- Columbina passerina
Identification
16-18 cm (6¼-7 in)
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
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.
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.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 18 subspecies[1]
Photo © by Stanley Jones
Montego Bay, Cornwall State, St. James Parish, Jamaica, November 2010
- 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
Habitat
Dry sandy scrub, fields, forest edge, woodland with developed open areas, farms, open country and towns.
Behaviour
Photo © by Stanley Jones
Laguna Seca Ranch, north of Edingburg, Hidalgo County, Texas, USA, April 2019
Diet
Their main diet consists of a variety of small seeds from grass, weeds and also pine and sedge seeds. Apart from this there is little more known.
Breeding
They build a flimsy stick nest in a tree. Their clutch contains two white eggs.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved May 2019)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Common Ground Dove. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Common_Ground_Dove
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
