The 'purring' of a Turtle Dove is mentioned in the bible. They are our only migrant dove and come here from Africa in April and return in September. In Roman mythology, the Turtle Dove was one of the emblems of Fides, the goddess of trust and good faith.
The Turtle Dove has distinctively mottled chestnut and black upperparts, a black tail with a white edge, and a black-and-white-striped patch on the side of its neck. Their bill is black and the legs and eye rims are red. Juveniles are duller and browner without the neck patch. Their flight is direct, but not very swift. The Turtle Dove's song is a vibrating "turr, turr" which sounds like a 1970s trim phone.
Like other doves, Turtle Doves eat mainly seeds such as chickweed, oilseed rape, and cereal grains. They feed on the ground in weedy areas or stubble fields.
Turtle Doves are monogamous and pair for life. The male performs a high, circling courtship flight like a Woodpigeon's, while making a whip-crack noise with his downward-flicked wings. Their flimsy twig nest is built in a thorny hedgerow or in scrub. Mum lays two eggs in May, and both parents incubate them until they hatch 14 days later. The youngsters are fed on 'crop milk' like other doves and can fly after 21 days, quickly becoming independent.
The rapid and sustained population decline of Turtle Doves is thought to be caused by a lack of food in the breeding season due to modern farming methods and the shooting of them in the Mediterranean, particularly Malta. The Turtle Dove has been on the Red List in Britain since 1996 and numbers have fallen by 90%. Conservation efforts with farmers to create nesting and feeding habitats across southern and eastern England are helping to halt the decline.
Their Latin name is 'streptopelia turtur' where 'streptopelia' is from the Ancient Greek 'streptos' meaning 'collar' and 'peleia' meaning 'dove'. The 'turtur' is Latin for Turtle Dove. The English name comes from the Latin. They are often used as emblems of love and appear in the 'Twelve Days of Christmas', folk songs, and even in one of Shakespeare's poems.
Several subspecies include the Asian Oriental Turtle Dove and the African Dusky Turtle Dove.