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White-winged Dove | Zenaida asiatica
Witvleugeltreurduif | Paloma alas blancas | Pomba-de-asa-branca
The White-winged Dove is a dove of dry regions from the southern United States to Panama and the Caribbean, recognisable by the white edge along the folded wing. In the guide area it lives only on the Colombian islands of San Andrés and Providencia in the western Caribbean. West Peruvian Dove on the Pacific coast was formerly included in this species.
Voice
A rhythmic, husky cooing, often rendered as who-cooks-for-you, with the last note drawn out; also shorter series of a few notes.
Recording: Scott Crabtree — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
27–31 cm, stocky, with a fairly short, rounded tail. Upperparts greyish brown, head and breast pale greyish brown with a pink tinge. A black line below the ear coverts and a bronzy gloss on the sides of the neck. The bare skin around the eye is blue, the iris red to orange. A narrow white edge runs along the folded wing, forming a broad white band across the wing in flight against dark flight feathers. The tail has a dark band and broad white tips to the outer feathers. Legs red. The sexes are nearly alike; young birds are duller and greyer.
Confusion species
West Peruvian Dove Zenaida meloda occurs only on the Pacific coast of Ecuador and Peru; it is greyer, with a larger blue eye-ring and a different, longer song. Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura is slimmer, with a long, pointed tail and no white in the wing. White-tipped Dove Leptotila verreauxi has no white in the wing and a pale head.
Habitat
On the islands in dry scrub, mangrove, open woodland, coconut groves, gardens and villages, at sea level. It eats seeds, grain and fruit, on the ground and in trees. It nests in trees and shrubs; elsewhere in its range also in colonies.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia resident on San Andrés and Providencia; on the mainland of the guide area at most a rare vagrant in the north. Absent from Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area from the south-western United States through Mexico and Central America to Panama, and in the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
On San Andrés in villages, gardens and along woodland edges, often in pairs or small groups on wires and in treetops.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Common in most of its range and expanding northwards; the small island population in the guide area is probably stable.
Scientific name
Zenaida asiatica | (Linnaeus, 1758)
Linnaeus described the species in 1758 as Columba asiatica; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Zenaida was introduced in 1838 by Bonaparte. The genus name honours Zénaïde Laetitia Julie Bonaparte (1801–1854), wife of Charles Lucien Bonaparte, who described the genus, and niece of Napoleon. The species name is Latin asiaticus, 'Asian'; Linnaeus wrongly believed the species came from the Indies. The specimen the first description was based on came from Jamaica.