From Opus

Columbina passerina

Photo by jpbirdman

[edit] Identification

L. 17cm
Wt. 32g (1oz)

• Tiny
• Short-tailed
• Grey-brown back and upperwings
• Black spotting on wing coverts
• Scaly appearance on breast and head
• Centrally brown tail with black edges and white corners
• Orange bill tipped black

Male

• Pink head, neck and breast
• Pink, unscaled belly
• Blue nape
  

Female & Immature

• Light grey where male is pink
• Grey nape

[edit] Flight

In flight, the underwings show extensive chestnut colouration. Flight is fast and direct, with regular beats and an occasional sharp flick of the wings that are characteristic of pigeons in general.

[edit] Distribution

It is a resident breeder from Bermuda, through the southmost USA, Mexico and the Caribbean, to South America, and is found as far south as northern Brazil.

[edit] Taxonomy

A small New World tropical dove.

Columba passerina Linnaeus, 1758, South Carolina, USA. Eighteen subspecies.

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

• C. p. passerina : Coastal south-eastern US (South Carolina to Florida and south-eastern Texas)
• C. p. pallescens: Arid south-western US to Guatemala and Belize
• C. p. socorroensis: Socorro Island (Revillagigedo Islands off western Mexico)
• C. p. neglecta: Honduras to Costa Rica and Panama
• C. p. bahamensis: Bermuda and Bahamas (except Inagua Island)
• C. p. exigua: Great Inagua Island (southern Bahamas) and Mona Island (Puerto Rico)
• C. p. insularis: Cuba, Isle of Pines, Cayman Islands, Hispaniola and adjacent islands
• C. p. jamaicensis: Jamaica
• C. p. navassae: Navassa Island (off south-western Hispaniola)
• C. p. portoricensis: Puerto Rico, Mona, Culebra and [[Virgin Islands (except St. Croix)
• C. p. nigrirostris: St. Croix and northern Lesser Antilles
• C. p. trochila: Martinique (Lesser Antilles)
• C. p. antillarum: Southern Lesser Antilles (St. Lucia and Barbados to Grenada)
• C. p. albivitta: Northern Colombia, northern Venezuela, Netherlands Antilles and Trinidad
• C. p. parvula: Central Colombia (upper Magdalena Valley)
• C. p. nana: Western Colombia (Cauca Valley and arid upper Dagua Valley)
• C. p. quitensis: Central Ecuador (Río Guaillabamba to Riobamba)
• C. p. griseola: Extreme southern Venezuela to the Guianas and eastern Brazil

[edit] Habitat

Inhabits scrub and other open country.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Breeding

It builds a flimsy stick nest in a tree and lays two white eggs.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.

• List of references

[edit] External Links