White-throated Quail-Dove
Zentrygon frenata
Plump ground-dwelling dove. Large for a quail-dove with buffy face, gray crown, scaly neck, and white throat. Body mostly brown. Sexes alike. Found in montane forests at higher elevations than other quail-doves, from 1,000–3,300 m. Usually walks on the ground unless flushed up into the lower levels of a tree. Like most quail-doves, often best seen by quietly walking along trails at dawn and dusk. Listen for low-pitched descending “coo” notes.
Identification
The white-throated quail-dove is 30 to 34 cm (12 to 13 in) long and weighs about 311 g (11.0 oz), making it among the largest quail-doves. The adult nominate male's forehead and the lower part of the face are buff and the crown blue-gray. The mantle is deep purple and the rest of the upperparts reddish brown. The throat is white, the breast gray, and the belly and flanks dark buff. Females are browner rather than gray; juveniles are similar to the female with the addition of dark barring on both the upper and underparts. The other subspecies differ somewhat in the colors of their heads.
Taxonomy
The white-throated quail-dove's taxonomic history is complicated. It was originally described in genus Geotrygon, later erroneously given the binomial Oreopeleia bourcieri, and still later attained its present binomial. The four subspecies below are currently recognized. Z. f. boucieri was at one time treated as separate species by some authors. Additional subspecies have been proposed but are now generally accepted as color morphs or individual variations of one of the four accepted subspecies.<p>The four subspecies of white-throated quail-dove are the nominate Z. f. frenata, Z. f. bourcieri, Z. f. subgrisea, and Z. f. margaritae.
- Scientific name
- Zentrygon frenata
- Authority
- (Tschudi, 1843)
- Order
- Columbiformes
- Family
- Columbidae
- Genus
- Zentrygon
Range and habitat
The subspecies of white-throated quail-dove are found from north to south thus:<p>They inhabit humid evergreen montane forest in the Andes, usually between 900 and 3,000 m (3,000 and 9,800 ft) but sometimes as low as 700 m (2,300 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The white-throated quail-dove forages on the ground, usually alone but sometimes with one or two other birds. Its diet has not been documented.<p>The white-throated quail-dove's breeding season appears to vary across its range. One documented nest was a flat platform placed 2 m (6.6 ft) above ground in a tangle of vegetation; it contained one egg. Essentially nothing else is known about its breeding phenology.<p>The white-throated quail-dove's song is "a single monotonous low-pitched note 'whoOOo', with highest amplitude in the middle."
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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