Las turtle doves, the closest relatives of pigeons, are represented in our fauna by two clearly distinguishable species, the European turtledove and the Turkish turtledove. They are birds that emit hoarse, guttural sounds that resemble sighs generated in a wooden throat.
As with pigeons, turtle doves drink by sucking up water continuously, with their heads down and their beaks submerged, unlike other birds that have to raise their heads and tilt them back to be able to swallow the water.
Resident of the African Sahel
In 2015 the European turtledove (Streptopelia turtle) was declared Bird of the Year by SEO/BirdLife to highlight the danger it is in. Its name comes from Strepto, which means necklace, pelia, which translates as dove, and the specific epithet turtur comes from Latin and means turtle dove.
It is estimated that up to two million European turtle doves fly over our peninsula every year on their long migration path to African barracks, where they take refuge from the rigors of winter. They do so mainly in the western part of the continent, specifically in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso and Mali.
Thanks to monitoring systems, it has been known that these birds do not remain in one area permanently, but rather move hundreds of kilometers, but always within the framework of the sub-Saharan strip. His case is truly exceptional, being the only trans-Saharan migrant that is exclusively granivorous throughout the year.
The turtledove is a monogamous bird that has served as an inspiration to poets of all time and that symbolizes eternal love, not in vain the dictionary of the RAE, in its third meaning of the term turtledove, collects: «couple of lovers».
Its size is smaller than that of pigeons and it is characterized by a light gray head, a reddish halo around the eyes and dark spots on a reddish-brown back. In addition, it has a collar of black and white lists, not complete.
In recent decades, this species has experienced a progressive population decline motivated by several factors, including drought and overgrazing in the wintering area, alteration of the breeding habitat and hunting pressure during the autumn migration.
The European turtle dove likes meadows and wooded fields, unlike its cousin the Eurasian turtle dove, which lives mainly in anthropophilic areas, such as parks, gardens or animal feedlots.
a cursed bird
The Eurasian Turtle Dove is a newcomer to our fauna, it comes from Asia Minor, as its name suggests, and the first specimens were not seen in the Iberian Peninsula until the 1960s, when it has not stopped spreading.
The scientific name of the Turkish turtledove is Streptopelia decaoctoa denomination that is related to the sound of its lullaby: “dekaochtó”, which resembles the Greek pronunciation of the number eighteen (déka, ten, októ, eight).
His name is related to a Greek legend that states that when Jesus Christ was on his way to Calvary, carrying the cross, a Roman soldier took pity on him and wanted to buy him a bowl of milk worth 18 (dekaochtó) coins, but he was only seventeen. As much as he begged and pleaded with the old saleswoman, there was no way he would lower the price. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, the seller was transformed into a Turkish turtle dove, being forced to repeat her whole life “dekaochtó”. A lullaby very different from the soft bisyllabic and repetitive that characterizes the European turtle dove: “tur, tuur, tuuuur…”.
The legend ends by stating that if at any time the cooing of the Turkish turtledove becomes seventeen (sixteenth) the curse will end, but if, on the contrary, eighteen becomes nineteen (dekaennéa) will mean that the end of the world is near. Anyway… let’s hope we never have to hear “dekeaennéa”.