[order] Columbiformes | [family] Columbidae | [latin] Leptotila rufaxilla | [UK] Grey-fronted Dove | [FR] Colombe a front gris | [DE] Rotachseltaube | [ES] Paloma Montaraz Frentiblanca | [IT] Tortora frontegrigia | [NL] Grijskruinduif
Subspecies
| Genus | Species | subspecies | Breeding Range | Breeding Range 2 | Non Breeding Range |
| Leptotila | rufaxilla | SA | Colombia to ne Argentina | ||
| Leptotila | rufaxilla | bahiae | c Brazil | ||
| Leptotila | rufaxilla | dubusi | se Colombia to e Peru, nw Brazil and s Venezuela | ||
| Leptotila | rufaxilla | hellmayri | ne Venezuela, Trinidad | ||
| Leptotila | rufaxilla | pallidipectus | e Colombia, w Venezuela | ||
| Leptotila | rufaxilla | reichenbachii | sc and s Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and ne Argentina | ||
| Leptotila | rufaxilla | rufaxilla | e Venezuela, the Guianas, n Brazil |
Physical charateristics
It has an approx. length of 28 cm. Adult have a blue-grey crown, a whitish forehead and a grey neck showing purple iridescence. They have a whitish throat and the eye-ring is red. The upperparts and wings are grey-brown, and the underparts are whitish shading to pinkish-buff on the chest. The underwing coverts are rufous. The white tip to the tail is narrower than in the White-tipped Dove. The bill is black, the legs red and the iris is yellow.
Listen to the sound of Grey-fronted Dove
[audio:http://www.aviflevoland.nl/sounddb/G/Grey-fronted Dove.mp3]
Copyright remark: Most sounds derived from xeno-canto
| wingspan min.: | 0 | cm | wingspan max.: | 0 | cm |
| size min.: | 27 | cm | size max.: | 29 | cm |
| incubation min.: | 14 | days | incubation max.: | 15 | days |
| fledging min.: | 14 | days | fledging max.: | 15 | days |
| broods: | 0 | eggs min.: | 1 | ||
| eggs max.: | 3 |
Range
It is a resident breeder from the southernmost Texas in the USA through Mexico and Central America south to western Peru and central Argentina. It also breeds on the offshore islands of northern South America, including Trinidad and Tobago. Numerous subspecies exists; some of the more widespread are the nominate taxon, L. v. verreauxi, from Nicaragua to Venezuela, L. v. angelica from Texas and coastal Mexico, L. v. decolor west of the Andes from Colombia to northern Peru, L. v. brasiliensis in most of the Amazon north of the Amazon River and L. v. decipiens in a large part of central South America. In Suriname found in the same habitat as the white-tipped dove but more bound to dense forest edges.
Habitat
The Grey-fronted Dove inhabits humid forest and woodland.
Reproduction
It builds a large stick nest in a bush or on a stump and lays two white eggs. Incubation is about 14 days, and fledging another 15.
Feeding habits
The food of this species is mainly seeds obtained by foraging on the ground, but it will also take insects.
Conservation
This species has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 12,000,000 km2. The global population size has not been quantified, but it is believed to be large as the species is described as ‘common’ in at least parts of its range (Stotz et al. 1996). Global population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Migration
Resident throughout range.
Distribution map
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