The Tawitawi brown dove (''Phapitreron cinereiceps'') is a

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

species of bird in the family

Columbidae 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 ...

noted for its orange-peach breast. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to forests in the Sulu Archipelago (islands of

Tawi-Tawi Tawi-Tawi, officially the Province of Tawi-Tawi ( tl, Lalawigan ng Tawi-Tawi; Tausug: ''Wilaya' sin Tawi-Tawi''; Sinama: ''Jawi Jawi/Jauih Jauih''), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim ...

and Sanga-Sanga) in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Until recently it was considered

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organis ...

with the

Mindanao brown dove The Mindanao brown dove (''Phapitreron brunneiceps'') is a threatened species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to forests on the Philippine islands of Mindanao and Basilan, but it has not been recorded from the latter island since 1 ...

and collectively called the dark-eared brown dove. Although threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

, the rate of loss significantly reduced from 2004 to 2007, and it was thus downlisted from Critically Endangered to

Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...

status in the 2007

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

Description and Taxonomy

EBird eBird is an online database of bird observations providing scientists, researchers and amateur naturalists with real-time data about bird distribution and abundance. Originally restricted to sightings from the Western Hemisphere, the project ...

describes the bird as "A medium-sized dove of lowland secondary forest on Tawi-Tawi Island, where it is the only brown-dove. Dark brown above with a gray head, purplish iridescence on the back of the neck, rufous-brown underparts from the throat to the belly, white under the base of the tail, and a pale gray tail tip. Does not resemble any other similarly sized doves in its range. Sings an accelerating series on the same pitch, ending in a trill, “dup-dup-dup-du-du-d-d-drrrrr,” reminiscent of a ping-pong ball falling on a table."

Habitat and Conservation Status

Its natural habitats are tropical moist lowland secondary

forests A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

and

forest edge A woodland edge or forest edge is the transition zone (ecotone) from an area of woodland or forest to fields or other open spaces. Certain species of plants and animals are adapted to the forest edge, and these species are often more familiar to hu ...

with it being less common in

primary forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological feature ...

. It being more common in these areas shows that it is tolerant of degraded forests . The

classifies this bird as an endangered species with population estimates of 250 to 999 mature individuals This species' main threat is

with wholesale clearance of forest habitats as a result of legal and

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corruption, corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, o ...

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

and conversion into farmlands through

Slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed veget ...

and urbanization. Hunting and trapping also occurs despite laws against these practices. There are no protected areas in the archipelago. A project proposal exists to provide conservation funding for the Tawitawi/Sulu Coastal Area. There are no species specific conservation programs going on at the moment.

Footnotes

References

* BirdLife International (2007a)
2006-2007 Red List status changes
Retrieved 2007-AUG-26. * BirdLife International (2007b)

Retrieved 2007-AUG-26.

Tawitawi brown dove The Tawitawi brown dove (''Phapitreron cinereiceps'') is a threatened species of bird in the family Columbidae noted for its orange-peach breast. It is endemic to forests in the Sulu Archipelago (islands of Tawi-Tawi and Sanga-Sanga) in the Phi ...

Fauna of Tawi-Tawi

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Columbiformes-stub