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==Behaviour== | ==Behaviour== | ||
==External Links== | ==External Links== | ||
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[[Category:Birds]] | [[Category:Birds]] |
Revision as of 22:39, 20 August 2007
- Columbina passerina
Identification
Common Ground Doves are tiny short-tailed pigeons at 17cm. Their weight is normally about 32g (1oz). Adult birds have grey-brown back and upperwing plumage, with black spotting on their wing coverts. They have a scaly appearance to the breast and head. The tail is brown centrally, with black edges and white corners. The bill is orange, tipped black. In flight, the underwings show extensive chestnut colouration.
The adult male has a pink head, neck and breast, and a pink unscaled belly. The nape is blue. The female and juvenile are light grey where the male is pink, and have grey napes.
Distribution
The Common Ground Dove (Columbina passerina) is a small New World tropical dove. 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.
Taxonomy
Common ground dove Columbina passerina
SUBFAMILY Columbinae
Columba passerina Linnaeus, 1758, South Carolina, USA. Eighteen subspecies.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Tobacco dove; French: Colombe a queue noire; German: Sperlingstäubchen; Spanish: Columbina Comun.
Habitat
The Common Ground Dove inhabits scrub and other open country. It builds a flimsy stick nest in a tree and lays two white eggs. Its flight is fast and direct, with regular beats and an occasional sharp flick of the wings that are characteristic of pigeons in general.