Alternative name: Lawrence's Quail-Dove
- Zentrygon lawrencii
Identification
25-27 cm.
- Greyish white forehead becoming bluish grey to greyish green on crown, nape, hindneck and egde of mantle
- Dull purple rest of mantle and innermost lesser wing-coverts
- Olive-brown rest of upperparts with reddish tinge on outer wing-coverts and secondaries, primaries blackish-brown
- White face and throat with black malar stripe and black line from bill to eye
- Slaty grey neck and breast with greenish sides
- Whitish buff to cinnamon brown centre of belly and undertail-coverts
- Chocolate brown flanks
Sexes alike. Juveniles have a barred dusky crown.
Distribution
Costa Rica and Panama.
Locally fairly common but a species with a small range.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species.
Forms a superspecies with Tuxtla Quail-Dove and is sometimes considered conspecific with it.
Formerly placed in the genus Geotrygon
Habitat
Found in dense, cool and wet forest in montane areas.
Occurs at 400 to 800 m on Caribbean slopes, up to 1100 m in southeast and even up to 2600 m in some places.
Behaviour
Walks or runs away rather than flying if feels threatened. Occasionally flushes to an elevated perch.
Diet
Feeds on fruit, seeds, insects and worms.
Forages singly or in pairs on the ground.
Breeding
Breeding season June to October in Costa Rica, earlier in Panama. The nest is bulky but loosely made of twigs, often resting on a pad of leaves. It's placed in dense understorey up to at least 1.5 m above the ground. Lays 1 egg.
Movements
Presumably a resident species.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2013. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.8., with updates to August 2013. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved August 2014)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Purplish-backed Quail-Dove. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 14 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Purplish-backed_Quail-Dove
