- Short-billed Pigeon
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Short-billed Pigeon 
Conservation status Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Columbiformes Family: Columbidae Genus: Patagioenas Species: P. nigrirostris Binomial name Patagioenas nigrirostris
(Sclater, 1860)Synonyms Columba nigrirostris Sclater, 1860
The Short-billed Pigeon, Patagioenas nigrirostris (see Johnson et al. 2001), is a largish pigeon which breeds from southern Mexico south to northwestern Colombia. It is a member of a clade of Patagioenas that contains the smaller and rather plain species with characteristic calls (Johnson et al. 2001) that constitute the subgenus Oenoenas (Mahler & Tubaro 2001).
It is found in lowland forest canopy and semi-open woodland, and builds a rudimentary platform nest out of twigs 5–30 m (15–100 ft) high in a tree or amongst vines. It lays one white egg.
The Short-billed Pigeon is 26.5 cm (10.5 ins) long and weighs 150 g. It is unpatterned and mainly wine-purple in colour, becoming browner on the belly and more olive-brown on the back. The tail and primary flight feathers are blackish, the bill is black, and the legs and eyes are purple-red. The female is slightly duller and browner than the male, and the juvenile bird has a greyish brown head, neck and breast, with cinnamon scaling on the head and upperparts.
The Short-billed Pigeon has a complex, loud and high-pitched call coo... cu-COO k’CO coohoo; this is usually uttered singly or at least with considerable pauses between calls (Mahler & Tubaro 2001). It is normally sighted in pairs as it forages in the tree tops for mistletoe, fruits and berries, but may also be seen on tracks and roadsides seeking grit or small invertebrates.
In southern Central America, this species is replaced at higher altitudes by its close relative, the very similar Ruddy Pigeon, Patagioenas subvinacea. They can be distinguished by the slower, more complex "song" of the Short-billed Pigeon (Mahler & Tubaro 2001).
References
- BirdLife International (2004). Patagioenas nigrirostris. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 23 Feb 2007. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- 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. Auk 118(4): 874-887. PDF fulltext
- Mahler, Bettina & Tubaro, Pablo L. (2001): Relationship between song characters and morphology in New World pigeons. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 74(4): 533–539. doi:10.1006/bijl.2001.0596 (HTML abstract)
- Stiles, F. Gary & Skutch, Alexander Frank (1989): A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Comistock, Ithaca. ISBN 0-8014-9600-4
External links
- Short-billed Pigeon photo; Article (AOCR)
- Short-billed Pigeon photo gallery VIREO
- Short-billed Pigeon videos on the Internet Bird Collection
Categories:- IUCN Red List least concern species
- Patagioenas
- Birds of Central America
- Birds of Mexico
- Native birds of Southern Mexico
- Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula region
- Birds of Belize
- Birds of Guatemala
- Birds of Honduras
- Birds of Nicaragua
- Birds of Costa Rica
- Birds of Panama
- Birds of Colombia
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