Oriental turtle dove

Appearance

The Oriental dove is very similar in plumage to the Turtle dove. It is a little larger than that species, particularly in the case of "orientalis", about the same size as a collared dove. It shares the black and white striped patch on the side of its neck made of silver-tipped feathers, but the breast is less pink, and the orange-brown wing feathers of the turtle dove are replaced with a browner hue, and darker centres giving a scaly appearance. The tail is wedge shaped, like the turtle dove. The flight is more relaxed and direct than that of its relative. Additionally, the turtle-dove has a bare patch of skin around its eyes, which the oriental dove lacks.

Distribution

The habitat varies, but the Oriental turtle dove breeds in well-wooded but open habitats and winters in more open habitats but usually with good tree cover.

The westernmost race, "meena", breeds in the Western Palearctic region. The southernmost populations are resident, but most other birds migrate south to winter in India, the Maldives, and southern Japan. They disperse widely and are known from islands such as the Lakshadweep in winter. "S. o. orientalis" occurs as a rarity in western Alaska and British Columbia. It is also a vagrant to northern and western Europe and occurrences in Britain tend to gather much attention from twitchers.

Habitat

The habitat varies, but the Oriental turtle dove breeds in well-wooded but open habitats and winters in more open habitats but usually with good tree cover.

The westernmost race, "meena", breeds in the Western Palearctic region. The southernmost populations are resident, but most other birds migrate south to winter in India, the Maldives, and southern Japan. They disperse widely and are known from islands such as the Lakshadweep in winter. "S. o. orientalis" occurs as a rarity in western Alaska and British Columbia. It is also a vagrant to northern and western Europe and occurrences in Britain tend to gather much attention from twitchers.

Reproduction

The summer breeding season in the temperate zone can be protracted. In southern India, the breeding season is in winter. In display, the male flaps its wing noisily and shoots up before gliding down with outspread tail. Nests take about two days to build with the male gathering material and the female placing it. The nest is more substantial than in some other doves and is placed at mid-canopy height. In Japan, nests built at a greater height tended to be prone to predation. Males were found to incubate in the day and the female by night. Two white eggs, as for all pigeons and doves, are laid in a twig nest in a tree. Incubation begins immediately after the first egg is laid. The eggs hatch in 15 to 16 days and the chicks take about 15 to 17 days to fledge. Both parents feed the altricial chicks with crop milk. Multiple broods may be raised and nests built by the pair or by others may be reused. Nest reuse may possibly increase the chances of predation. In Japan the principal predators of nestlings and eggs were crows and magpies and to a lesser extent cats and snakes.

Food

The Oriental turtle dove is granivorous, and feeds on the seeds of hemp, sunflower, wheat, millet and amaranth. It also consumes gastropods. They forage on the ground.

Cultural

The Ainu people traditionally interpret bird calls as elaborate sayings in their own language. In the case of these doves, the ascribed saying, an amalgam of several, is as follows:

{|role="presentation" class="verse_translation " style="margin-left:1em !important"
|-style="vertical-align:top"
|Kusuwep toyta
Huci wakkata
Katkemat suke
Pon tono ipe
|class="translated"|Turtle dove ploughs,
Grandmother draws water,
Wife cooks,
Little master eats.It is not clear who the “master” is here. Some say it is the ethnic Yamato exploiting the Ainu people, a position supported by the fact that the word for ‘master’ used here, "tono", is a Japanese loanword. However, the Ainu people also refer to some animals by this title, such as "isepo tono" ‘lord rabbit’ or "sisoya tono" ‘lord wasp’. It is also possible that this expression simply refers to the young child of the household.
|}

The reason the dove is said to be ‘ploughing’ is that it is often seen burrowing in the fields with its feet in search of food, and thus appears as such.