In the previous Bird Column, the topic was the Laughing Turtledove which was introduced into Western Australia in the last century.
At around the same time as the Laughing Turtledoves were released, in the 1800s, another similar looking bird called the Spotted Turtledove was also released in WA. This bird was mainly found in India as well as some other Asian countries.
As well as WA, the Spotted variety was first let out in Melbourne, then at other urban areas which included Brisbane. Different places all along the Eastern coastline from Victoria up to Cape York became the new home for many of this species. With such a number of different cities, it paved the way for the spreading of this bird.
These birds are quite at home in the cities but seem to be at home in most types of terrain and breed virtually all year round.
A friend of mine who lives in Rockhampton had a Spotted Turtledove nesting in the thick foliage of a hedge that grew along the side fence of his yard.
This Spotted variety is mainly grey in colour but is easily distinguished from the Laughing Turtledove because it has a black patch around the back of the neck which is speckled with white spots which can be seen in the illustration. It is slightly larger than the Spotted variety being just over 30cm in length whereas the Laughing Turtledove is only 25cm.
The numbers of both these birds have increased in all their adopted areas.
