Sulawesi Ground Dove
Gallicolumba tristigmata
A stocky, short-tailed forest pigeon. Shows a diagnostic head pattern, with yellow forehead, green upper nape, and burgundy collar. Back, wings, and tail dark brown, with gray outer tail feathers. Underside grayish, with soft yellow wash on the breast. Juvenile browner, with rusty edges to feathers. Singles or pairs forage on the floor inside montane forest. Typically runs away rather than flying. Restricted to Sulawesi island, where no other similar species occur. Gives a deep hooting call, sometimes with a barely audible introductory note: “whooo-whooo” or “w-whooo-w-whooo.”
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Gallicolumba tristigmata
- Authority
- (Bonaparte, 1855)
- Order
- Columbiformes
- Family
- Columbidae
- Genus
- Gallicolumba
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
Pohnpei Flycatcher
Myiagra pluto
Small monarch flycatcher with uniformly dark glossy plumage. Endemic to Pohnpei Island, where it is the only small all-dark bird on the island; male Micronesian Starling is also glossy and dark, but is much larger, with yellow eyes. Inhabits forests and forest edges, often “flycatching” from a perch close to the ground. Gives a series of bright rising whistles, as well as a squeaky descending chatter and harsh rasping notes.
Surfbird
Calidris virgata
Stocky, short-legged shorebird that thrives on rocky shorelines. Look for short, blunt bill with orangey base and dull yellow legs. Overall gray with a white belly. In breeding plumage, develops more extensive dark spotting on underparts and rusty patches on the back. In flight, note white wing stripe and bold black-and-white tail pattern. Breeds on remote rocky mountains, mainly in Alaska. Almost always seen near the spray of incoming waves, usually on rocks, less commonly on beaches (especially in migration). Typically in flocks, mixed with turnstones.
Mountain Robin-Chat
Cossyphicula isabellae
A fairly plain brown-and-orange robin-chat with a white eyebrow and a dark face. As in most robin-chats, the tail has a dark center and orange edges. An inconspicuous bird of the understory of montane forest. Sometimes follows columns of ants. Similar to White-bellied Robin-Chat, but distinguished by the orange belly and the much bolder white eyebrow. Also similar to Bocage’s Akalat, but distinguished by the white eyebrow and the two-colored tail. The song is a series of several squeaky, rasping whistles, far less conspicuous and musical than the vocalizations of most robin-chats.
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