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Ruddy Pigeon | Patagioenas subvinacea
Purperduif | Paloma rojiza
The Ruddy Pigeon is a warm reddish-brown arboreal pigeon of humid forest in the mountains of Costa Rica and Panama. It closely resembles the Short-billed Pigeon but lives on average higher in the mountains. Like the other arboreal pigeons of the genus Patagioenas, it is identified mainly by its song.
Voice
A rhythmic four-note coo, hoo, hoo-hoo-hooo, lower and hoarser than that of Short-billed Pigeon, given from a high branch and often repeated. Also a low, growling grrr.
Recording: Juan Freile — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
29–32 cm. A medium-sized, fairly slim pigeon with a short black bill. The head, neck and underparts are wine-red to reddish-brown, the upperparts darker olive-brown with a reddish tinge. The underwing is cinnamon, which sometimes shows in flight. The eye is red and the legs are red. The sexes are alike; young birds are duller and browner.
Confusion species
Short-billed Pigeon Patagioenas nigrirostris is slightly smaller and less reddish, with a grey-brown rather than cinnamon underwing, and lives mainly lower down, up to about 1500 m. The song is the most reliable difference. Band-tailed Pigeon Patagioenas fasciata is larger and greyer, with a yellow bill, a white half-collar and a pale terminal tail band. Plumbeous Pigeon Patagioenas plumbea, only in eastern Darién, is greyer and larger.
Habitat
The canopy and edges of humid montane and foothill forest, also tall second growth and large trees in open country next to forest; mainly between about 1000 and 3000 m, lower on the Caribbean slope. Lives alone or in pairs, feeds on fruit and berries in the treetops and often sits still for long periods on a high, bare branch.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
In Costa Rica in the Cordillera de Tilarán, the Cordillera Central and the Cordillera de Talamanca, and in western Panama in Chiriquí, Bocas del Toro and Veraguas. Also in eastern Panama in Darién and Guna Yala. Outside the guide area in Colombia and much of the Amazon basin south to Bolivia.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Look in the montane forests of Monteverde and San Gerardo de Dota in Costa Rica and around Boquete and Volcán Barú in Panama. A bird often sings from a protruding dead branch above the canopy; the song is the best clue.
Conservation status
Not globally threatened. Locally fairly common in the montane forests of Costa Rica and western Panama. Declines where montane forest is cleared, but persists in larger forest tracts and protected reserves.
Scientific name
Patagioenas subvinacea | (Lawrence, 1868)
Lawrence described the species in 1868 as Chloroenas subvinacea; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Patagioenas was introduced in 1853 by Reichenbach. Patagioenas is Greek, from patageō 'to clatter' and oinas 'pigeon', after the clattering wings on take-off. subvinacea is Latin, from sub 'somewhat' and vinaceus 'wine-coloured', after the dull wine-red tinge of the plumage. The specimen the first description was based on came from Dota, Costa Rica.