Large-tailed Dove
Leptotila megalura
A medium sized, chunky dove of the interandean dry valleys, yungas, and Tucumán forest with mixed Podocarpus and alders. Often alone or in pairs. Orbital ring varies from blue-purple north of the bend in the Andes to red south of this bend. Range overlaps with the very similar White-tipped Dove, and is best separated by voice, and, in some populations, orbital skin color (blue in White-tipped Dove). Iris also generally darker than White-tipped Dove. Most often found and easily identified by its low-pitched, stuttering song.
Identification
The Yungas dove is 29 to 32 cm (11 to 13 in) long. The adult's forehead is grayish and its crown bluish gray. The eye is very dark and is surrounded by white feathers; the rest of the face is buff or pinkish buff. Its upperparts and tail are a dark ruddy brown with a purple gloss on the hindneck and upper mantle. Its breast and the sides of the neck are grayish pink lightening to white on the belly. The adult sexes are similar; the juvenile is duller and its wing coverts appear scaly.
Taxonomy
The Yungas dove is monotypic. However, the southern population has sometimes been suggested as a distinct subspecies. The Yungas dove and the grey-fronted dove (L. rufaxilla) are sister species.
- Scientific name
- Leptotila megalura
- Authority
- Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1879
- Order
- Columbiformes
- Family
- Columbidae
- Genus
- Leptotila
Range and habitat
The Yungas dove is found in the Bolivian and Southern Andean Yungas on the east slope of the Andes of Bolivia and northwestern Argentina. It inhabits humid subtropical and tropical woodlands including secondary forest. It is also found in semi-arid Prosopis woodlands. In elevation it ranges between 900 and 2,800 m (3,000 and 9,200 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Details of the Yungas dove's foraging behavior and diet have not been published.<p>Little is known about the Yungas dove's breeding phenology. It nests in bushes or trees, and the clutch size is two eggs.<p>The Yungas dove's song is "four (occasionally five) mournful monotonous notes on same pitch...'woooo-o-o-oooooo'."
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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