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Caribbean Dove | Leptotila jamaicensis
Witbuikduif | Paloma caribeña
The Caribbean Dove is a large ground dove of the western Caribbean, related to White-tipped Dove, with a pale head and a white belly. In Jamaica it is locally common in dry forest and around the edges of settlements, where it is known as white-belly. It walks quietly on the ground, often on tracks and in clearings in the forest, and when disturbed disappears into the vegetation with clattering wings.
Voice
A rhythmic series of usually four low, mournful notes on one pitch, with the emphasis on the last: hoo-hoo-hoo-hooo. The call is repeated at intervals, often from dense cover or a low branch, and is heard mainly in the early morning. On take-off the wings make a clattering sound.
Recording: Eric Antonio Martinez — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
29–33 cm, a heavy dove with a fairly long, rounded tail. The forehead, face and throat are white, the hindcrown is grey and the nape glossed purple. The mantle and sides of the neck are rosy red with a green or purple gloss; the back and wings are plain olive-brown. The breast is pale pink and the belly white. The eye is white or white with a red ring and is surrounded by dull purple bare skin; the legs are red. The tail is dark with white corners, the underwing rufous. The sexes are alike; juveniles are paler and lack the gloss.
Confusion species
White-winged Dove Zenaida asiatica has a broad white stripe along the closed wing and blue skin around the eye. Zenaida Dove Zenaida aurita is smaller and warmer brown, with black spots on the wing and a white trailing edge to the secondaries. Ruddy Quail-Dove Geotrygon montana and, in Jamaica, Crested Quail-Dove Geotrygon versicolor are darker and lack the pale head and white tail corners. White-tipped Dove Leptotila verreauxi is very similar but does not occur within the range of Caribbean Dove.
Habitat
Dry lowland forest, limestone forest and coastal woodland with dense undergrowth, especially semi-open woodland with shrubs and trees; in Jamaica mainly dry limestone forest and secondary forest in the foothills. Also gardens, yards and small-scale farmland at the forest edge. It forages on foot on the ground for seeds, fallen fruit and small invertebrates. The nest is a loose platform of twigs in a shrub or low tree.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
In Jamaica widespread in suitable forest and locally common. In the Cayman Islands, especially Grand Cayman, and on the Colombian island of San Andrés. On New Providence in the Bahamas the species has been introduced and has become established. Outside the region on the Yucatán Peninsula, where it is common, and on a few islands off the coast of Central America.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In Jamaica in the dry forests and hills along the south coast and in gardens at the forest edge; on Grand Cayman in dry forest and around the edges of built-up areas. The bird walks on tracks and in clearings in the early morning and can then be watched at close range. The four-note call with the stress on the last note is the best lead.
Conservation status
Not threatened. Across its range as a whole the species is of least concern. In Jamaica it is locally common and adapts well to secondary forest and gardens. The population on New Providence was introduced by people and is not part of the natural range.
Scientific name
Leptotila jamaicensis | (Linnaeus, 1766)
Linnaeus described the species in 1766 as Columba jamaicensis; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Leptotila was introduced in 1837 by Swainson. Leptotila is Greek, from leptos 'slender' and ptilon 'feather', after the abruptly narrowed outermost primary. jamaicensis is Latin for 'of Jamaica', the island from which the species was described. The specimen the first description was based on came from Jamaica.