Status of the Oriental Turtle Dove in Singapore

With three confirmed records of the Oriental Turtle Dove in Singapore over the last 6 years, and clear signs pointing to captive provenance for the latter two records, the Singapore Bird Records Committee reviewed the status of this species in Singapore.

Introduction Since Singapore’s first confirmed occurrence of an Oriental Turtle Dove Streptopelia orientalis in 2018, there have been three subsequent records of two distinct individuals in 2023 and 2024 respectively. The species is currently included in the Singapore Bird Checklist as a vagrant, based on the assessment of the initial record by Sin & Ng (2021). The latest record at Labrador Park prompted the Singapore Bird Records Committee (SBRC) to review all past Oriental Turtle Dove records in Singapore to clarify the species’s status in the face of new evidence. We present our results here. Background There have been four records of this species in Singapore, two of which are related to the same bird, as listed in the table below. Date (number of individuals) Location Remarks 28 Nov 2018 (1) Sisters’ Islands 8 Jan 2023 (1) and 4 Feb 2023 (1) Rower’s Bay Park and Lim Chu Kang Lane 3 Two records of the same bird 27–30 Jan 2024 (1) Labrador Park Of the five subspecies of Oriental Turtle Dove, two are partially migratory, with the northern populations of subspecies meena and orientalis migrating south during the winter; this table lists all the subspecies, based on IOC 14.1: Taxon Range Notes Streptopelia orientalis orientalis Central Siberia to Japan, China, the eastern Himalayas and Taiwan; northern populations wintering to central Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam Migratory, with vagrants recorded in Europe (but see below). S. o. meena Southwest Siberia to Iran and the central Himalayas; wintering in rest of Indian Subcontinent Migratory, with vagrants recorded in Europe and Middle East (but see below). This subspecies is sometimes referred to as “Rufous Turtle Dove”. S. o. stimpsoni Ryukyu Islands (Japan) Unlikely to occur in Singapore given its highly sedentary nature. Not distinguishable from orientalis in the field. S. o. erythrocephala Central and southern India Unlikely to occur in Singapore given its highly sedentary nature. S. o. agricola Northeast India, Myanmar and northern Thailand to south-central China Unlikely to occur in Singapore given its highly sedentary nature. Like many Asian migrants, vagrancy to Europe is established. A feral population of subspecies orientalis in Czechia which originated from a large release of captive birds may, however, throw doubt on some recent records of that taxon in western Europe (Berka & Horal, 2023). There are several records from the United Kingdom, the vast majority of which are juvenile or subadult birds (Naylor, 2024). Ship assistance is a phenomenon widely known to occur in birds but is poorly characterised, and little information is available on the spatial characteristics and species breakdown of ship-assisted birds in the region. It is likely quite frequent for many migratory birds to take short breaks on ships before they arrive in their wintering grounds, including species that are regularly recorded as migrants in Singapore, like the Brown Shrike Lanius cristatus and Eastern Yellow Wagtail Motacilla tschutschensis in this Facebook post. We specifically examined the ship-assistance potential in the Oriental Turtle Dove, as discussed here and in the Assessment section. There are also several records of the Oriental Turtle Dove in North America, many of which are believed to be ship-assisted birds (Howell et al., 2014). These are discussed more extensively in the Assessment. One record from Cocos (Keeling) Islands in March 2014 was accepted by the BirdLife Australia Rarities Committee (BARC) as a wild vagrant (BARC, 2014). although the geography raises the strong possibility of ship-assistance as well. Within the region, as far as we are aware, the only records within the Malay Peninsula are from Singapore. Overview of records The Sisters’ Island bird was recorded on 28 Nov 2018 by Camphora Pte Ltd/Lim Kim Seng and was published in Feb 2020 (Lim, 2020). The grey fringes to the outer coverts and grey rump, and rufous edging to inner coverts narrower than in the resident erythrocephala and agricola, shown in the photograph available online, suggest the identification as an orientalis Oriental Turtle Dove. The strongly-contrasting covert fringes and fully developed neck-patch were consistent with an adult bird. The Rower’s Bay/Neo Tiew bird was sighted twice, on 8 Jan at Rower’s Bay Park, by ksong, and 4 Feb 2023 at Lim Chu Kang Lane 3, by Lee Hua Keong. The similar forehead abrasion evident in both sightings led our committee to consider these records related. Like the previous record, the covert pattern suggested this bird belonged to the orientalis race as well, with wide covert fringes and a fully developed neck-patch pointing to an adult bird. Oriental Turtle Dove at Rower's Bay Park on 8 Jan 2023. The uneven wear across the coverts is quite obvious here, as is the forehead abrasion. Most recently, the Labrador Park bird was sighted on 27 Jan 2024 by Elijah Chua and remained until 30 Jan. This record was also assigned to an adult orientalis...