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 small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

which breeds from

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

south to western

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, and central

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. It belongs to a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

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, an ...

'' 74(4): 533–539. Like the other

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

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

Columba Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey ...

'', but today the New World

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''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 (color), an ambiguous color term *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (given name), a feminine given name, and a list of peopl ...

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 tributary, 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 ...

, 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 closely related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter each other. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct spe ...

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of the plumbeous pigeon, ''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 is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, the ruddy pigeon is replaced at lower altitudes by its close relative, the very similar

short-billed pigeon The short-billed pigeon (''Patagioenas nigrirostris'')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 ...

(''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 and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is expressed by employ ...

to the timberline. In

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

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 The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

. 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 parasite, obligate parasitic plant, hemiparasitic plants in the Order (biology), order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they ...

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 the Talamancan montane forests Birds of Colombia Birds of Venezuela Birds of Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena Birds of the Amazon rainforest ruddy pigeon ruddy pigeon