Bar-shouldered Dove

Geopelia humeralis (Temminck, 1821)

≈28 cmLength128 gWeight

It is a medium-sized, long-tailed dove with a blue-gray breast, checkered rufous-copper wings, and a copper nape.

Busiest months: August–October · Most records: Australia, Papua New Guinea, China

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

Breast blue-gray
Wings rufous-copper, with checkered markings
Nape feathers copper, with fine markings
Eye-ring usually gray, reddish-brown in the breeding season

Male, female and young

Juvenile is duller.

Voice

A distinctive, melodious “cook-a-wook” or “coolicoo”.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: August–October · Most records: Australia, Papua New Guinea, China

Bar-shouldered Dove has been recorded at 127 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 3 countries and regions.

Records by month Southern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

Sandy Camp Road WetlandsAustralia4,787 records
Oxley Creek CommonAustralia4,597 records
Broome Bird ObservatoryAustralia4,354 records

More places

Lake Samsonvale – Golds Scrub LaneAustralia2,668 records
Townsville Town Common Conservation ParkAustralia2,342 records
Cattana WetlandsAustralia2,113 records
Tinchi Tamba Wetlands ReserveAustralia1,763 records
Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers LodgeAustralia1,739 records
Kumbartcho SanctuaryAustralia1,382 records
Eagleby WetlandsAustralia1,362 records

Countries and regions with the most records

Australia Papua New Guinea China

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The bar-shouldered dove (Geopelia humeralis) is a species of long tailed dove native to Australia and Southern New Guinea. It is protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974. It is a medium-sized pigeon varying in size from 26–30 cm (10–12 in).

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Bar-shouldered Dove?

The Bar-shouldered Dove is about ≈28 cm long and weighs around 128 g.

Where does the Bar-shouldered Dove live?

Its breeding range: Australasia: south-central, southeastern New Guinea and northern, eastern Australia. It is most often recorded in Australia, Papua New Guinea and China.