Namaqua dove is a tiny sparrow-sized pigeon, typically 22 cm in length with a 28–33 cm wingspan, and weighing 40g. It has a very long black tapered tail. The plumage is mostly grey apart from a white belly, and chestnut primary feathers which are visible in flight. The adult male has a yellow and red beak and a black face, throat and breast. The adult female lacks the black and has a red-based grey bill. Young birds are dark blotched on the wings and shoulders, and otherwise resemble the females. The song is a quiet, short, double hoo, higher on the longer second note kuh-whooo, mournful and frequently repeated.
Diet: The food is almost exclusively minute seeds, such as those of grasses, sedges and weeds.
Habitat and Reproduction: It builds a stick nest in a bush, and lays two white eggs, which are incubated for 16 days in typical pigeon fashion. The parents divide the responsibility ffor this, the female usually doing so at night and in the early morning, the male from mid morning till late afternoon.