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Grey-headed Dove | Leptotila plumbeiceps
Grijskopduif | Paloma cabeza gris
The Grey-headed Dove is a ground dove of humid forest on the Caribbean side of the guide area, from north-eastern Mexico to Panama. The blue-grey crown and nape above a brown back make it recognizable when it shows itself. The birds of Coiba Island and the Pacific side of Panama were formerly treated as a separate species.
Voice
A single low, mournful whistle, whooo, that swells a little and then fades, shorter than the call of Grey-chested Dove. Repeated at long intervals, usually from dense cover.
Recording: Hotel Tinamu — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
24–27 cm. A medium-sized ground dove with a fairly short, rounded tail. The crown and hindneck are blue-grey, sharply set off from the olive-brown back and wings; the forehead and face are paler grey to whitish, the throat white. The breast is pinkish buff, the belly white. The eye is pale, the legs are red. The tail is dark with narrow white tips to the outer feathers, the underwing rufous. The sexes are alike. Birds of Coiba (L. p. battyi) and the Pacific side of Panama (L. p. malae) have a warmer, more rufous-tinged back and wings.
Confusion species
White-tipped Dove Leptotila verreauxi has a brownish-grey crown without a sharp transition to the back and more white in the tail, and lives mainly in drier, more open country. Grey-chested Dove Leptotila cassinii also has a grey head, but in addition a grey breast and a darker back. Ruddy Quail-Dove Geotrygon montana is rufous-brown, with a pale stripe below the eye and no white tail corners.
Habitat
The interior and edges of humid lowland and foothill forest, gallery forest, tall second growth and semi-evergreen forest, from sea level to about 1000 m. Lives alone or in pairs on the forest floor, where it walks in search of seeds, fallen fruit and small invertebrates. The nest is a platform of twigs in a shrub or low tree.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
In Mexico on the Gulf side from southern Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosí through Veracruz, northern Oaxaca, Tabasco and Chiapas to Campeche and Quintana Roo. Further in Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua and north-western Costa Rica (L. p. plumbeiceps). In Panama on the Caribbean side in the west (L. p. notia), on the Pacific side in Veraguas and Herrera and on Cébaco (L. p. malae), and on Coiba (L. p. battyi). Absent from El Salvador. Outside the guide area in western Colombia, around the Cauca Valley.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
The species is shy and usually walks off only when already close. The best chance is on quiet forest trails in large forests on the Caribbean side, such as Los Tuxtlas and Calakmul in Mexico, Tikal in Guatemala and southern Belize. On Coiba it is less shy and often seen along trails.
Conservation status
Not threatened. Locally fairly common in the north of the guide area, scarcer and more local in Costa Rica and Panama. Sensitive to the loss and fragmentation of lowland forest.
Scientific name
Leptotila plumbeiceps | Sclater & Salvin, 1868
Sclater & Salvin described the species in 1868 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Leptotila was introduced in 1837 by Swainson. Leptotila is Greek, from leptos 'slender' and ptilon 'feather', after the abruptly narrowed outermost primary. plumbeiceps is Latin, from plumbeus 'leaden' and -ceps '-headed', after the blue-grey crown and nape. The specimen the first description was based on came from Choctún, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala.