Stigmatopelia senegalensis (Linneaus, 1766)

(slightly early) Happy World Sparrow Day!

For those who don't know, the 20th of March (which it already is in some places) has been celebrated since 2010 NOT in the same way as other bird-associated days where the bird gets eaten/killed, but to raise awareness and rejuvenate affection for synanthropic bird species around the world, particularly the cosmopolitan (but, N.B., declining, House Sparrow, Passer domesticus).

This is not a house sparrow:

Photographed in the city of Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in January 2014. Olympus E-420, with 70-300mm Zuiko lens.

This is quite a different synanthrope*, the African Laughing Dove, Laughing Turtle Dove, or just Laughing Dove in English, Msekankhunda in Chewa and Rooiborsduifie in Afrikaans... I would try and find out what it's called in Arabic, but my complete failure to comprehend

As with most doves, it feeds primarily on seeds and fruit, but will chow down unsuspecting insects (in particular the winged termite reproductives, or Inswa in Nyanja, that emerge in Zambia's rains seem to tempt all normally herbivorous birds to spice up their diets), and has been seen (not by me) taking nectar from flowers.

In theory, it is a tree-nesting bird, although this particular individual was very much involved with a nest in the support of a poolside umbrella. In Lusaka, where they are eaten, they are very retiring and mostly seen in walled gardens, but in Dubai, they seemed quite comfortable with slow-moving humans mere feet away from them, and walk along the streets amongst the much more widespread rock doves (the wild ancestor of the now cosmopolitan feral pigeon, Columba livia).

Its binomial is a bit mixed up: Carl Linneaus, the Swiss Big-Daddy of naming everything, called it Columba senegalensis in 1766, but in the 1800s, Sundevall (Another Carl, but this time Swedish), put it in Stigmatopelia (and, as is relevant, a similar species in Spilopelia). A while later, they were put into Streptopelia  (in the 1990s, I think) by Sibley and Munroe (Sibley is perhaps most famous for one of the earliest truly ambitious attempts at a molecular phylogeny of birds - that is to say, looking at selectively neutral changes in long-chain molecules of the cell. Much of Sibley (and Alquist)'s phylogeny is now disputed, particularly since the rather more intuitive and somewhat more rigorous study by Hackett and friends in 2008). However, since then, it's been pointed out that this and another species aren't all that closely related to the rest of Streptopelia, and so the genus that Sundevall originally assigned them to has been resurrected.
 
The problem is that these two closely related species were given a genus each by Mr. Sundevall (typical ornithologist, oversplitting). Traditionally, the one used earlier would be used for both (Stigmatopelia), but he used them both in the same paper and, by all accounts, there weren't all that many words between them. Spilopelia was used more widely between Sundevall and Sibley, and so - excusing their sticking with what they're used to by an ICZN nomenclature exception (which yes, is essentially meaningless), these poor doves are currently being torn between two genera.

The IUCN uses Stigmatopelia, though, and have I mentioned that I love the IUCN? So, with ramble over, this is (for me and the IUCN, at least),

Stigmatopelia senegalensis

(Linnaeus, 1766)

- Columbinae

- Columbidae

See also Chalcophaps indica.

- Columbiformes

- Neoaves          

See also Troglodytes troglodytes, Megaceryle maxima, Ardea goliath, Sterna hirundo, Burhinus vermiculatus and Tockus alboterminatus.

- Neognathae       

- Neornithes           

- Euornithes             

- Aves                        

- Maniraptora               

- Coelurosauria               

- Tetanurae                       

- Therapoda                        

- Saurischia                           

- Dinosauria                             

- Avemetatarsalia                        

- Archosauria                                

- Archosauromorpha                        

- Sauria                                              

See also  Thelotornis capensis, Trachylepis varia, Zootoca vivipara and Lygodactylus capensis.

- Diapsida                                             

- Romeriida                                             

- Reptilia                                                    

- Amniota                                                     

- Reptiliomorpha                                             

See also Syncerus caffer and Hipposideros vittatus.

- Tetrapoda                                                       

See also Rana temporaria, Breviceps poweri and Chiromantis xerampelina.

- Sarcopterygii                                                     

- Osteichthyes                                                        

See also Synchiropus splendidus.

- Teleostomi                                                             

- Gnathostomata                                                         

- Vertebrata                                                                  

- Craniata                                                                       

- Chordata                                                                        

- Deuterostomia                                                                  

- Nephrozoa                                                                         

See also Burtoa nilotica, Ligia oceanica, Dicranopalpus ramosus, Hyllus argyrotoxus, Alopecosa barbipes, Enoplognatha ovata, Argiope bruennichi, Pardosa amentata, Enallagma cyathigerum, Pseudagrion hageni, Lestinogomphus angustus, Rhyothemis semihyalina, Humbe tenuicornis, Lobosceliana loboscelis, Cyathosternum prehensile, Heteropternis thoracica, Stictogryllacris punctata, Enyaliopsis, Tettigonia viridissima, Sibylla, Pephricus, Grypocoris stysi, Ranatra, Anoplocnemis curvipes, Synagris proserpina, Vespula germanica, Astata tropicalis, Anthophora furcata, Andrena nigroaenea, Zebronia phenice, Crambus pascuella, Nemophora degeerella, Sphinx ligustri, Laelia robusta, Acada biseriata, Metisella willemi, Anthocharis cardamines, Papilio demodocus, Panorpa germanica, Chloromyia formosa, Senaspis haemorrhoa, Helophilus pendulus, Episyrphus balteatus, Metadon inermis, Diasemopsis meigenii, Dolichotachina caudata, Megistocera filipes, Hagenomyia tristis, Phyllobius pomaceus, Otiorhynchus atroapterus, Malachius bipustulatus, Oedemera nobilis, Melolontha melolontha, Cheilomenes lunata, Neojulodis vittipennis, Demetrias atricapillus, Anthia fornasiini and Lophyra cf. differens.

- Bilateralia                                                                             

- Eumetazoa                                                                             

- Animalia                                                                                  

- Eukaryota                                                                                  

And, just to finish things off, here's another picture from Lusaka: 

 

Photographed in Chongwe, Lusaka, Zambia, October, 2011, using Olympus E-420 and 40-150mm Zuiko lens.

   

 
And that's all, folks!











*Synanthrope = organism that thrives with, or at least survives in the presence of, humans.