Common Ground-dove - Columbina passerina

Common Ground-dove Columbina passerina
(aka Scaly-breasted or Scaled Ground-dove)

Common Ground-dove, Amazonia National Park, Pará, Brazil, Sept 2000 - click for larger image

There were quite a few Common Ground-doves around the Uruá camp in the Amazonia National Park (photos 1 and 2) where they had found a suitable patch of open ground in which to feed and breed.
There are 18 subspecies all in the Americas. The one in the Amazon is C.p. griseola and the Cuban sub-species (photo 4) is C. p. insularis. Photos 5 and 6 were taken on Roatan, Honduras.

Common Ground-dove nest, Amazonia National Park, Pará, Brazil, Sept 2000 - click for larger image

The second photo shows a typical nest on the ground under a tussock of grass. The eggs are pure white and there are usually 2 of them which take about 14 days to hatch.

The Common Ground-dove is distributed from the southern United States through Central America and the Caribbean islands to the north of South America and to north-east Brazil. See the distribution map at Birdlife International.

Common Ground-dove, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, Sept 2003 - click for larger image

Common Ground-dove, Zapata Swamp, Cuba, February 2005 - click for larger image

Common Ground-dove, Roatan, Honduras, March 2015 - click for larger image

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