Food
Seeds of various plants, native fruits and berries.
Voice
A double-noted, cheery, 'cookaw-cookor, 'cookaw-cookor' the first part being higher and clearer the second lower and fading. Also a long, bubbling, laughing, descending, 'cook-aw-cookawcookawcookaw-...'.
Bar-shouldered Dove (Geopelia humeralis) [XC439587]
by Marc Anderson from Twelve Mile Lagoon, Lakefield National Park, Queensland, Australia (call, song)
Bar-shouldered Dove (Geopelia humeralis) [XC664953]
by James Lambert from Charles Darwin University, Darwin Municipality, Northern Territory, Australia (song)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Usually August - March, but sometimes in other months.
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Nest
A platform composed of twigs and grass, in a low tree or bush in mangroves or scrub.
Eggs (Guide)
2; smooth, glossy, white; oval; about 28 x 21 mm. Incubation: 14 - 16 days; by both sexes.
Young
Semi-altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 21 days.
Subspecies
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
humeralis (Temminck., 1821) - Northern and eastern Australia.
headlandi Mathews, 1913 - North-central western Australia (Pilbara region).
gregalis Bangs & Peters, JL, 1926 - Southern New Guinea.
inexpectata Mathews, 1912 - Northern Australia, Cape York Pen.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9