Bare-faced Ground Dove - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by Robert_Scanlon
Lomas de Lachay, Peru, January 2005

Metriopelia ceciliae

Identification

16–17 cm

• Brownish upperparts with whitish tips to feathers
• Light tips to feathers on wing coverts and secondaries

Distribution

Subspecies zimmeri
Photo © by Rodrigo Reyes
Nn Chile, September 2009

South America: found in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina

Taxonomy

Subspecies^[1]

There are 3 subspecies^[1]:

• M. c. ceciliae:

• Andes of western Peru

• M. c. obsoleta:

• Northern Peru (upper Marañón Valley)

• M. c. zimmeri:

• Andes of extreme southern Peru to Bolivia, north-western Argentina and northern Chile

A fourth subspecies, gymnops is not recognised by all authorities and is generally considered invalid.

Habitat

Puna; high-altitude shrubland, generally seen between 2000–4500 m.

Behaviour

Diet

Ground feeders, generally in small groups. Little information is available, but presumably their diet includes seeds.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved January 2015)
4. Wikipedia
5. BF Member observations

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Bare-faced Ground Dove. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 5 January 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Bare-faced_Ground_Dove

External Links

• Arthur Grosset's Birds

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