Olive-backed Quail-Dove
Leptotrygon veraguensis
Plump ground-dwelling dove, small for a quail-dove and much darker overall compared with the others. Overall dark grayish with contrasting white face and cheek. Lower belly is whitish, fading to a buffy vent. 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 olive-backed quail-dove is 21 to 24.5 cm (8.3 to 9.6 in) long and the female 21 to 22 cm (8.3 to 8.7 in). They weigh about 155 g (5.5 oz). The adult's forehead is white transitioning to a gray crown and purple hindcrown, nape, and neck. A broad white stripe under the eye has a narrower black stripe under it. The upperparts are dark olive brown or purplish brown. The throat is white and the belly white or buffy white, with reddish buff flanks. The neck, breast, and upperparts have a greenish or purplish iridescence. The sexes are generally alike though the female may sometimes have a buff forehead and crown. Juveniles are similar as well but their feathers have rusty fringes and they have no iridescence.
Taxonomy
The olive-backed quail-dove was originally assigned to genus Geotrygon and even earlier to Oreopeleia, but a 2013 paper provided the basis for its present assignment. The American Ornithological Society (AOS) made the change in 2014 and the International Ornithological Committee (IOC) in 2015. It is the only species in its genus.
- Scientific name
- Leptotrygon veraguensis
- Authority
- (Lawrence, 1866)
- Order
- Columbiformes
- Family
- Columbidae
- Genus
- Leptotrygon
Range and habitat
The olive-backed quail dove is found on the Caribbean slope of far southern Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, and also the Pacific slope of eastern Panama through western Colombia into northern Ecuador's Esmeraldas Province. It inhabits dense wet forest, particularly wet ravines, from sea level to 900 m (3,000 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The olive-backed quail-dove is a year round resident in its range. It prefers to walk or run when fleeing from danger, but sometimes flushes for short distances if disturbed.<p>The olive-backed quail-dove forages singly or in pairs, searching the understory or on the ground for seeds, fruits, and small invertebrates.<p>The olive-backed quail-dove's breeding season spans January to July in Costa Rica, and breeding evidence has been recorded between those months elsewhere in its range. It makes a bulky nest of twigs and rootlets in vegetation, usually about 1 to 2 m (3.3 to 6.6 ft) of the ground. The clutch size is two.<p>The olive-backed quail-dove's song is "a low-pitched short single note 'whOuw', with a rather frog-like quality."
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Orange-bellied Manakin
Lepidothrix suavissima
A small, unobtrusive bird of lower slopes in the tepui region. Adult males are mostly black with a yellow (not orange) belly, bright white forehead, and sky blue rump; females and young males are bright green above and dull yellow below, with a bluish wash on the crown. Occurs at lower levels in the forest and feeds on fruit taken in short sallies, like other manakins. This is often the most common manakin in the higher-elevation forests. Most frequent vocalization is a high twittering, rising and falling slightly; very similar to a call of Tiny Tyrant-Manakin. Also gives a soft, single note with a peeping quality; both sounds are easily overlooked. Very similar to White-fronted Manakin of lowlands (and female-plumage birds of the two species are essentially identical), but adult male Orange-bellied has a solid black breast without a yellow spot. Females are told from other female manakins by bright green upperparts and bluish crown.
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