We have quite a number of these Spotted Doves here. I had taken the picture seen at the bottom of the collage, about 4-5 years ago. When I took a recent picture [top one] and compared, just for the sake of it, I noticed that the eye colour were different. Why is the eye of the bird red in my recent picture on top and not in the other one?
This probably indicates different ages. In the African collared-dove, the young have yellow-ish eyes which are red when they are an adult. This is true for other species as well.
Yep, the lower bird is a fresh juvenile only recently fledged - you can tell by the swollen bill base.
Resin
Thanks Resin and Chillybean. I learnt a bit today. I feel good because I was able to notice this by chance! So the mature ones will have red pigmentation in the eyeball. What about their legs? Will they look distinctive?
