Ringneck Dove

Fun Facts

Ringneck doves are social, friendly, and easy to tame. People have kept them and considered them symbols of peace for thousands of years. They come in over 40 different colors and patterns.

White mutations of ringneck doves are often used for magic shows and dove releases. They are also used as a universal peace symbol.

Ringneck doves make their coo sound with vibrating throat muscles, which are one of the fastest-moving classes of muscles of any vertebrate.

Male ringneck doves will display for females by flying up a steep gradient and then spiraling downward with their wings and tails flared. Males will also bow and sing to females while perched.

Unlike most birds, male and female species in the dove kind produce “crop milk” to feed their chicks, which is a secretion of sloughed-off, fluid-filled cells from the crop. Both parents care for their chicks, and because chicks mature in less than three weeks, they may raise up to five broods in one season. Babies are called “squabs.”