Ruddy ground dove

The ruddy ground dove (Columbina talpacoti) is a small New World tropical dove. It is a resident breeder from Mexico south to Peru, Brazil and Paraguay, and northern Argentina, and on Trinidad and Tobago. Individual birds can sometimes be seen in the southwestern USA, from southern Texas to southernmost California, primarily during winter.

Ruddy ground dove

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Columbiformes
Family: Columbidae
Genus: Columbina
Species:
C. talpacoti
Binomial name
Columbina talpacoti
(Temminck, 1810)

The ruddy ground dove is very common in scrub and other open country, including cultivated land and urban centers, where it can be seen feeding on grain alongside feral pigeons. It builds a solid but sparsely lined cup-shaped stick nest in a tree and lays two white eggs. Incubation is 12–13 days with another 12–14 days to fledging. There may be a second or third brood. Chick mortality through predation and falls from the nest is high.[2]

Its flight is fast and direct, with the regular beats and occasional sharp flick of the wings which are characteristic of pigeons in general.

Ruddy ground doves are small short-tailed pigeons, 17 cm (6.7 in) long with a weight normally about 47 g (1.7 oz). Adult males have a pale grey head and neck, and rich rufous upperparts, black-spotted on the wing coverts. The underparts are paler brown, the tail is edged black, and the underwings are cinnamon and black. The female is grey-brown rather than rufous, and has less contrast between head and body than the male.

The subspecies C. t. rufipennis of Central America, Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago shows much more cinnamon on the underwing than the nominate C. t. talpacoti.

Ruddy ground doves feed mainly on seeds. Their call is a soft cooing cur-WOO.

This species can be quite approachable. Males frequently threaten each other by jumping and raising a wing, and brief confrontations may ensue.

  • Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
  • On the ground. - Belize City, Fort George Area.
  • Next to a larger White-winged Dove. - Belize City, Fort George Area.

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Columbina talpacoti". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Cf. José Felipe Monteiro Pereira, Aves e Pássaros Comuns do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro: Technical Books, 2008, ISBN 978-85-61368-00-5, page 59
  • Birds of Venezuela by Hilty, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
  • ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd ed.). Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
  • Stiles and Skutch, A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica ISBN 0-8014-9600-4
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