Bronze Ground Dove
Pampusana beccarii
A rotund, short-legged ground-dwelling dove that usually runs rather than flies when startled. Both sexes have a brown body with bluish-gray chest and head. Males have an iridescent pink shoulder patch. Most obvious identification feature in the field is the glowing white eye-ring of the male, especially in more eastern populations such as those in the Solomon Islands. On mainland New Guinea, the species is a resident of upper-elevation montane forest. No other similar species occur in its altitudinal range. Gives a typical dove-like “woo-oop” call which is quiet and easily missed.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Pampusana beccarii
- Authority
- (Salvadori, 1876)
- Order
- Columbiformes
- Family
- Columbidae
- Genus
- Pampusana
Range and habitat
It is found in New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest with an elevation up to 1250 meters.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
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