A 330-word Biography of the Eurasian Collared Dove

Equipped with graphics, myths, and sweeping generalizations.

Photo of a well-fed Eurasian Collared Dove by Monica FL on Unsplash

The bird

Eurasian collared doves — named for the black “collar” around their necks — are cream-colored soft-gray curious copulative little birds native to Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. They are members of the pigeon and dove family — Columbidae — along with native mourning doves, their “less chunky relatives,” as one birder puts it.

A handy graphic from Allaboutbirds.org

In the 1970s, a cageful of collared doves escaped from a pet-trader in the Bahamas. They have since moved into nearly town in America, including my alleyway. Some say that they have “colonized” the country, but of course birds do not colonize (no land-grabs, no government-sponsored assimilation programs, no genocide, no intergenerational trauma, etc.). They flock. And eat and poop and watch and have bird sex and say things to each other.

Some consider them a “harmless” invasive species, though the Texas Institute of Invasive Species is (perhaps predictably) still suspicious of these cooing migrants.

It’s happening! Eurasian Collared Doves are “Conquering America” cry the authors over at Feedwatcher.org. This graph is outdated by about 15 years. View a more updated visual on Audobon.org.

The myth

The authors at Allaboutbirds.org claim that the collared dove’s species name — Streptopelia decaocto — comes from the Greek myth of Decaocto, “a servant girl transformed into a dove by the gods to escape her unhappy treatment; the dove’s mournful cry recalls her former life.”

Collared doves, as well as native mourning doves, “coo.” Both the collared doves’ throaty call, and that of their spectral cousins, are sometimes mistaken for an owl’s.

BBC’s Wildlife Magazine complicates the story. “The myth,” staff writers argue, “describes how a maid complained about her very low wage of ‘decaocto’ (eighteen) pieces. The dove was created by the god Zeus to shame her mistress.” Photo by Sam Crowe on Birdzilla.com

The Laugh

But collared doves do not just mourn. They also whine. It is a nasal, uncomfortable sound produced when landing, or taking off from a perch. “Mheh! Mheh! Mheh!” It sounds like that. Like a 4-year-old with strep throat begging you for juice.

Sometimes, it sounds like laughter. Heeh! Heeh! Heeh!

If collared doves do not actually mourn their human past, they seem to be laughing at our human present.

Author’s note: It must be said: I love them. These chunky little mice, these un-employed angels, these non-native fluttering gray sacks of weightless bone watching us, without blinking, from the eaves.