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Pale-vented Pigeon | Patagioenas cayennensis
Rosse duif | Paloma colorada
The Pale-vented Pigeon is a medium-sized, wine-red pigeon of forest edges and semi-open country, ranging from Mexico to Argentina and in the Caribbean found only on Trinidad and Tobago. On Tobago it is a common sight; on Trinidad it is far more local. On the islands it is known as ramier. Its name refers to the pale undertail coverts, best seen on a bird perched above on a branch.
Voice
A soft cooing in a short series, introduced by a short, dry kuk: kuk, croo-oo-oo, croo-oo-oo. This short opening note sets the call apart from those of related pigeons. Mainly in the morning from a lookout in a tall tree.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
30–32 cm. Head, breast, mantle and wing coverts are dull purplish-red to vinous, the throat whitish. The hindneck shows a copper to green gloss. Lower back and rump are blue-grey, the flight feathers dark grey-brown. The belly is paler grey and the undertail coverts pale grey to whitish. The tail is grey-brown with a paler terminal band. The bill is black, the eye red with a red bare eye-ring, the legs red. The female is duller and browner than the male. Flight is fast and direct, often high over forest and open country.
Confusion species
Scaled Pigeon Patagioenas speciosa, on Trinidad, has a heavily scaled neck and breast and a red bill with a white tip. Scaly-naped Pigeon Patagioenas squamosa, in north-eastern Tobago since 2004, is larger and slate-grey, with a dark purplish-red head and neck. Rock Dove Columba livia has a white or pale rump, black wing bars and lives around buildings.
Habitat
Forest edges, semi-open country with scattered tall trees, riverbanks, open humid forest, and the edges of mangrove and swamp forest. It also visits farmland with trees. It eats fruit, berries and seeds, both in the canopy and on the ground. The nest is a small platform of twigs in a low tree, usually with a single white egg.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
On Trinidad and Tobago, the subspecies Patagioenas cayennensis tobagensis: common in the lowlands of Tobago, very local on Trinidad. From the other islands in the region only a single record from Aruba is known. Beyond the region from southern Mexico through Central America over most of tropical South America, to Bolivia and northern Argentina.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
On Tobago seen from roads along forest edges and open country, where the birds perch in the tops of dead or tall trees and coo loudly. The wine-red colour and grey rump are clear in good light.
Conservation status
Not threatened globally, with a large range. On Trinidad and Tobago the species is a game bird. On Trinidad it is scarce and local, on Tobago common. As a bird of forest edges that also uses semi-open country, it is less sensitive to forest loss than the pigeons of closed forest.
Scientific name
Patagioenas cayennensis | (Bonnaterre, 1792)
Bonnaterre described the species in 1792 as Columba cayennensis; 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. cayennensis refers to Cayenne in French Guiana. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cayenne, French Guiana (inferred from the name).