratory species actually covers a wide geographical range but it’s actually been domesticated to such an extensive degree that its wild origins still remain a bit clouded. Some maintain that it is a descendant of the African Collared-Dove (Streptopelia roseogrisea).

Even though this type of dove is highly domesticated, if this domesticated bird should escape it still adapts well to the wild and has been responsible for feral populations in the southern United States. However, the overall number of this type of bird has fallen significantly since the availability of its typical food, weed seeds and shoots, has become scare.

This type of dove tends to be smaller and lighter in build than other doves and features a browner color. The ringneck species of dove has a black and whit striped patch on the side of its neck, hence the name.

Untamed types will usually express some anxiety and fear over larger, strange or mobile creatures, but this tendency has largely been bred out of them. Therefore, domesticated types are easily trained to be tame enough for direct handling. If you do take your dove outside though, you will notice that they almost always maintain a natural awareness of larger overhead birds such as hawks and will usually get very still—very interesting to watch.

Related Information

White Doves
White doves make the perfect partner for magic tricks!

Types of Doves
Click through to learn about the different types of doves.