All species › Pigeons and doves › Doves and pigeons › Dusky Pigeon
Dusky Pigeon | Patagioenas goodsoni
Goodsons duif | Paloma oscura | Pomba-escura
The Dusky Pigeon is a small, dark pigeon found only in the humid Chocó region of western Colombia and north-western Ecuador. It lives in the rainforest canopy and often sits motionless in the treetops for long periods. It differs from the other forest pigeons there mainly in its grey head and underparts and in its call.
Voice
A soft, mellow cooing of three or four notes, roughly whoo, hoo-hooo, often repeated from the treetops; the rhythm differs from that of Ruddy and Plumbeous Pigeons.
Recording: Juan Freile — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
24–26 cm. The head, neck and underparts are dark slate-grey, sometimes with a faint vinaceous wash on the breast; the mantle and wings are dark vinaceous brown, and the tail is dark greyish brown. The bill is black, the legs red. The sexes are alike; juveniles are browner and duller.
Confusion species
Plumbeous Pigeon Patagioenas plumbea is larger and more uniformly grey, without the contrast between grey head and vinaceous-brown back. Ruddy Pigeon Patagioenas subvinacea is warm vinaceous brown all over, with cinnamon underwings. In the canopy these three species are mainly separated by voice.
Habitat
Humid lowland and foothill forest, tall secondary forest and forest edge, from sea level to roughly 1000 m. It lives in the canopy and eats fruit and berries, including those of mistletoes and figs. The nest is a flimsy platform of twigs in a tree.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia along the Pacific side, from the Chocó south through Valle del Cauca and Cauca to Nariño. In Ecuador in the north-west, mainly in Esmeraldas and adjacent lowlands and foothills of the western slope. Absent from Peru, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Hardly or not at all outside the guide area; reports from extreme eastern Panama are uncertain.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In the morning, listen along forest edges and roads through rainforest in Esmeraldas or the Chocó for the soft cooing from the treetops, then scan the bare top branches.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species has a small range in the Chocó region and is sensitive to the ongoing deforestation there.
Scientific name
Patagioenas goodsoni | (Hartert, 1902)
Hartert described the species in 1902 as Columba goodsoni; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Patagioenas was introduced in 1853 by Reichenbach. The genus name combines Greek patageō, 'to clatter', with oinas, 'pigeon'. The species name honours Arthur Thomas Goodson (1873–1931), assistant ornithologist at the Tring Museum from 1893 to 1931. The specimen the first description was based on came from Pambilar, northwestern Ecuador.