Spotted dove

Spilopelia chinensis (Scopoli, 1786)

The spotted dove (Spilopelia chinensis) is a bird in the family Columbidae, subfamily Columbinae, order Columbiformes. It is a small, terrestrial, sedentary bird of woodland with an adult body mass of 159 g and a geographic range of 7,372,000 km².

Photo: iNaturalist/ zinogre · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the spotted dove

It is a granivore, placing it at the herbivore trophic level. Clutches hold 2 eggs, incubated for 14.5 days, and the species is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, not a threatened category.

Weight: 139.8 g – 159 gsrc for Weight
Length: Not recorded
Lifespan: 7.7 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet: Granivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan: 9.8 years
Main food: Not recorded
Habitat: woodlandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation: 14.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch: 2src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle: Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration: Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record: Not recorded

Photos of the spotted dove

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Spotted dove (Spilopelia chinensis) — Satdeep Gill · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the spotted dove live?

Not recorded

What is the spotted dove?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The spotted dove or eastern spotted dove (Spilopelia chinensis) is a small and somewhat long-tailed pigeon that is a common resident breeding bird across its native range on the Indian subcontinent and in East and Southeast Asia. The species has been introduced to many parts of the world and feral populations have become established.
This species was formerly included in the genus Streptopelia with other turtle-doves, but studies suggest that they differ from typical members of that genus. This dove is long tailed buff brown with a white-spotted black collar patch on the back and sides of the neck. The tail tips are white and the wing coverts have light buff spots.
There are considerable plumage variations across populations within its wide range. The species is found in light forests and gardens as well as in urban areas. They fly from the ground with an explosive flutter and will sometimes glide down to a perch. It is also called the mountain dove, pearl-necked dove, lace-necked dove, and spotted turtle-dove.

From the Wikipedia article “Spotted dove” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spotted_dove&oldid=1385049100), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

What does the spotted dove sound like?

Manoj Karingamadathil · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Peter Russell · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Is the spotted dove endangered?

The spotted dove is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

LCLeast Concern
NTNear Threatened
VUVulnerable
ENEndangered
CRCritically Endangered
EWExtinct in the Wild
EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the spotted dove classified?

kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
classAves
orderColumbiformes
familyColumbidae
genusSpilopelia
SpeciesSpilopelia chinensis (Scopoli, 1786)

Synonyms Columba chinensis, Stigmatopelia chinensis, Streptopelia chinensis, Streptopelia chinensis, Turtur chinensis

Other names and names in other languages (72)

Eastern spotted doveEnglish
Eastern spotted doveEnglish
Pearl-necked doveEnglish
Spotted turtle-doveEnglish
يمام منقطArabic
ᬢᭂᬓᬸᬓᬸᬃBalinese
তিলা ঘুঘুBangla
Tórtora FavadaCatalan
tórtora colltacada orientalCatalan
hrdlička kropenatáCzech
Turtur warfrechWelsh
PerlehalsdueDanish
PerlhalstaubeGerman
Östliche PerlhalstaubeGerman
punkta turtoEsperanto
Punktita turtoEsperanto
Tórtola moteadaSpanish
Paloma ala doradaSpanish
Paloma de OrienteSpanish
Tórtola moteada orientalSpanish
džungli-turteltuviEstonian
فاخته نقطه دارPersian
aasianturturikyyhkyFinnish
Tourterelle tigrineFrench
તલીયો હોલોGujarati
תור נקודHebrew
תור מנוקדHebrew
चितरोखाHindi
pjegava grlicaCroatian
gyöngyösnyakú gerleHungarian
DerkukuIndonesian
Burung tekukurIndonesian
TekukurIndonesian
Tekukur biasaIndonesian
Tortora macchiataItalian
カノコバトJapanese
Deruk biasaJavanese
ಚೋರೆ ಹಕ್ಕಿKannada
목점박이비둘기Korean
dėmėtasis purplelisLithuanian
Ķīnas ūbeleLatvian
അരിപ്രാവ്Malayalam
ठिपकेदार होलाMarathi
Ала тыргӓдӹWestern Mari
ချိုးလည်ပြောက်Burmese
कुर्ले ढुकुरNepali
ParelhalstortelDutch
perlekragedueNorwegian
ବଣକାପ୍ତାOdia
ਚੀਨੀ ਘੁੱਗੀPunjabi
synogarlica perłoszyjaPolish
چتری کگیWestern Panjabi
کورکورکهPashto
rola-malhadaPortuguese
rola-maculadaPortuguese
Rola-pintadaPortuguese
Китайская горлицаRussian
Пятнистая горлицаRussian
අළු කොබෙයියාSinhala
hrdlička perlokrkáSlovak
ڳيروSindhi
пегава грлицаSerbian
Pegava grlicaSerbian
pärlhalsduvaSwedish
ꠍꠤꠐꠣꠀꠟꠣ ꠓꠥꠙꠤsyl
மணிப்புறாTamil
นกเขาใหญ่Thai
Küpeli ÜveyikTurkish
горлиця китайськаUkrainian
Cu gáyVietnamese
珠頸斑鳩Chinese
珠颈斑鸠Chinese

Catalogue of Life Wikipedia iNaturalist TAXREF Wikidata WoRMS IUCN Red List

Relatives of the spotted dove

Other species in the same genus Spilopelia.

Laughing dove

Spilopelia senegalensis

Columbidae

CompareSpotted dove vs Laughing dove

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What kind of animal is the spotted dove?

The spotted dove is a bird in the family Columbidae, order Columbiformes. Its size class is small.

How heavy is a spotted dove?

An adult Spotted dove has a body mass of 159 g.

What does the spotted dove eat?

The spotted dove is a granivore, feeding at the herbivore trophic level.

How long does a spotted dove live?

Its lifespan is 7.7 years, with values up to 9.8 years reported.

How many eggs does the spotted dove lay?

A spotted dove clutch holds 2 eggs, incubated for 14.5 days.

Is the spotted dove endangered?

No. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.

What habitat does the spotted dove live in?

The spotted dove lives in woodland, where it is terrestrial and sedentary.

Who named the spotted dove?

The species name Spilopelia chinensis carries the authority (Scopoli, 1786).

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Spotted dove (Spilopelia chinensis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/spotted-dove

MLA

“Spotted dove (Spilopelia chinensis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/spotted-dove.

BibTeX

@misc{spotted_dove_2026,
  title = {Spotted dove (Spilopelia chinensis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/spotted-dove},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}