• Size & Shape

  Eurasian Collared-Doves have plump bodies, small heads, and long tails. They’re larger than Mourning Doves but slimmer and longer-tailed than a Rock Pigeon. The wings are broad and slightly rounded. The broad tail is squared off at the tip, rather than pointed like a Mourning Dove’s.

• Color Pattern

  Eurasian Collared-Doves are chalky light brown to gray-buff birds with broad white patches in the tail. The bird’s collar is a narrow black crescent around the nape of the neck. In flight and when perched, the wingtips are darker than the rest of the wing.

• Behavior

  Eurasian Collared-Doves perch on telephone poles, wires, and in large trees and give incessant three-syllable coos. Their strong flight pattern features bursts of clipped wingbeats and looping glides. When walking these doves bob their heads and flick their tails. Eurasian Collared-Doves often feed at backyard seed feeders and on spilled grain in stockyards and around silos.

• Habitat

  Eurasian Collared-Doves live in urban and suburban areas throughout much of the U.S. except the Northeast. In rural settings look for them on farms and in livestock yards where grain is available. In cooler months, flocks may roost together in large trees

Calls

Males give the distinctive koo-KOO-kook call to defend territories and attract mates. The call may be repeated 3–12 times with the middle syllable much longer than the first and last. Females advertise with a softer version of the call. Both sexes give a lower-pitched, slower version when searching for nest sites and building the nest. When excited or alarmed, they react with a loud hwaah, a call they also give just before alighting.