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Maharashtra’s Current Oriental Turtle Dove Trend Was Estimated at −4.3% per Year

Oriental Turtle Dove perched on a mossy branch in Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary, India
Conservation · Population & status

The 2025 interim update from State of India’s Birds reported revised trend estimates for the oriental turtle dove (Streptopelia orientalis) in India, including a separate current annual estimate for Maharashtra. The updated numerical values were released on 6 May 2026.

For Maharashtra, the current annual trend was estimated at −4.3% per year and clearly supported a recent decline. A long-term numerical trend was not available for Maharashtra because the data were insufficient. The species page still displays the carried-over 2023 categories Decline for the current trend and Insufficient Data for the long-term trend.

For India as a whole, the long-term numerical estimate was −5%, while the current annual estimate was +0.84% per year. Uncertainty around both was too broad to establish a clear national increase or decline. The species page still carries the 2023 category Trend Inconclusive for both national trends.

The estimated Indian distribution range was 743,092 km², compared with 111,326 km² in Maharashtra. State of India’s Birds describes the oriental turtle dove as a within-India migrant, non-specialist and non-endemic, and continues to show it at Low conservation priority.

The interim release revised numerical distribution and trend estimates for 942 previously assessed Indian bird species using approximately 48 million eBird observations submitted through 31 May 2025. The trend values describe change in a reporting-based abundance index rather than direct counts of individual birds. The assessment categories themselves were not recalculated in this update.

Sources and image credit

  1. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2026). State of India’s Birds: Range, trends, and conservation status (Version 2) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20036633Primary 2026 dataset release created 6 May 2026. Version 2 updated numerical distribution range size, long-term trend and current annual trend values for 942 previously evaluated species using approximately 48 million eBird observations through 31 May 2025; the assessment categories were unchanged.
  2. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2025). State of India’s Birds factsheet: Oriental Turtle Dove (Streptopelia orientalis), Maharashtra.Maharashtra page displaying the 2025 update: Maharashtra current annual trend −4.29% (−6.35 to −2.22), retained current category Decline, long-term category Insufficient Data, India-wide long-term estimate −5.01% (−23.73 to +16.82), India-wide current annual estimate +0.84% (−0.91 to +2.59), Indian range 743,092 km² and Maharashtra range 111,326 km².
  3. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2025). State of India’s Birds factsheet: Oriental Turtle Dove (Streptopelia orientalis), India.National page retaining Trend Inconclusive for both long-term and current annual trends; it also lists the India-wide 2025 numerical estimates and Low conservation priority.

Image: Tisha Mukherjee / Wikimedia Commons — oriental turtle dove in Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary, West Bengal, India, 15 August 2026; cropped to 16:9. Representative image for this story; not presented as an animal or scene from the reported study or event. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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