The ruddy pigeon (''Patagioenas subvinacea'') is a largish

pigeon Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

which breeds from Costa Rica south to western

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar language, Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechuan ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, and central

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. It belongs to a clade of small and rather plain species of ''Patagioenas'' with characteristic calls that constitute the subgenus ''Oenoenas''.Mahler, Bettina & Tubaro, Pablo L. (2001): Relationship between song characters and morphology in New World pigeons. ''

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society The ''Biological Journal of the Linnean Society'' is a direct descendant of the oldest biological journal in the world, the '' Transactions of the Linnean Society''. It succeeded the earlier title in 1969. The journal specializes in evolution, a ...

'' 74(4): 533–539. Like the other

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

pigeons, it was formerly united with their Old World relatives in ''

Columba Columba or Colmcille; gd, Calum Cille; gv, Colum Keeilley; non, Kolban or at least partly reinterpreted as (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is tod ...

'', but today the New World

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

''Patagioenas'' is recognized as distinct again.Johnson, Kevin P.; de Kort, Selvino; Dinwoodey, Karen, Mateman, A. C.; ten Cate, Carel; Lessells, C. M. & Clayton, Dale H. (2001): A molecular phylogeny of the dove genera ''Streptopelia'' and ''Columba''. ''

The Auk ''Ornithology'', formerly ''The Auk'' and ''The Auk: Ornithological Advances'', is a peer-reviewed scientific journal and the official publication of the American Ornithological Society (AOS). It was established in 1884 and is published quarterly. ...

'' 118(4): 874–887.
PDF fulltext
The ruddy pigeon is 28 cm (11 in) long and weighs 170 g. It is unpatterned and mainly wine-purple in colour, becoming more rufous on the back. The tail and primary flight feathers are dark brown, the bill is black, and the legs are purple-red. The

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

is typically red, but can, at least in the

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Boli ...

, sometimes be dull yellow (however, due to the red eye-ring, the iris never appears as conspicuously white as in adults of the

sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species s ...

subspecies of the

plumbeous pigeon The plumbeous pigeon (''Patagioenas plumbea'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Taxonomy and systematics T ...

, ''P. plumbea''). The female is slightly duller and browner than the male, and the juvenile bird has a greyish brown head, neck and breast, with cinnamon or rufous scaling on the head and upperparts. It has a loud and fairly high-pitched ''coo, ko'COO coo'' call, with considerable pauses between calls just as in its relatives. There are some geographical variations in its voice, with some populations singing four-noted songs, while others sing three-noted songs. In

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

, the ruddy pigeon is replaced at lower altitudes by its close relative, the very similar short-billed pigeon (''P. nigrirostris''). The two species are best separated by call, which is faster and less complex in ''P. subvinacea''. ChloraenasSubvinaceaKeulemans

In Central America it is found in highland forest canopy and semi-open woodland from 1500 m (5000 ft)

ASL American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...

to the timberline. In

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

it occurs in the canopy of humid forest from near sea-level to 1500 m (5000 ft) ASL, occasionally higher; exceptionally, they may range up to 3000 m ASL or more. Krabbe, Niels; Flórez, Pablo; Suárez, Gustavo; Castaño, José; Arango, Juan David & Duque, Arley (2006) The birds of Páramo de Frontino, western Andes of Colombia. ''Ornitologıá Colombiana'' 4: 39–50 nglish with Spanish abstractbr>PDF fulltext
It is not uncommon across its wide range but due to projected deforestation is thus classified as a Least Concern species by the IUCN. It is normally seen in pairs as it forages in the tree tops for fruits and berries—being particularly fond of

mistletoe Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they extract water and nutrients from the host plant ...

fruit – but may occasionally be seen on tracks and roadside seeking grit. It builds a rudimentary platform nest out of twigs 5 m high in a small tree, and lays one white egg.

References

* Stiles, F. Gary & Skutch, Alexander Frank (1989): ''A guide to the birds of Costa Rica''. Comistock, Ithaca.

External links

Ruddy pigeon videos-(''Columba subvinacea'')
on the Internet Bird Collection

VIREO {{Taxonbar, from=Q1260727 ruddy pigeon Birds of Costa Rica Birds of Panama Birds of Colombia Birds of Ecuador Birds of Venezuela Birds of the Guianas Birds of the Amazon Basin ruddy pigeon ruddy pigeon Birds of Brazil