The grey-headed dove (''Leptotila plumbeiceps'') is a large

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. ...

dove 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 ...

. It is found from eastern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

to Colombia.

Taxonomy and systematics

The grey-headed dove, the

grey-fronted dove The grey-fronted dove (''Leptotila rufaxilla'') is a large New World tropical dove. It is found on Trinidad and in every mainland South American country except Chile.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D ...

(''Leptotila rufaxilla'') and

pallid dove The pallid dove (''Leptotila pallida'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robb ...

(''L. pallida'') of

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 sout ...

, the

Azuero dove The Azuero dove or brown-backed dove (''Leptotila battyi'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to Panama. Taxonomy and systematics The Azuero dove, the grey-fronted dove (''Leptotila rufaxilla'') and pallid dove ('' ...

(''L. battyi'') of

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. ...

, and the

Grenada dove The Grenada dove (''Leptotila wellsi'') is a medium-sized New World tropical dove. It is endemic to the island of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. Originally known as the pea doveLawrence, G. N. (1884). Characters of a new species of ''Engyptila' ...

(''L. wellsi'') of Grenada were at one time thought to be a single species. Grey-headed dove, grey-fronted dove, and pallid dove are possibly a superspecies.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 August 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved August 24, 2021Baptista, L. F., P. W. Trail, H. M. Horblit, E. de Juana, P. F. D. Boesman, and E. F. J. Garcia (2020). Gray-headed Dove (''Leptotila plumbeiceps''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.gyhdov1.01 retrieved September 21, 2021 The

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union, formerly known as the International Ornithological Committee, is a group of about 200 international ornithologists, and is responsible for the International Ornithological Congress and other international ...

(IOC) and the '' Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) recognize two subspecies, the nominate ''L. p. plumbiceps'' and ''L. p. notia''. They also recognize the

(''L. battyi'') with two subspecies, which the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

(AOS) and the

Clements taxonomy ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 202 ...

include in the grey-headed dove.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world'' Version 5. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip xls zipped 1 MBretrieved May 27, 2021Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 25, 2021

Description

The grey-headed dove is long and weighs . The adult male of the nominate subspecies has a pale bluish gray forehead and a slightly darker crown, nape, upper mantle, and sides of the neck. The rest of the face is pinkish buff. The throat and belly are white and the breast is pale pink. The upperparts are olive brown with a rufous wash. The central tail feathers are dark olive brown and the outer three are black with white tips. The bill is black and the legs and feet are pink. The adult female is very similar, with the addition of a wash of grayish fawn on the breast. The juvenile is a more intense olive above than the adult and its breast has a barred appearance. Adults of ''L. p. notia'' are darker than the nominate and their upperparts are more olive.

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of grey-headed dove is found from eastern Mexico south to northern Nicaragua and discontinuously in southern Nicaragua, northwestern Costa Rica, and the western Andes of Colombia. ''L. p. notia'' is found on the Caribbean slope of western Panama. The grey-headed dove inhabits the interior and edges of humid forest, both primary and secondary. In Colombia it appears to prefer dryer forest types. In elevation it ranges from sea level to in most of Central America, but is found as high as in Honduras. In Colombia it is mostly found between and up to on

Puracé Puracé is an andesitic stratovolcano located in the Puracé National Natural Park in the Cauca Department, Colombia. It is part of the North Volcanic Zone of the Andean Volcanic Belt. The volcano is located at the intersection of the Coconuc ...

, an active volcano.

Behavior

Feeding

No information has been published about the grey-headed dove's foraging behavior or diet.

Breeding

Specimens of grey-headed dove in breeding condition were taken in January on Puracé, but nothing else is known about the species' breeding phenology.

Vocalization

The grey-headed dove's song is "a single mournful monotonous note 'wooOOOoo' which fades in and out."

Status

The IUCN has assessed the grey-headed dove as being of Least Concern. It has a large range and is considered to be fairly common to common in most of it but uncommon in Colombia. Its biology and ecology remain virtually unknown.

References

Additional reading

* Stiles and Skutch, ''A guide to the birds of Costa Rica'' {{Authority control grey-headed dove Birds of Belize Birds of Central America grey-headed dove grey-headed dove grey-headed dove