Chile

The Pacific Dove is distributed along the Pacific side of the Andes from south-west Ecuador to northern Chile.

It is found in towns and villages, oases and agricultural areas. Jaramillo notes that it is found from 0 to 1000 metres while HBW says that it is "occasionally found up to 2000 m in Peru." In this respect photo 1 is of interest since it was taken in the small town of Toconao which lies at a height of about 2500 metres.

Pacific Dove was split from White-winged Dove Z. asiatica as recently as 1997. Many authorities refer to it as West Peruvian Dove on the basis that "Pacific Dove is awkward as it implies an insular, not coastal, provenance." However, I would agree with Jaramillo and HBW in calling it Pacific Dove. I don't believe that it implies even coastal provenance and it is certainly not restricted to the west of Peru, indeed it appears to be spreading southwards.

Its most significant feature is the conspicuous blue patch around the eye while in flight it shows large white wing patches which are visible at rest along the edge of the wings.

There are recordings and a distribution map (which does not show its southern limit in Chile) on xeno-canto .