Picui Ground Dove

Columbina picui

Photo by Juan Tassara

Identification

It is greyish-brown above and the male has a greyer crown than the female. There is a dark blue line across the wing coverts and a white band on the closed wing. In flight, the wing pattern is very distinctive being pale grey with a white panel then black primaries.

Adult male: The forehead is pale grey, grading to bluish-grey on the top of the head and the nape. The back of the nack and mantle are greyish-brown. Scapulars, tertials, inner wing -coverts, back, rump and uppertail-coverts are greyish-brown. The outer wing-coverts are all white, appearing as a broad white shoulder when the wing is folded and as a wing-bar when in flight. The white contrasts with the blackish-brown secondaries and primaries. The inner lesser wing-coverts have a bluish-purple diagonal stripe and the tertials have a single subterminal stripe on the outerweb. The inner two pairs of rectrices are greyish-brown with darker tips and the outer rectricies are white; Picui Ground Doves have a striking tail pattern. The chin and throat are white. The face, sides of the neck and the breast are pale vinous-pink grading to white on the belly and the undertail-coverts. The undertail is white. The under-side of the flight feathers are dull brown. The iris is grey and there is a narrow grey eye-ring. The bill is black. Legs and feet are reddish-pink.

Adult female: Famales are generally more fawn grey-brown above and paler fawn-brown below with no vinous wash. The forehead is fawn-brown grading to a rather more greyish-fawn-brown on the back of the neck, mantle and back to inner rectrices. The outer rectricies are darker greyish-brown. Tertials and inner wingcoverts are fawn-brown grading to more greyish-white outer wing -coverts (covert and tertial markings identical to those in male). The inner secondaries are dull ashy-brown grading to blackish-brown on the outer secondaries and primaries. The chin and throat are whitish grading to fawn-brown on the neck and breast, and to white on the belly and undertail-coverts.

Juvenile: Considerabley duller with rather more buff hue overall. The upperparts are generally fringed buff and the wing-coverts and breast are reddish-buff or buff at the center.

Distribution

The Picui Ground-dove is distributed from north-east Brazil to central Argentina and westwards to the Andes with a disjunct population in central Chile.

Habitat

It is found in drier habitats such as savannah as well as gardens and agricultural areas.

Behaviour

It feeds on seeds.