IDENTIFICATION

VOCALISATIONS

The song is regular, rhythmic three-note coo, though the pace varies somewhat.

The call uttered in flight or when landing at a perch is a nasal, slightly modulated ‘krair’ that falls in pitch terminally and is repeated several times as it tails off in volume and pace.

DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE

Eurasian Collared Dove is a common and conspicuous resident species in open country in the northwest New Territories where it occurs around fish ponds and other wetlands, active and abandoned farmland and the edges of villages and low-rise residential estates. The main range extends from Tsim Bei Tsui in the west to Hoo Hok Wai in the east and Shek Kong and Long Valley in the south. The core range, where it now may outnumber Spotted Dove at some sites, are the fish pond areas between Yuen Long and Lok Ma Chau and San Tin.

Records outside this area are relatively few and scattered through the central and western New Territories, Kowloon, HK Island, Lantau, Cheung Chau, Ma Wan and Po Toi. However, most of these records are of single birds on single dates. Interestingly, a male at Mui Wo, Lantau that attempted to mate with a Spotted Dove on at least one occasion remained from at least 2002 to 2018, close to the longevity record of 17 years for this species (BTO 2021). However, there is no indication of a breeding population becoming established outside the northwest New Territories.

Since it was first found at Mai Po in 1999 numbers of Eurasian Collared Dove have slowly increased, with a peak count of 160 recorded at San Tin, an area where it is particularly common, on 21 October 2018, but it has spread only very slowly and numbers remain small outside the core area described above. Not recorded in the first atlas surveys, Eurasian Collared Dove was noted in 1.1% and 1.3% of squares during the 2016-19 breeding and winter atlas surveys, respectively.

OCCURRENCE

Eurasian Collared Dove was first recorded in HK in 1999 when single birds were seen at Mai Po on 29 April and Hoo Hok Wai on 14 May (Leader 2007). As records of a non-migratory species far from its native range in China, these were considered to refer to ex-captive birds. During 2000-02 single birds were reported from San Tin, Palm Springs, Mai Po, Tsim Bei Tsui and Fung Lok Wai. The first record of multiple individuals was that of a flock of eight at Tsim Bei Tsui on 8 November 2003; in the next five years small flocks were reported annually in the Deep Bay area, and 30 birds were seen at Fung Lok Wai on 4 October 2007, in the same year Eurasian Collared Dove was placed on Category IIB of the HK list.

Elsewhere in its enormous world range Eurasian Collared Dove is considered to be non-migratory but highly dispersive, with young birds, in particular, making movements of up to 600km from their natal site (BTO 2021). Such dispersal abilities are not confined to the naturally-expanding western Palearctic population but appear to have been even more pronounced in the introduced populations in North America (eBird 2023). In this context, the failure of the HK population to disperse beyond the range occupied in the first decade of the current century appears somewhat anomalous.

Climatic constraints appear to be unlikely; the West Indies, where Eurasian Collared Dove has successfully colonised most of the archipelago from its release point in the Bahamas, has a similar climate to that of HK. Habitat availability, in itself, also seems unlikely to form a major constraint: the anthropologically modified village edge and agricultural fringe habitats that this species favours in the northwest New Territories remain widespread in such areas as Lam Tsuen Valley, Shuen Wan and Lantau. However, these habitats are already occupied by Spotted Dove: is this species able to exclude Eurasian Collared Dove?

Whilst systematic data is lacking, there are some clues: Eurasian Collared Dove was recorded from the low density low-rise residential estate of Palm Springs as early as 2000, but it remains confined to areas close to fish ponds, whilst Spotted Dove is abundant throughout; furthermore, Eurasian Collared Dove has never been recorded at a garden feeding station in the estate where Spotted Dove was present on a regular basis. Conversely, at Lok Ma Chau Ecological Enhancement Area, where Eurasian Collared Dove is now common, numbers of Spotted Dove have declined. Whilst correlation does not imply causation, it may be that there is an element of the ecology of Eurasian Collared Dove that gives it an advantage over Spotted Dove in fish pond areas, but that the converse applies elsewhere.

BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET

Usually seen as single birds, pairs, small groups or larger flocks, the latter especially in autumn, either perched conspicuously on wires or utility poles, or foraging on the ground. Often seen perched with other dove species, Eurasian Collared Dove is more likely to be seen in larger groups or flocks of up to 20 or 30 birds than Spotted Dove but, unlike Red Turtle Dove, larger flocks are unusual.

Eurasian Collared Dove appears to be predominantly granivorous with most food being found on the ground; single birds, pairs and small groups are often to be observed foraging in short grass and bare areas around fish ponds where much of their food is probably spilled fish food. In such situations It readily joins other doves, starlings and Eurasian Tree Sparrows feeding on stores of bread or noodles. As well as food provided by people, Eurasian Collared Dove presumably also consumes natural food; grass seeds and perhaps fruit though observations are lacking.

BREEDING

There appear to be very few observations of the breeding ecology of Eurasian Collared Dove in HK. Nest building has been observed on 5 February, copulation on 27 March, an adult was seen with two young on 29 May and an occupied nest was found on 17 September, suggesting that like populations elsewhere it has a long breeding season and is multi-brooded.

RANGE & SYSTEMATICS

Monotypic. The native range extends from Europe and north Africa, both of which were colonised in the 20th century, through the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent as far east as Korea. It was introduced to the Bahamas and from there has spread throughout central and north America (Romagosa and Mlodinow 2022). In China the native range covers the northern half of the country from Xinjiang east to Jilin and south to Qinghai, Shaanxi and Shandong (Liu and Chen 2021); recent records from Shenzhen, Guangzhou and elsewhere (eBird 2023) suggest that feral populations may become established elsewhere in southern China as well as in HK.

CONSERVATION STATUS

IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend increasing.