Ruddy ground dove | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
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 (Columbina talpacoti) is a small New World tropical dove. It is a resident breeder from Mexico south to Brazil, Peru 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.
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.
Ruddy ground doves feed mainly on seeds, but also sometimes on snails and small insects. [3] 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.
It measures 12–18 cm (4.7–7.1 in) in length and weighs about 35–56 g (1.2–2.0 oz). The male, with reddish brown feathers, dominant color on the adult's body, in contrast to the head, bluish gray. The female is all brown. In both sexes, on the wing there are a series of black spots on the feathers. The chicks come out with traces of the plumage of each sex.
Subspecies
It has 4 subspecies, only one of which occurs in Brazil:
The couple maintains a nest territory, keeping other doves close at hand. The male has a monotonous chant , of two low and fast calls, repeated continuously for several seconds. The nests are small bowls of branches and sticks, made between vines or branches, tightly closed by the branches around them. Laying of 2 eggs, hatched by the couple between 11 and 13 days. The chicks leave the nest at most 2 weeks old. The couple, sometimes two days later, already start a new litter, when the environmental conditions allow. The nests are built in low and tall trees and sometimes in banana clusters or in gutters of the houses and on the roofs.
Adapts to artificial environments created by human action. Lives in open areas; the deforestation facilitated its expansion, especially in the areas formed to pasture or grain farming. They entered the big cities in the southeast and midwest regions of Brazil.
Very aggressive with each other, although they can form groups, they compete for food and defend territories using one of the wings to strike hard at the opponent. The males are more bellicose. In disputes or when they sunbathe, lying on their side on the ground and with the wing stretched upwards, they show the large area of black feathers under the wing.
Bird watchers in the south-central part of the United States have been observing a “replacement” of this species by another pigeon, Zenaida auriculata , also known as dove-of-band, or amargosinha eared dove. The latter species has been conquering the urban environment more and more effectively and is apparently competing with the dove, which is already less frequent than the flock pigeon in most cities in the interior of São Paulo.
In any case, this friendly and even naive species is far from disappearing from the backyards of our houses and from the squares and gardens of our cities, even if they are in large buildings. [4]
The common ground dove is a small bird that inhabits the southern United States, parts of Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. It is considered to be the smallest dove that inhabits the United States. As its name suggests, the bird spends the majority of its time on the ground walking but still has the ability to fly.
The pale-breasted spinetail is a passerine bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad, and in every mainland South American country except Chile and Ecuador.
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The white-tipped dove is a large New World tropical dove. Its scientific name commemorates the French naturalists Jules and Edouard Verreaux.
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The chestnut woodpecker a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found on Trinidad and in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
The stripe-breasted spinetail is a passerine bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Colombia, Trinidad, Tobago, and Venezuela.
The pearl kite is a very small raptor found in open savanna habitat adjacent to deciduous woodland. It is the only member of the genus Gampsonyx. The scientific name commemorates the English naturalist William Swainson.
The white-throated spadebill is a tiny passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It lives in the tropical Americas.
The eared dove is a New World dove. It is a resident breeder throughout South America from Colombia to southern Argentina and Chile, and on the offshore islands from the Grenadines southwards. It may be a relatively recent colonist of Tobago and Trinidad. It appears to be partially migratory, its movements driven by food supplies.
The ruddy pigeon is a largish pigeon which breeds from Costa Rica south to western Ecuador, Bolivia, and central Brazil. It belongs to a clade of small and rather plain species of Patagioenas with characteristic calls that constitute the subgenus Oenoenas. Like the other New World pigeons, it was formerly united with their Old World relatives in Columba, but today the New World genus Patagioenas is recognized as distinct again.
The blue ground dove is a small New World tropical dove. It is a resident breeder from southeastern Mexico to northwestern Peru and northern Argentina, and on Trinidad in the Caribbean.
The Ecuadorian ground dove is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in Ecuador and Peru.
The blue-eyed ground dove is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to the Cerrado region of Brazil.
The Picui ground dove or Picui dove is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.
The scaled dove, also known as scaly dove, Ridgway's dove, mottled dove, and South American zebra dove, is found in Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Colombia, French Guiana, Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, and heavily degraded former forest.
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The ruddy spinetail is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela, and possibly Guyana.
Columbina is a genus of small doves in the family Columbidae that live in the New World. They range from the southern United States through Central America and much of South America. Columbina doves are normally found in pairs or small flocks and generally occur in open country. They have maroon irides and pinkish legs. In flight, some species show a distinctive flash of rufous in the wings, while others show black-and-white wing-patterns.