Namaqua Dove Oena capensis in the UAE and its spread through Arabia

Namaqua Dove Oena capensis in the UAE and its spread through Arabia

On 17 July 1997 on a quiet back road of Ghayathi, western Abu Dhabi, I came upon a small party of Namaqua Doves Oena capensis. There were two adults and two very young juveniles identified by their speckled and barred appearance. The juveniles were being closely attended by the adults and it was obvious that they had only recently fledged from a local nest. This was the first confirmed breeding record for the species in the UAE. Twenty two years earlier in March 1975 at a similar eucalyptus fringed road in the irrigated farming district of Al Kharg, 80 km south of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, I had seen my first Namaqua Dove. On that occasion there were 3 birds apparently picking up seeds in the dust beside the road. That observation was also a milestone in the species' dynamic recent history in Arabia, as it was the first recorded observation of the species away from south west Arabia. Between then and now this diminutive dove has done big things in Arabia, greatly expanding its range to every corner of the peninsula and beyond and exploding in number. Much of this story is recorded in the database of the Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Arabia (ABBA) project which I co-ordinate.

It is by no means certain that the Namaqua Dove is indigenous to south west Arabia. There is a possibility that the species has only colonised Arabia from Africa in recent historical times. It is known from Arabia for just over 100 years, but at that time it was apparently scarce and local everywhere. The oldest record I have been able to find comes from Bates and Philby (1940) who quoted Heuglin mentioning that they occurred around Aden in about 1860-70. The next record was from Socotra in 1881 (Ripley and Bond, 1966), but strangely there have been no records from that island since. The first breeding report is from near Aden in 1883 (Yerbury, 1886) when it had eggs and young in September but at the time was thought of as a summer and autumn visitor to the region. It was not reported from Jeddah until 1934 (Bates, 1936) but by the time Meinertzhagen put together his Birds of Arabia in 1954 he was able to say that it was known from 240 km north of Mecca, southwards to Aden and east to the Wadi Hadramaut. Unfortunately no original records for this period have been traced for the extreme northern limit mentioned by Meinertzhagen for the ABBA database. In the south west of the peninsula, Namaqua Doves are a bird of dry acacia scrubland, frequenting cultivations and the vicinity of villages, especially animal pens. It is generally absent from the highlands above 1800 m, especially the more temperate situations like juniper forest and qat plantations in Yemen. However isolated records have been obtained from up to 2400m in Yemen (Brooks et al., 1987).

In the last 25 years it has dramatically broken out from the south west. The first records in other regions were; Dhofar, June 1975 (breeding 1987); Kuwait 1978; Eastern Province 1980, (breeding 1984); Tabuk 1980; Bahrain 1983; Qatar 1985 (breeding the same year); northern Oman 1987, UAE 1988 and Masirah Island, Oman 1992. However there is one old and enigmatic record of a specimen in a Doha museum, Qatar labelled 1970, For want of more information this specimen was always dismissed as an error or an escapee but, with hindsight, it could easily have been the first bird to be found outside of the south west. The expansion of the species range can be clearly seen from the time period maps [below]. Today in Arabia they are still quite scarce on the eastern and northern periphery but they are numerous and widespread on irrigated/inhabited areas of central Arabia. Beyond Arabian borders they have been recorded in northern Egypt, Israel and Jordan (Snow & Perrins, 1998).

One major catalyst to their expansion is the widespread availability of the irrigated agriculture which has provided many new areas of optimum habitat but also the bridges and stepping stones by which even a short distance migrant can move on to new areas. (See map where central pivot irrigation has been noted during recent ABBA Surveys). In central Arabia and the recently colonised areas it is more or less commensal with man's environment; primarily being a farmland bird, frequenting stubble, farm buildings, cattle areas and straw and fodder stacks. It is not found in the open desert or in wadis in these new areas. Although it is widely present in arid lands it seems to prefer to have water nearby and will readily drink at any puddle and often small parties may congregate beside water. Namaqua Doves are mainly granivorous but their diet, which is not well known, can include insects (Snow & Perrins, 1998). In Arabia, it is most often seen quietly feeding on the ground at farms and near animals and presumably takes a variety of seeds and cultivated grains. It may be found amicably feeding with any of the Streptopelia doves.

Wherever the population becomes established, it appears to be resident but at least in the initial stages of colonisation of new areas occurrence is erratic and it is largely absent in the winter months. It is dispersive, but may only migrate over short distances and this might explain why it has not established itself on some outlying places such as Socotra or the isolated Empty Quarter town of Sharawrah. On the other hand it has now turned up almost annually on remote Das Island in the middle of the Arabian Gulf. Iran next stop? It seems quite possible that part of the population might regularly migrate, for example, some might return to the south west in the winter. Some might even go to Africa as it has been recorded on board a ship in the Red Sea during September (Elliot & Monk, 1952). The Arabian population is difficult to estimate. It probably now totals at least 36,000 pairs; comprising possibly 500 pairs in the Eastern Province, 500 pairs in the Arabian Gulf states and the whole of Oman, 10,000 pairs in central and northern Arabia and 25,000 pairs in western Saudi Arabia and Yemen (allowing for about 50 half degree atlas squares holding an average of 500 pairs each). The population could be higher than this as even in areas where they are not common, such as the Eastern Province, gatherings of 65 or more at Dammam and 50 pairs estimated in the Harad area have been reported (Bundy et al., 1989), indicating potentially high local populations.

Pairs appear to share nesting responsibilities. In Arabia the male is involved in collecting nesting material and as well as incubating. The species' nesting habits differs in a number of ways from the other doves of Arabia. For example, it makes a well made nest of twigs and rootlets, lined with softer material, including grasses and the nest has a shallow cup. It lays two eggs (like the other doves) but they are creamy yellow, not white. Breeding observations from Arabia show that the nest is placed low down, sometimes only 50 cm above ground level but can be up to about 1.5 m, usually in a bush. However there is no apparent preference for a nest site and it may nest in an acacia or citrus bush, a palm or even an annual plant. Once it nested in a bush over water and nests have been found on brush wood, bales and, precariously, on a date palm frond. The breeding season in the south west is quite extensive. Eggs and nestlings have been recorded from March to September. The season also starts with eggs in March in central Arabia but there are no eggs or nestlings reported later than June. Of the records available, breeding is slightly later in the Eastern Province and the Arabian Gulf region, with eggs from May to August. There are insufficient records from the Tabuk and Dhofar areas to work out when they breed but juveniles have been recorded at those sites in May and August respectively.

Today in the UAE this species has been found from extreme western Abu Dhabi, around all the major cities, isolated oil camps and north to Ras al-Khaimah, east of the Hajar mountain 'divide' at Dibba on the Gulf of Oman coast, in irrigated areas, and offshore on Das. No other breeding has been confirmed since July 1997, but it probably does so in several areas. The projected UAE population is probably about 8 pairs. Although still a rare bird in the UAE, it is not thought to be subject to any threat or to be of particular conservation concern.

This article draws upon records collected by the ABBA Project which includes records from a large number of individual observers and a survey of published material. I am grateful to Simon Aspinall and Peter Hellyer for up to date information on the status of the species in the UAE and to David Sargeant, the Oman Bird Recorder, and the Oman Birds Records Committee for information on recent records from Oman. Further information on the ABBA project is available from the author.