The Barred Ground Dove or Zebra Dove is a pretty, small pigeon seen almost everywhere in Seychelles. It is long-tailed with generally grey plumage with fine dark bars. The breast area often has a pink tinge and the eye ring and bill are blue. It prefers very open, grassy places around human settlements and is less common in forests. Its cooing call can be heard throughout built-up places. Wherever there are seeds or crumbs or rice dropped, pairs or small groups of ground doves can be seen picking at these morsels of food. Male ground doves court females by following them and bowing down, raising their long tails to the vertical and fanning them slightly, showing the white tips of the black tail feathers. Barred ground doves are commonly kept in cages and aviaries in many countries and this is how it was probably introduced.
Scientific Name: Geopelia striata
Creole name: Tourtrel Koko.
Wingspan: 24-26cm.
Population in Seychelles: Unknown: Hundreds of thousands of birds.
World Distribution: SE Asia to Australia; introduced widely on Indian Ocean islands and elsewhere.
Distribution in Seychelles: All large or medium-sized islands.
Habitat: Open habitats – Gardens, plantations, scrub.
Nests: Small, built of twigs in shrubs, trees and palms.
Eggs: 2 white eggs.
Diet: Mainly seeds, also small insects.
A tiny long-tailed pigeon, grey with narrow darker bars, pink breast and blue beak.
See more
Species Fact Sheet at BirdLife Data Zone
(Photo credit: Dave Rogers)