Zenaida Dove

Overview
Zenaida Dove: Medium dove with brown-gray upperparts, red-gray underparts, cinnamon-gray head and neck, dark violet-blue streaks above and below ear coverts, purple sides of neck, white trailing edge on outer secondaries, and black spots on wings. Fast low flight with rapid wing beats.

Range and Habitat
Zenaida Dove: Accidental on Florida Keys and mainland of southern Florida. Preferred habitats include grasslands and low shrubs.

The Zenaida Dove has a large range reaching up to around 230,000 square kilometers. This bird can be found throughout the Caribbean and parts of Central and North America including the United States, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and many others. This bird appears in tropical and subtropical forests and shrublands as well as rocky areas and arable regions also. The global population of this species has not been quantified, but it is referred to as “common” in portions of its range. Due to this, population trends for the Zenaida Dove have a present evaluation level of Least Concern.

INTERESTING FACTS
The Zenaida Dove was first described in 1810 by Coenraad Jacob Temminck, a Dutch aristocrat and zoologist. It is the national bird of Anguilla, where it is commonly (but erroneously) referred to as a Turtle Dove. The name of this genus commemorates Zénaïde Laetitia Julie Bonaparte, wife of the French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte. A group of doves has many collective nouns, including a "bevy", "cote", "dole", "dule", and "flight" of doves.