Laughing Dove: how to recognise it
A bird seen on most continents. Learn the marks that make it easy to identify, then practise with real photographs in Lore.
Practise with real photosAll species guides
Photo © Nik Borrow · CC BY-NC · iNaturalist · all photo credits
- Scientific name
- Spilopelia senegalensis
- Family
- Pigeons and Doves
- Size
- About 25 cm
- Habitat
- Towns, gardens, farmland and dry scrub
- Found in
- Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania
The key marks
Small, slim dove with a vinous-pink head and chest, a patch of dark spots on the upper chest, blue-grey wing coverts and no collar. Eurasian Collared-Dove is larger and pale sandy-grey with a thin black half-collar on the nape.
Voice
A soft, chuckling coo, 'coo, coo-coo-coo'.
Good to know
It feeds on the ground in towns across Africa and the Middle East, and was introduced to Western Australia.
Do not confuse with
Compare it with the Eurasian Collared-Dove. Look at the marks above one by one rather than the overall colour, and practise telling the two apart with real photos.
Where and when
You can expect to find it in towns, gardens, farmland and dry scrub. It is especially common in Türkiye, Israel, South Africa and Kyrgyzstan. Distribution changes with the seasons and from year to year, so check a recent local observation source before you go looking.