The Bar-shouldered Dove ranges across northern and eastern Australia and southern New Guinea. It searches for seeds in short grass and is marked by a bronze patch on the hindneck.
Adults have blue-gray heads and necks, a reddish-bronze patch on the hindneck, and a pinkish breast bar. Young birds lack the hindneck patch, and the northern subspecies hedlandi is lighter.
It feeds on the ground in short grass near cover, eating seeds of grasses, herbs, and sedges as well as rhizomes. It needs to drink through the day and visits water regularly.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.