15 Colorful Species of Doves-Pigeons Found in India

Pigeon and dove family in India has some of the most beautiful species of birds, also very common in some area but lesser known. Some of the lesser known species of wild pigeons found in India are Green imperial pigeon, Nicobar imperial pigeon, Mountain imperial pigeon,Thick billed Green Pigeon and Oriental turtle dove.

Common Pigeon/Rock Dove

Common pigeons are known as rock pigeon or rock dove also simply referred to as the pigeon in India. The feral pigeons are the most common city birds, breeds all time of the year and a favourite prey for raptor species live in urban areas.

Domestic Pigeons are also derived from the common rock pigeon used as messengers, sport of pigeon racing, fancy pigeon show and commonly used in laboratory experiments as well.

Laughing Dove

Laughing Dove is the small pigeon found in dry and semi-desert habitats in the Indian Subcontinent. The laughing dove is another most common bird found in areas of human habitation, in scrub, dryland and farmland.

Emerald Dove

Common emerald dove is the most beautiful species of dove found in India, A resident breeding bird of the Indian Subcontinent. This dove is also known as green dove and the state bird of Tamil Nadu that lives in woodlands, farms, gardens and mangroves.

Eurasian Collared Dove

Eurasian collared dove species is native to the Indian Subcontinent, Not a not migratory bird. Collared doves also live very close to urban areas where food resources are easily available, always found in pair with song goo-GOO-goo.

Spotted Dove

Spotted Dove is a long tailed pigeon and a common breeding bird of the Indian subcontinent. The ground colour bird with black dots species is the most common but a variation seen in different geographic populations across the Southeast Asia.

Yellow-footed Green Pigeon

The yellow-footed green pigeon is known as Hariyal in Hindi as well as in Marathi, is the most beautiful species of pigeon found in India also the state bird of Maharashtra. They forage in flocks, feeds on fruits and always seen during early morning and early evening at top of tree branches in dense forest areas.

Orange breasted green pigeon, Thick billed Green Pigeon and Grey fronted green pigeons are few more species of colorful pigeon found across tropical Asia and range includes Indian Subcontinent to Southeast Asia.

Thick-billed green pigeon
Yellow-footed green pigeon
Orange-breasted green pigeon
Ashy-headed green pigeon
Grey-fronted green pigeon
Wedge-tailed green pigeon
Pin-tailed green pigeon
Imperial green pigeon
Pompadour green pigeon

Grey-fronted green Pigeon

Grey-fronted green pigeon is different from the pompadour green pigeon, Only found in small groups in the forests of the Western Ghats in India. \

Thick-billed green Pigeon

The Brightly-colored pigeon only found across the north eastern regions of the Indian Subcontinent along with other species of green pigeon like Orange-breasted green pigeon and Wedge-tailed green pigeon.

Nicobar Pigeon

Nicobar pigeon found on small islands of Andaman and Nicobar, roams in flocks around islands and attracted to human areas where food is available. This species nests in large colonies and listed as one of the most beautiful bird found in the Indian Subcontinent.

Andaman Wood Pigeon

Andaman Wood pigeon species of bird is endemic to the Islands of Andaman, belongs to the same family of pigeons found in India. The silvery grey wood pigeon lives on on dense forest and a very uncommon species of bird in Andaman.

Nilgiri Wood Pigeon

Nilgiri wood pigeon is a large species of pigeon found in the sholas forest of the Western Ghats and in the Nilgiri Hills. The species mostly found in high elevations hills of Nandi Hills, Biligirirangan Hills and also lower elevations of the Western Ghats.

Green Imperial Pigeon

Green Imperial Pigeon is a largest species of forest pigeon found in India, This arboreal dove is distributed throughout India in the state of Maharashtra to Orissa and Tripura.

Oriental Turtle Dove

Oriental turtle dove also known as rufous turtle dove show different types of variations in the patterning of plumage with geographical location. The turtle dove forages on the ground like other species of dove found in India with attractive plumage.

Red Collared Dove

Red turtle dove or red collared dove is another beautiful species of small pigeon found in India, with pale brown plumage similar to large Eurasian collared dove. The red collared dove has an extremely large range from northeast India and northeast Tibet.

Mountain Imperial Pigeon

Mountain imperial pigeon from the pigeon and dove family is another large wild pigeon species found in India, usually solitary, feed on fruits and occurs lowland forests of Western Ghats and also in Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary of West Bengal.

The Malabar imperial pigeon or Nilgiri imperial pigeon was earlier known as a subspecies of Mountain imperial pigeon but now considered as a separate species of imperial pigeon found in Western Ghats of India. Malabar Imperial-Pigeon Ducula cuprea