Oriental Turtle Dove

Oriental Turtle Dove (Streptopelia orientalis) is a medium dove with warm scaly-patterned upperparts and a black-and-white striped patch on each side of the neck. The combination of body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provides the most useful field characters. Age, sex and season can alter its appearance, so identification should use several features rather than colour alone. This supports comparison with similar species in the field (Wikipedia, general species account).

It feeds on seeds and grain on the ground in woodland edges, farmland and parks and nests in trees. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds more likely to gather where food is concentrated. The Korean vertebrate catalogue used for this guide records the species in South Korea (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Korea occurrence records).