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Streptopelia turtur (European
turtle-dove, Eurasian turtle-dove)
Europese tortelduif [Afrikaans]; Tortelduif, Zomertortel
[Dutch]; Tourterelle des bois [French]; Turteltaube [German]; Rola-europeia
[Portuguese]
Life
> Eukaryotes >
Opisthokonta
> Metazoa (animals) >
Bilateria >
Deuterostomia > Chordata >
Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates) > Gnathostomata (jawed
vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class:
Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned
fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial
vertebrates) > Tetrapoda
(four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota >
Reptilia (reptiles) >
Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria >
Dinosauria
(dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) >
Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves
(birds) > Order: Columbiformes > Family:
Columbidae > Streptopelia
Distribution and habitat
Breeds in Europe, western Asia and the far north of Africa,
heading south in the non-breeding season to the Sahel, from Mali to Ethiopia. It
is a rare vagrant to southern Africa, with four records in northern Namibia,
Botswana, Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park and the Limpopo Province. It
generally prefers open bushwillow (Combretum) and Acacia savanna,
coastal bush, orchards, parks and gardens.
Food
In Senegal and Gambia it mainly eats grasses, Devil thorn (Tribulus
terrestris), crops and sedge rhizomes, doing most of its foraging on the
ground.
References
-
Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts
- Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker
Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.
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