diamond dove

English ornithologist John Latham first described the diamond dove in 1801.{{sfn|Fraser|Gray|2019|p=37}} The common name "diamond" is a reference to the white speckles on its wings.{{sfn|Fraser|Gray|2019|p=37}}

They are small pigeons with a length of 19 to 21 centimeters or 9 to 11 inches.Petco Doves Page Regardless of sex, they have white spots and black edges on their wings, red eyes and orange eye-rings. The sexes look similar except the female's eye ring is less vivid and has more of a brown colour to the plumage. The male's head, neck, and breast are light blue-grey. The bill is a dark grey colour. The abdomen is a creamy colour while the back and tail is a brown-grey colour. The legs and feet are pink. The juveniles have a light grey bill; the iris and eye ring is fawn in colour; the feet and legs are grey; the breast is grey and does not possess any white spots on their wings.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Regardless of its astoundingly small size (weighing only about 35 g), it has a great tolerance to high heat levels due to adaptations in body temperature, metabolism, respiration, water balance, and behaviour.{{cite journal|last=Schleucher|first=E.|year=1993|title=Life in Extreme Dryness and Heat: A Telemetric Study of the Behaviour of the Diamond Dove Geopelia cuneata in its Natural Habitat|journal=Emu|volume=93|issue=4|pages=251–258|doi=10.1071/MU9930251 |bibcode=1993EmuAO..93..251S |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248400219}}

The diamond dove is often seen on the ground, where it runs with a waddling gait. Its flight is strong, direct, and sometimes undulating.{{cite book | title = Pigeons and Doves in Australia | first = Joseph | last = Forshaw | location = Clayton South, VIC, Australia | publisher = Csiro Publishing | year = 2015 | page = 199 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=e74qBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA199 | isbn = 978-1-4863-0404-2}} The wings can make a whistling "frrr" noise when flying.

Diamond doves tend to be seen in pairs or small groups feeding off the ground. They feed off seed mostly from grasses. They will also eat ants.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

The doves tend to breed after rain but mostly in spring in Southern Australia. Nests are usually built from interwoven grasses and/or twigs, and are fragile in construction. Two white eggs are usually laid and incubated for 13 to 14 days. Their chicks are fast to grow, and are usually fully feathered and flying by two weeks.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

They are known to have a variety of calls. The calls sound mournful, slow and have a soft, pleasant falsetto quality to them. Two calls consist of two long coos followed by a pause and then a long, short and long coo. Sometimes they call two long coos. The alarm coo consists of a few short but loud coos.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Diamond doves are not listed as threatened on the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

• The diamond dove is listed as threatened on the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (1988).[http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/nrenpa.nsf/LinkView/EADA0F1874AF9CF24A2567C1001020A388BBA5581CF9D859CA256BB300271BDB Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050718182613/http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/nrenpa.nsf/LinkView/EADA0F1874AF9CF24A2567C1001020A388BBA5581CF9D859CA256BB300271BDB |date=July 18, 2005 }} Under this Act, an Action Statement for the recovery and future management of this species has not been prepared.[http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/nrenpa.nsf/LinkView/617768308BCB666E4A25684E00192281E7A24BB36FF60A144A256DEA00244294 Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060911130015/http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/nrenpa.nsf/LinkView/617768308BCB666E4A25684E00192281E7A24BB36FF60A144A256DEA00244294 |date=September 11, 2006 }}
• On the 2007 advisory list of threatened vertebrate fauna in Victoria, the diamond dove is listed as near-threatened.{{cite book | author = Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment | title = Advisory List of Threatened Vertebrate Fauna in Victoria - 2007 | publisher = Department of Sustainability and Environment | year = 2007 | location = East Melbourne, Victoria | isbn = 978-1-74208-039-0 | page = 15 }}

Geopelia cuneata.JPG|Close-up of a captive bird

Diamon dove - Christopher Watson.jpg|Next to a zebra finch at a waterhole, Northern Territory, Australia

Close up of Diamond Dove.jpg|The rufous inner vanes of the primary feathers are clearly visible in this captive bird, Northern Territory, Australia

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |first1=Ian |last1=Fraser |first2=Jeannie |last2=Gray |title=Australian Bird Names: Origins and Meanings |publisher=Csiro Publishing |year=2019 |location=Clayton South, Victoria |isbn=978-1-4863-1164-4}}
• Pizzey and Knight, "Field Guide to the Birds of Australia", Angus & Robertson, {{ISBN|0-207-19691-5}}

{{Commons}}

{{Wikispecies|Geopelia cuneata}}

• [http://www.flatratewebsites.com/sites/dovepage/species/domestic/Diamond/diamonddove.html The Dove Page: Diamond Dove (Geopelia cuneata)]
• [http://www.diamonddove.info Diamond Dove Home Page]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q58904}}

diamond dove

Category:Endemic birds of Australia

diamond dove

Category:Taxa named by John Latham (ornithologist)