Bird Guide

Bar-shouldered Dove vs Peaceful Dove

Bar-shouldered Dove (Geopelia humeralis)

Bar-shouldered Dove

Geopelia humeralis

Medium128 gWoodland

The dove has a blue-grey breast with chequered brown-bronze wings. The nape is similar to that of the peaceful dove in that the nape feathers are striated but differs in that the bar-shouldered dove does not have striated throat feathers like the peaceful dove. Furthermore, the nape feathers are copper in colour. These doves are also often confused with the introduced and common spotted turtle dove. The eye ring tends to be grey but red-brown when breeding. The juveniles are duller in colour.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Duncan McCaskill · CC BY 3.0
Peaceful Dove (Geopelia placida)

Peaceful Dove

Geopelia placida

Small48 gWoodland

The bird is a relatively small pigeon and varies in length from 19 to 21 centimetres (7.6 to 8.4 inches). The peaceful dove has a pink-grey breast with chequered grey-brown wings. Thin striations of black appear around the neck and nape area and descend down the back. The eye is greyish-white and a blue-grey ring surrounds the eye that tapers off and joins the beak/cere. The juveniles are paler and less striated. They also have a duller eye ring.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K · CC BY 2.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Bar-shouldered Dove and Peaceful Dove.