In the second half of the 20th century, the common turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur – fokhtak or mushicha in Tajik) was a numerous species in Tajikistan due to the abundance of food resources. The turtle dove was declared “Bird of the Year – 2024” and in the same year was included in the third edition of the Red Book of Tajikistan.
The number of common turtle doves in the country varied in different years up to several tens of thousands of individuals. Now it is rarely encountered, as single individuals.
Abduvali Safarov, a farmer from the Jomi district of Khatlon region, says that in recent years the turtle dove has been seen less and less in the fields. According to him, it often nested in gardens near populated areas with mulberry, poplar and various fruit tree plantings. The turtle dove picked up seeds and grains from the ground, without touching the ears or inflorescences.
“This species of turtledove was only beneficial for farmers. The birds helped us by pecking weed seeds, among other things,” says Abduvali Safarov.
In his opinion, the disappearance of the turtle dove may have been influenced by the use of pesticides and the emergence of new seeds. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the work of breeders in Tajikistan practically ceased, and farmers began to use seeds imported from other countries.
Along with this, pesticides, also imported from abroad, began to be used in land cultivation.
“It is also possible that the salinization of the land and its unsuitability for growing grain has caused the food supply for the turtle dove to shrink and it has stopped flying to our region,” added Abduvali Safarov.
According to Garibmamad Garibmamadov, a senior researcher at the Institute of Zoology and Parasitology of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan (NAST), and a candidate of biological sciences, the common turtle dove was previously a common nesting species throughout Tajikistan.
The expert also explained the difference between the little turtle dove, which is called “musicha” in Tajikistan, and the common turtle dove.
Garibmamad Garibmamadov noted that there are 18 species of turtle doves. Their habitat is very wide: turtle doves are common in Europe, Asia, North Africa and Australia.
Turtle doves, depending on the species, differ from each other in size, body type, color, feeding method and habitat.
For example, the common turtle dove differs from the ringed turtle dove ( Streptopelia decaocto ) and the little turtle dove by its variegated back and two-colored tail on top.
“The common turtle dove differs from the large turtle dove, which is similar in size, in the coloring of its plumage on its back and the upper wing coverts,” says the ornithologist.
In addition, the common turtle dove is a migratory bird, but the lesser turtle dove (musicha) is not.
During the autumn migration, the common turtle dove gathers in small flocks of 10 to 18 individuals and was found everywhere, especially when the cereal harvest was ripening.
“This is not the case now. It means that changes have occurred in nature, and these birds have disappeared,” says Garibmamad Garibmamadov.
During the 2017 expedition, individual nesting pairs of common turtle doves were encountered only in the south of the country, in the floodplain of the Surkhob River.
According to Garibmamad Garibmamadov, in 2023, during an expedition to count the number of birds, they found no more than 4-6 individuals on the territory of the Tigrovaya Balki Nature Reserve.
“The common turtle dove has practically disappeared from all typical biotopes of the plain and foothill zones of Tajikistan,” says Garibmamad Garibmamadov.
The traditional pre-sowing treatment of grain with highly toxic pesticides, which leads to the poisoning of many birds, obviously had a negative effect. A possible factor, according to scientists, was the impact of droughts, which have become more frequent in recent decades in the wintering areas of turtle doves in Africa, as well as hunting for them there.
Experts point out that this situation clearly demonstrates the need to take urgent measures to protect this species. Especially since it has not yet been possible to accurately determine the causes of the observed catastrophe.
Already listed in the Red Book
Garibmamad Garibmamadov believes that the salvation of this species largely depends on the organization of protection at the nesting sites of the species in Tajikistan, where the main part of its range is located.
Currently, the common turtle dove is listed in the third edition of the Red Book of the Republic of Tajikistan with the status of “Critically Endangered” (CR), and is also included in the IUCN Red List as a vulnerable species (VU).
The expert added that in the recent past, with the exception of the Eastern Pamirs, the common turtle dove inhabited almost the entire remaining territory of Tajikistan. The modern scattered range of the species covers the plain and foothill zones of the republic.
According to him, the common turtle dove inhabited foothills and valleys with developed woody vegetation, gardens, parks, mountain slopes with mixed woody-shrubby vegetation. In the valleys, this bird settles in orchards and forest belts.
Garibmamad Garibmamadov noted that this is a migratory bird that winters in the central regions of Africa and in the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula.
The spring migration takes place from early April to early May. Upon arrival, the pairs immediately begin nesting. Typical nesting biotopes are floodplain tugai thickets of sea buckthorn, turanga, barberry and other tree species and parks. These birds begin to reproduce in early May. The clutch consists of two eggs and only one clutch is laid per year. The chicks hatch in July.
However, if the nest is lost and the chicks die, the female can lay a second clutch. The turtle dove is an exclusively granivorous bird. Its diet includes seeds of cereals, grains and other plants. The common turtle dove collects food on the ground.
In August, before migration, the birds gather in flocks in fields with harvested grain crops. The flight occurs in late September – early October.
According to the specialist, the development of typical habitats in the plain and foothill zones and illegal shooting at wintering sites are the main reasons for the decline in the species’ numbers.
The disappearance of the common turtle dove in many characteristic habitats may also be associated with the spread of the collared turtle dove in Tajikistan, which entered into strong competition with it.
Competition with “brothers”
Ornithologists suggest that the limiting factors have not been precisely determined.
In their opinion, the most likely causes are the deterioration of the ecological situation in wintering areas, the death of birds from poisoning by highly toxic pesticides used in agriculture, hunting pressure and interspecies competition.
According to Garibmamad Garibmamadov, “it is logical to assume that the reason for the deep depression in the numbers of the common turtle dove should be sought in the loss of quality habitats in the territory of migration and wintering.” Negative changes have long been noted for this species in wintering areas, where the area of suitable habitats, the availability of food resources and water sources are reduced.
“Apparently, the role of increasing competition from the collared dove in a significant part of the shared habitat should also be assessed,” says Garibmamad Garibmamadov.
It suggests that the competitiveness of each species is determined by the extent to which environmental conditions correspond to the set of ecological needs of the species from the most significant to the least significant.
The homeland of the collared dove is considered to be Southwest and South Asia. This species was once widespread in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. In the 40-50s of the 20th century, collared doves almost disappeared everywhere, the reasons for which are not clear.
In the 1970s, the collared dove again spread from the south to the west, as a result of which its primary range was restored. Later, the collared dove was first noted in the mid-1990s in Khujand, and then in Badakhshan.
“In the summer of 2006, we observed nesting collared doves for the first time in the vicinity of Dushanbe,” the expert said.
As observations have shown, this species has not only begun to settle and nest, but has also become a sedentary bird species in Tajikistan, i.e. it has begun to be encountered all year round.
“The increase in the number of collared doves in various anthropogenic landscapes, especially in fruit and tree plantations, has led to the fact that in recent years it has gradually begun to displace another closely related species, the common turtle dove, from this landscape,” says Garibmamad Garibmamadov.
Climate change and high-rise construction
Scientists believe that as a result of urbanization of territories, new semi-natural biotopes are formed. Moreover, some of them are favorable for some bird species and unattractive for other species that lived there before.
According to Faridun Rakhimov, a research fellow at the Institute of Zoology and Parasitology of the National Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation, all this leads to changes in the structure of bird communities: changes in species composition, numbers, and ecological structure.
At the same time, a change in behavior is observed. For example, earlier in the vicinity of two-, three-, and four-story buildings, there were often areas overgrown with various, mainly fruit and ornamental trees, shrubs, and abandoned vegetable plots.
This, together with other factors (availability of food in the form of fruits and seeds) created favorable conditions for some bird species. The common turtle dove, blackbird, Turkestan long-tailed flycatcher, green warbler, oriole, carrion crow, gray crow, rook, common jackdaw, etc. began to settle here willingly.
In the attics of the above-mentioned houses, large groups of rock pigeons nested, and under the eaves, a tree sparrow and a black swift. Over the past decade, these houses have been intensively demolished and multi-story buildings have begun to be built in their place.
As a result, the vegetable plots around the houses disappeared. Instead, well-kept lawns appeared, often without shrubs, and the multi-story buildings themselves were without attics.
“As a result, birds that previously nested and lived in biotopes left their habitats and flew to more suitable places,” said Faridun Rakhimov.
What is the “Bird of the Year”?
In many countries of the world, including Tajikistan, the annual Bird of the Year competition is aimed at informing and, above all, sending a certain message to the state and the public on the conservation of rare and endangered bird species. As the head of the Union for Nature Conservation and Biodiversity of Tajikistan Nurali Rakhimov told CABAR.asia, the Union for Nature Conservation and Biodiversity of Tajikistan, in cooperation with the Institute of Zoology and Parasitology of the National Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation, with the support of the International Nature Conservation Organization NABU of Germany, annually holds the Bird of the Year campaign.
The Bird of the Year campaign in Tajikistan was launched in 2008 and was held annually in subsequent years.
“The Bird of the Year campaign is being held with the aim of attracting the attention of a wide range of the population to the problems of protecting a certain species of bird,” says Nurali Rakhimov.
According to him, in November-December of each year, at the initiative of the Union for the Protection of Nature and Biodiversity of Tajikistan, a competition is announced to determine the nominee for “Bird of the Year”. Over the past 10 years, the birds of the year have been the chukar, eagle owl, roller, Tajik pheasant, white stork, paradise flycatcher, Tibetan snowcock, hoopoe, shahin, barn swallow and golden eagle.
The “Bird of the Year” campaign includes the implementation of a set of events aimed at activating the popularization of environmental knowledge throughout the year, which consist of organizing conferences, seminars, round tables among students and teaching staff of higher education institutions, students of secondary schools, etc.
Field meetings are also organised with local communities that live within the range of the Bird of the Year nominee and may have a potential impact on its key habitats.
As part of the Bird of the Year campaign, expeditions are also organized to assess the population status of the nominee and other bird species.
The importance of security measures
The observations of specialists from the International Ornithological Organization, which unites about two hundred ornithologists from different countries, also indicate that the common turtle dove is on the verge of extinction.
Doctor of Biological Sciences, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, zoologist, Abdusattor Saidov emphasized that, according to observations by scientists from the International Union of Ornithologists, in recent years the number of this species has catastrophically decreased; it has disappeared in most of the range where it was previously found.
According to the specialist, a sharp reduction in the number of the common turtle dove within its global range occurred starting in the 90s of the last century. Thus, according to ornithologists’ estimates, in some areas of the range, the population of the common turtle dove has decreased almost 100 times.
Many ornithologists cannot find an exact answer to such a sharp decline in the species. However, habitat degradation of species is considered a global threat. This also applies to the common turtle dove within its general range.
“The probable reasons for the rapid decline in the number of common turtle doves are the transformation of the species’ typical habitats under the influence of human impact, poaching, and possibly climate change,” Abdusattor Saidov told CABAR.asia.
Other factors are not excluded. Dynamic processes take place in ecosystems. During the period of its evolutionary development, each species experiences population waves in the direction of a decrease or increase in numbers.
“This is natural, however, the catastrophic decline of the common turtle dove as a globally threatened species is a cause for acute concern,” noted Abdusattor Saidov.
A number of scientists from European countries indicate that in certain areas of the range, hunting, both legal and illegal, is a strong factor in the reduction of the species’ population.
According to scientists, poachers kill about 600,000 turtle doves annually in the Mediterranean alone, primarily in Libya, Syria and Greece. In addition, according to various sources, hunters legally kill about 2 million turtle doves, mainly in Spain, Greece and Italy.
“Luckily, the issue of poaching of the common turtle dove in Tajikistan is excluded. Tajiks have long treated the little and common turtle doves (musicha and fokhtak) with special respect. According to a long-standing tradition, killing these birds is considered a great sin,” says Abdusattor Saidov.
The specialist emphasized that the preservation of any threatened species requires great efforts to preserve the integrity of its general range.
Scientists agree that it is probably time to take effective measures to preserve the species’ natural habitats.
“Along with this, it is necessary to widely promote the protection of the common turtle dove as a rare bird, as well as to thoroughly study the distribution areas and biological characteristics of this species,” says Abdusattor Saidov.
https://cabar.asia/ru/ptitsa-goda-tadzhikistana-srochno-nuzhdaetsya-v-zashhite
