Red-eyed Dove (Streptopelia capicola) - 6 July 2013. Gibb's Farm, Karatu, Arusha Region, Tanzania.


In this region, there are three species of doves which closely resemble each other but differ in the color of their eyes. All three can be common to abundant making them easy to ignore.

  1. Ring-necked Dove (dark eyes and gray orbital)
  2. Mourning Collared-Dove (yellow eyes with red orbital)
  3. Red-eyed Dove (red eyes and red-maroon orbital skin)

This one shows amber-colored eyes, but there is enough red to conform Red-eyed. It has purple-gray orbital skin, rather than plain-gray and the amount of bare skin is too extensive for Ring-necked dove, especially behind the eye. Also there are subtle differences in overall color (more pinkish) and the pattern of the tip of the tail (wide gray band lacking white). Ring-necked would also show a paler belly/vent area.

Digiscoped with Panasonic DMC-LX5 | Nikon FieldScope III | 30XWA | hand-held (no adapter).

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