Spotted Turtle-Dove - Streptopelia chinensis

Spotted Turtle-Dove (Introduced)

Streptopelia chinensis

Family: Columbidae (Pigeons and Doves, 25 species in Australia)
Size: 32 cm
Distribution: Within about 100 km of the coasts of NSW, VIC, QLD (except far North), Eastern SA and the SW tip of WA.
Status: Abundant
Habitat: Cities, suburban gardens, parks, established grain-growing areas of coastal, Eastern Australia
References: Simpson and Day, Reader's Digest

The Spotted Turtle-Dove is a kind of pigeon, however not as "gross" as the common Feral Pigeon. It has an easily recognisable "coo coooo", or "coo cooooo coo" kind of call which (like most bird calls) is much easier to hear than to read. It raises and lowers its tail on alighting.

The black-with-white-spots area on the back of the Spotted Turtle-Dove's neck makes it easy to recognise.

Birdwatchers call the Spotted Turtle-Dove the "STD".

Spotted Turtle-Dove - Streptopelia chinensis
Photo: Blaxland, Blue Mountains NSW

The photo below shows a baby Spotted Turtle-Dove that had lost its parents.

Spotted Turtle-Dove - Streptopelia chinensis
Photo: Blaxland, Blue Mountains NSW

Some Birdwatching Resources

Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds, Peter Slater, Pat Slater and Raoul Slater. This is a smaller field guide, and its advantage is it is easy to carry around. Its size is 21.3 x 11.4 x 2.8 centimetres, or 8.4 x 4.5 x 1.1 inches in the old scale. So it is a good one to get if you want to have your field guide with you out in the field. Unlike most of the field guides it also has illustrations of the eggs of all the birds that breed in Australia. It has very good reviews on Amazon.

Click here to Purchase from Australia (Booktopia)

Purchase from Australia (Angus & Robertson)

Click here to purchase from Australia (The Nile) $28.45 AUD (May be unavailable)

Click here to purchase from Australia (Fishpond) May be expensive.

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Finding Australian Birds A Field Guide to Birding Locations, by Tim Dolby and Rohan Clarke. From the eastern rainforests to central deserts, Australia is home to some 900 species of birds. This book covers over 400 Australian bird watching sites conveniently grouped into the best birding areas, from one end of the country to the other. This includes areas such as Kakadu in the Top End and rocky gorges in the central deserts of the Northern Territory, the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, rainforests distributed along the eastern Australian seaboard, some of the world's tallest forests in Tasmania, the Flinders Ranges and deserts along the iconic Strzelecki and Birdsville Tracks in South Australia, and the Mallee temperate woodlands and spectacular coastlines in both Victoria and south west Western Australia.

Purchase from Australia (Booktopia)

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