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Every morning I wake up to the call of various doves in my garden.
I researched them a bit.
And I found that doves belong to over 300 species in the family and are found all over the world, and in many different habitats.
Doves have a symbolic history, many religions and cultures celebrate doves as a symbol of peace. Some Christian religions use the dove as a symbol of God or the Holy Spirit.
Some cultures release doves into the sky at ceremonies, weddings or other important cultural events.
They will eat almost anything, from insects, seeds nuts and fruits and in urban areas whatever is fed to them. Most doves live between 3 to 5 years.
Doves and pigeons are related as they both belong to the same species Columbidae.
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Most species of doves share similar characteristics, small heads, pointed bills rounded bodies, long and tail feathers.
One of the noisiest garden birds is the Collared Dove.
There are several species of African doves that look very similar to the collared dove, including the ring=necked, red-eyed, and African Mourning doves. They are chiefly vegetarians and will find most of their food from bird tables and on the ground. A pair can produce nine clutches of two eggs in a year, and some can rear five broods in 12 months.
There are territorial battles between males, sometimes becoming quite fierce.
The collared dove is an Eastern European species that spread throughout the world,
The Mourning Dove is one of the most beautiful of the Dove species. Yet it is one of the most favourable game birds with thousands shot each year.
They are light grey in colour, sometimes with brown.
The Mourning Dove is related to the Eared Dove and the Socorro dove and is classified as a superspecies in the genus Zenaida.
The Eared dove is a New world dove and lives and breeds throughout South America and has a uniquely deep and soft oo-ah-oo call. It has upper plumage olive-brown in colour with black spots on the wings The head has a gry crown with black lines behind the eyes and blue-black on the lower ear covets.
Turtle doves
Turtle doves are dainty birds and are the migratory bird in Britain. It is the smallest native pigeon, and only weighs between 100 and 180 grams half the weight of a wood pigeon.
The Turtle Doves song is a gentle soporific purring, delivered from cover.
Turtle doves can be recognized by its brown colour, and the black and white striped patch on the side of its neck. The tail is only notable as it flies away from the observer, it is wedge-shaped, with a dark centre, and white borders and tips.
wood pigeon
One flock of Wood Pigeons can number many thousands of birds.
They are larger than the average pigeon and has white on the neck and wings It is basically a grey bird with a pinkish breast. An adult Wood pigeon also is known as Bush pigeon in Africa, has a series of green and white patches on their necks, and a pink patch on their breast. Their call is a distinct co=COO=coo-coo-coo.
We all know about Homer pigeons who have been sent all over the world and will return home Their flights can be as far as 1800 km. of 1,100 miles, and they are used in pigeon racing. They can fly at approx. 97 km/h. with a speed of 160km/h.The history of homing or flying pigeons dates back 3000 years, they were used to proclaim the winner of the Ancient Olympics. Messenger pigeons were used as early as 1150 in Baghdad.
White pigeons
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In Africa a large variety of doves and pigeons can be found like the Laughing Pigeon, Red-eyed Dove. Spotted dove, Ring necked dove and others.
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