Black-winged Ground Dove - BirdForum Opus

Metriopelia melanoptera

Photo © by Steve Herrmann (Ecuadorrebel)
Photo taken at Cotopaxi National Park, Ecuador. February, 2009

Identification

• Brown body
• Blackish wings
• Bright red eye ring
• Bright yellow orange crescent below eye
• White shoulder patches or "headlights"
• Pale pink throat and belly
• Dark legs and feet
  Sexes similar.
  

Variation: the orange patch near the eye is, in Chile, limited to an area in front of the eye, while the isolated form in Colombia and Ecuador does not show this at all.

Distribution

South America: found in south-west Colombia to northern Ecuador, and disjunct in Peru, Chile, and extreme west of Argentina to Tierra del Fuego.

Taxonomy

There are 2 subspecies:

• M. m. melanoptera:

• Andes of Peru to southern Argentina, southern Chile and Tierra del Fuego

• M. m. saturatior:

• Andes of south-western Colombia and Ecuador

Habitat

Dry scrub above 2,000m (lower in the more southerly end of the range).

Behaviour

The clutch consists of 2 eggs which are incubated by both adults for 14-15 days. The young fledge at two weeks.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. BF Member observations
3. Arthur Grosset

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Black-winged Ground Dove. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 8 November 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-winged_Ground_Dove

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