Picui Ground Dove
Columbina picui
At rest, the pale brown-gray of the body contrasts with its black bill and iris, pale wing panel framed by a black border. In flight the dark under and upper wing contrasts with a pale wing panel and brown-gray coverts. Tail mostly white, but central tail feathers are gray-brown mostly covering tail from above. Generally found in open areas including grassland, savanna, at the forest edge, and often urban areas. The voice is a series of “U-wooh U-wooh U-wooh U-wooh” notes.
Identification
The Picui ground dove is 18 cm (7.1 in) long and weighs 42 to 59 g (1.5 to 2.1 oz). The nominate adult male's forehead and throat are whitish with a narrow black stripe in front of the eye. Its crown and nape are gray that becomes brownish gray on the shoulders, back, rump, and central tail feathers. The folded wing appears pinkish fawn with two white bands bordered by black. The neck and breast are pinkish gray and the belly white. The adult female is duller with less pink. These differences are faint to the human eye, but there are significant differences in ultraviolet reflectance, to which birds are believed sensitive. The juvenile is duller and browner than the adults. The upperparts and wing of C. p. strepitans are grayer than the nominate's, with less pink.
Taxonomy
The Picui ground dove and croaking ground dove (Columbina cruziana) are sometimes considered sister species. The Picui ground dove has two subspecies, the nominate C. p. picui and C. p. strepitans.
- Scientific name
- Columbina picui
- Authority
- (Temminck, 1813)
- Order
- Columbiformes
- Family
- Columbidae
- Genus
- Columbina
Range and habitat
The nominate subspecies of Picui ground dove is widely distributed east of the Andes in eastern and southern Bolivia, Paraguay, and southern Brazil south through Uruguay and most of Argentina, and also west of the Andes in central Chile. It winters north to eastern Peru. C. p. strepitans has a smaller range in several states of northeastern Brazil.<p>The Picui ground dove mostly inhabits arid landscapes such as forest edge and savanna with its scattered trees and other cover, Prosopis scrub forest, suburbs, gardens, and cultivated lands. In northwestern Argentina it ranges as high as 3,000 m (9,800 ft) and in Bolivia up to 3,700 m (12,100 ft). In most of the rest of its range it is seldom found above 1,250 m (4,100 ft).
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
The Picui ground dove forages on the ground for seeds including cultivated grains, typically in groups of 25 to 30. It has been noted in the hundreds in hemp fields.<p>The Picui ground dove's nesting season in Argentina spans from October to April. It makes a nest of twigs lined with finer materials in a shrub or tree and occasionally on roofs. Both members of a pair incubate the two eggs, and it is thought to double brood.<p>The Picui ground dove's song is "a series of evenly-spaced, low-pitched cooing notes...cuWOOo...cuWOOo...cuWOOo...".
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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