Ruddy Ground Dove - BirdForum Opus

Female left, Male right, subspecies taipacoti
Photo © by Stanley Jones
San Martín, Peru, December, 2016

Columbina talpacoti

Identification

Female, subspecies rufipennis
Photo © by DABS
Petit Valley, Trinidad, August 2017

Adult male 15–18 cm (6-7 in)

Pale grey head and neck
Rufous upperparts
Black spots on wing coverts
Underparts are paler brown
Tail is edged black
Underwings are cinnamon and black

Female 14–18 cm (5½-7 in)
Greyish-brown (as opposed to the rufous colouring of the male); there is also less contrast between head and body.

Distribution

Southern Mexico to Mar del Plata, Argentina, as well in some Caribbean Islands, including Trinidad and Tobago.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Juvenile, subspecies rufipennis
Photo © by Stanley Jones
Camp Darién, Darién Province, Panama, February 2015

Four subspecies are recognized^[1]:

C. t. eluta:

Coastal western Mexico (northern Sinaloa to Chiapas)

C. t. rufipennis:

South-eastern Mexico to Colombia, northern Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago

C. t. caucae:

Western Colombia (Cauca Valley)

C. t. talpacoti:

Guianas and Brazil to eastern Bolivia, Paraguay and central Argentina

Habitat

Scrub and open country, including cultivation.

Behaviour

Photo © by Stanley Jones
Juan Hombron Road, El Chirú, Coclė Province, Panama, 03 December, 2021

Diet

Their main diet consists of seeds.

Breeding

A cup-shaped nest is built in a tree. The clutch consists of 2 white eggs, which are incubated for 12-13 days. The chicks fledge after 12-14 days.

There may be two further broods.

References

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Hart, J. A. (2020). Ruddy Ground Dove (Columbina talpacoti), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.rugdov.01

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Ruddy Ground Dove. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 19 February 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Ruddy_Ground_Dove

External Links

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