Red Collared Dove

The red collared dove, or red turtle dove, is a small pigeon, 20.5–23 cm long and weighing about 104 g, that breeds in the tropics of Asia. The male has a bluish-grey head, a light red-brown body and a black ring round the neck, while the female is much plainer, pale brown, and looks like the larger Eurasian collared dove (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is described as a summer migrant visitor to India, though more or less resident there. There is also a summer migration into the broader cultivated valleys of Afghanistan, where it breeds; when they first arrive birds are often in small flocks, which soon split up as pairs form. SoIB 2023 rates it a Low conservation priority: a resident and local migrant with a Large range, an inconclusive long-term trend of about −32% and a stable current trend (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).