Chiriqui Quail-Dove
Zentrygon chiriquensis
Plump ground-dwelling dove, quite bright rufous overall compared with other quail-doves. Entire body is warm rufous, similar to Ruddy Quail-Dove, but note gray crown and black mustache line. Pinkish-red legs. Sexes alike. Prefers forests, usually 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.
Identification
The male Chiriqui quail-dove is 27 to 31 cm (11 to 12 in) long and the female 26 to 32 cm (10 to 13 in). Adults weigh between 295 and 308 g (10.4 and 10.9 oz). The adult male has a slate gray crown that is paler on the forehead and darker on the nape. The rest of the face is buffy with a black malar stripe and a thin black line through the eye. The eye is brownish orange surrounded by bare red skin. The upperparts transition from chestnut on the shoulders through purplish on the upper back to olivaceous with a greenish gloss on the lower back. The chin is buffy white that darkens to reddish on the chest and sides and then lightens to cinnamon buff on the belly; the flanks are a darker cinnamon. Females are very similar, but their breast is usually darker. Juveniles have a brown crown and upperparts and the underparts have dull black bars.
Taxonomy
The Chiriqui quail-dove is monotypic. It was originally described in genus Geotrygon and is sometimes considered conspecific with the white-faced quail-dove (Z. albifacies) and the lined quail-dove (Z. linearis).
- Scientific name
- Zentrygon chiriquensis
- Authority
- (Sclater, PL, 1856)
- Order
- Columbiformes
- Family
- Columbidae
- Genus
- Zentrygon
Range and habitat
The Chiriqui quail-dove is resident from the Cordillera de Guanacaste in northern Costa Rica to Chiriquí and Veraguas Provinces in western Panama. It inhabits the understory of drier parts of the Talamancan montane forests. On the Caribbean side it generally ranges from 600 to 1,700 m (2,000 to 5,600 ft) but can be found locally as high as 2,000 m (6,600 ft). On the Pacific side it usually ranges between 1,000 and 2,500 m (3,300 and 8,200 ft) and occasionally up to 3,100 m (10,200 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The Chiriqui quail-dove forages on the ground, singly or in pairs. Its diet is seeds, fallen fruit, and small invertebrates. It usually feeds in cover but can be seen along roads and trails in early morning.<p>The Chiriqui quail-dove's nesting season includes August and September but its extent is not known. It builds a shallow cup nest of twigs and leaves and places it on a tree branch. The clutch size is two eggs.<p>The Chiriqui quail-dove's song is "a single monotonous note 'wooOoh', gradually swelling in amplitude." It sings "incessantly during breeding season from a perch".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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