Geographic Range
Common ground doves (
Columbina passerina
) have one of the widest and northernmost distributions in the genus
Columbina
. Common ground doves are found throughout the southernmost tier of the United States,
from California to Florida, the West Indies, Mexico, much of Central America, and
the northern third of South America.
- Biogeographic Regions
- nearctic
- neotropical
Habitat
Common ground doves make seasonal movements - during the wintertime they leave the
colder, inland, and high-altitude portions of their range. The majority of these birds
settle close to where they are born, but some are found north of their breeding range.
They are generally found in arid, early-successional, open woodlands and shrub habitats.
In addition, they are also found near human occupied areas such as irrigated agricultural
fields and less dense residential areas. Their breeding range can be natural or human-modified
habitats, which are relatively dry and open. For their natural habitats they prefer
open pine woods, forest edges, lakeshores, and coastal dunes. In the southwestern
U.S. they inhabit mesquite flats and river bottom woodlands. They also breed in desert
environments such as desert scrub, alkali desert scrub, riparian, and desert wash
areas. When close to coastlines, common ground doves breed in river valleys. When
in Florida they prefer xeric oak scrub, open pines, flat woods, scrubby flat woods,
and coastal strands. In Grenada they prefer secondary grasslands, secondary scrub,
savanna, young secondary forests, and residential areas. Within residential areas
they breed in gardens, farm fields, horse corrals, agricultural edges, old fields,
suburbs, cotton fields, pine plantations, and overgrazed grasslands. They mostly overwinter
in coastal counties in Louisiana and Mississippi.
- Habitat Regions
- terrestrial
Physical Description
Common ground doves are the smallest species in their family ( Columbidae ) and are also the smallest dove in North America. They are about the size of a sparrow, with both sexes reaching 15 to 18 cm in length and an average body mass of 28 to 40g. They are chunky, with short legs and sandy brown coloration wtih dark spots on their wing coverts. One distinguishing feature of common ground doves is the scaling on their underparts, which extends from their throats to their lower breasts. They have short round wings, short tails, and thin beaks. Their beaks are bicolored, with dark tips and bright-orange or reddish-pink bases. They also have rufous patches that are visible when they are in flight.
Males have a pinkish color on their heads, chests, and necks, as well as blue crowns.
Overall, females are duller in comparison to males. Both sexes have feet and legs
that are a pinkish color. However, during the breeding season, the legs of males become
brighter. Hatchlings have dull gray skin, are sparsely covered, and have hair like
structures along their small bodies. Juveniles resemble adults in many ways, the only
differences being that juveniles have lighter breast scaling and juvenile male breasts
are a bit pinker than female breasts.
- Other Physical Features
- endothermic
- bilateral symmetry
- Sexual Dimorphism
- sexes alike
- sexes colored or patterned differently
- male more colorful
Reproduction
Common ground doves form close social bonds, especially as breeding pairs. Breeding pairs maintain persistent pair bonds throughout and between years. They have long breeding seasons that last almost the entire year. In this time they produce multiple broods. It is rare for birds to breed before 10 to 12 months of age, but there is evidence of breeding by juvenile common ground doves.
The timing of the peak of breeding season is dependent on resource availability within
a breeding area. Common ground doves regularly nest from February through October.
Nest-building occurs 3 to 4 days prior to egg-laying. Ground doves build flimsy nests
which they invest minimal time in building. Their nests may be built on or above the
ground. Both sexes help with this task - one member of the pair usually sits upon
the incipient nest while the other brings building material. When they build on the
ground, common ground doves dig a small indentation and line it with grass, weeds,
palm fibers, or needles. They fashion above-ground nests using twigs or pine needles
and line them with roots and grasses. Nests are usually 64 to 76 mm in diameter with
a depth of 30 to 51 mm. The tops of eggs can usually be seen above nest rims.
- Mating System
- monogamous
- cooperative breeder
Common ground doves lay white, ovular eggs which have an average mass of 3.2 g. The
typical brood size is two eggs. It takes about one month to complete a successful
nesting cycle. This includes egg incubation for 12 to 14 days and nestling care for
11 to 14 days. Parents take turn incubating eggs and feeding nestlings. Nestlings
eat a mixture of seeds and crop milk and begin feeding within hours of hatching. Newborn
chicks are altricial - their eyes are closed and they are covered with sparse, hair-like,
gray down. Both partners brood and time of brooding decreases as nestlings become
older. Parents make new nests within 2 to 3 weeks, so chicks become independent within
this time.
- Key Reproductive Features
- iteroparous
- gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
- sexual
- oviparous
Common ground dove parents take care of their young until they are able to fly and forage for food themselves. Parents work together to build a safe nesting place for their eggs. They also take turns bringing food for hatchlings and protect their nests until their young are fledged.
- Parental Investment
- altricial
- male parental care
- female parental care
-
pre-fertilization
-
protecting
- female
-
protecting
-
pre-hatching/birth
-
protecting
- male
- female
-
protecting
-
pre-weaning/fledging
-
provisioning
- male
- female
-
protecting
- male
- female
-
provisioning
Lifespan/Longevity
Although annual survival rates are unknown, wild common ground doves have been reported
to live up to 7.2 years. A study in Puerto Rico gave a mean interval between recaptures
of their resident birds of 13.5 months. They also reported their longest recapture
interval as being 3 years and 11 months old (Faaborg and Winters, 1979). Average lifespan
depends on the geographic region an individual inhabits along with the resource availability
within that region.
Causes of Mortality:
In 58 banding recoveries, predation was shown to be responsible for 21% of mortality
and half of this predation was by domestic cats. Accidents were responsible for 41%
of mortality. the type of accidents included collisions with stationary objects like
power lines and towers (responsible for 62% of accident mortality) and collisions
with vehicles (responsible for the remaining 38%). Lastly, 17% of mortality was a
result of shooting. One bird was shot in each of the following areas: Texas, Mexico,
Louisiana, and the Bahamas.
Behavior
Common Ground Doves are seed eaters, spending the day searching for seeds on the ground. They also roost in trees and shrubs during the day or night. Common ground doves hold their tails slightly elevated and bob their heads when walking. They mostly make short, direct, low flights. These birds are accustomed to human contact, so they are not anxious when around humans and most of the time seem unbothered by them.
Male common ground doves compete with each other for food and mates. When they have to defend either of the two, they make cooing calls, reveal their chestnut-colored wing patches, and raise their wings. When vying for female attention, individual males will follow individual females to not lose sight of them. Males then offer food to the female they are courting and, when she finally accepts the regurgitated food, the partnership officially begins. The male bows to the female, flicks his wings and gives a guttural call before mating.
- Key Behaviors
- terricolous
- motile
Home Range
Little is reported for exact home ranges, but common ground doves typically remain near the areas in which they were born.
Communication and Perception
Communication changes throughout the lifespan of common ground doves. When they are
nestlings they use soft "cheep" sounds to indicate their hunger to their parents.
Nestlings use louder "peep" sounds to show their excitement for food or when they
are in distress. Adults use "woot woot woot" or "wroo" calls, which are repeated 4
to 5 times a minute. These calls are usually a courtship advertisement or they indicate
an exchange of nests. These same calls are sometimes used when they are being flushed
from their nests; the difference in this situation is a decrease in volume during
the call. Common ground doves also have a guttural "squawk", which they use during
their bow-cow courtship display. Their "wut-wut" call is given when they are threatened
by another common ground dove. On a daily basis, common ground doves participate in
“cooing” throughout the day at all hours. Lastly, they have vocal flight calls that
serve as warning signals.
- Communication Channels
- acoustic
Food Habits
Common ground doves often forage on bare and open grounds, where they can find seeds.
They usually forage in pairs but in some occasions they may feed in groups of 6 to
20; this only occurs outside of breeding season. Their diet primarily consists of
seeds from wild grasses and weeds. They feed off different seeds depending on the
season and geographic location. However, the most common seeds they eat during all
seasons include crowngrasses and doveweed. In winter they eat crowngrasses, panicgrasses,
wood sorrels, prickly mallow, and doveweed. They also feed on insects, tiny berries,
and occasionally even snail shells during the spring. The small amount of snails they
consume during spring help with two things: it replenishes the calcium they lose to
eggs and aids in the production of crop milk.
- Animal Foods
- insects
- Plant Foods
- wood, bark, or stems
- fruit
Predation
As much as they try to hide using shrub cover common ground doves experience predation. Nest predation can be extreme, causing the loss of more than half of all nests in a particular area. Fish crows ( Corvus ossifragus ) and rat snakes (genus Pantheropis ) are major predators. Since they make nests on the ground, they are susceptible to terrestrial predators such as bobcats ( Lynx rufus ), raccoons ( Procyon lotor ), skunks (family Mephitidae ), opossums (order Didelphimorphia ), and domestic dogs ( Canis lupus familiaris ) and cats ( Felis catus ). Since nestlings are so vulnerable, the selection of proper nest sites is crucial for the survival of young.
Raptors such as eagles, owls, hawks, falcons and others are major predators of common
ground doves. In Florida the Florida scrub jays were observed flushing adult common
ground doves off their nests and then eating their nests. When faced with nest predators,
male common ground doves are responsible for defending their young. Males do this
by raising their wings, ruffling their feathers, making harsh nasal sounds, and sometimes
even striking predators with their wings. Common ground doves will also try to distract
potential predators away from nests. They do this by pretending they have a wing injury
and flying off once the predator redirects its attention from a nest site. Common
ground doves are always wary of potential predation. This vigilance reduces the chance
that they will be preyed on. For example, common ground doves go to drink water in
large groups - the larger their group size, the longer they stay at water sources.
- Anti-predator Adaptations
- aposematic
Ecosystem Roles
Common ground doves are seed eaters, thus they play an important role in their habitats
as seed predators and seed dispersers. Their small size makes them an easy prey for
several species. Common ground doves experience aerial predation from raptors as well
as terrestrial predation from mammals and reptiles. Their eggs suffer from predation
by terrestrial predators and birds such as fish crows (
Corvus ossifragus
). Common ground doves are also hosts for several parasites, including three species
of lice (
Columbicola columbae
,
Physconnelloides zenaidurae
, and
Physconnelloides johnsoni
). In Baja California, louse flies (
Microlynchia pusilla
) were found on 4 of 164 captured common ground doves. Feather mites (
Byersalges phyllophorus
) were also found on them in the West Indes.
- Ecosystem Impact
- disperses seeds
- parasite
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
There are no known positive economic impacts of common ground doves.
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative
There are no known negative impacts of common ground doves on human health or economy.
Conservation Status
Although common ground doves are not federally listed, they are categorized as endangered
in New Mexico and as a species of concern in Alabama. They are considered a species
of least concern on the IUCN Red List and have no special status on the US Migratory
Bird Act, the Federal List, CITES, or the State of Michigan List. There have been
no conservation measures taken or brought into light, but studies in Puerto Rico indicated
that an increase in food abundance along with a decrease in predators resulted in
an increase of nest densities.
Additional Links
Contributors
Yuzmel Romero (author), California State University, San Marcos, Tracey Brown (editor), California State University, San Marcos, Galen Burrell (editor), Special Projects.
- Nearctic
-
living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.
- Neotropical
-
living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.
- terrestrial
-
Living on the ground.
- monogamous
-
Having one mate at a time.
- cooperative breeder
-
helpers provide assistance in raising young that are not their own
- altricial
-
young are born in a relatively underdeveloped state; they are unable to feed or care for themselves or locomote independently for a period of time after birth/hatching. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching.
- male parental care
-
parental care is carried out by males
- female parental care
-
parental care is carried out by females
- motile
-
having the capacity to move from one place to another.
- acoustic
-
uses sound to communicate
- duets
-
to jointly display, usually with sounds in a highly coordinated fashion, at the same time as one other individual of the same species, often a mate
- choruses
-
to jointly display, usually with sounds, at the same time as two or more other individuals of the same or different species
- aposematic
-
having coloration that serves a protective function for the animal, usually used to refer to animals with colors that warn predators of their toxicity. For example: animals with bright red or yellow coloration are often toxic or distasteful.
- parasite
-
an organism that obtains nutrients from other organisms in a harmful way that doesn't cause immediate death
- carnivore
-
an animal that mainly eats meat
- insectivore
-
An animal that eats mainly insects or spiders.
- herbivore
-
An animal that eats mainly plants or parts of plants.
- frugivore
-
an animal that mainly eats fruit
- granivore
-
an animal that mainly eats seeds
- endothermic
-
animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.
- bilateral symmetry
-
having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.
- iteroparous
-
offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).
- sexual
-
reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female
- oviparous
-
reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.
- visual
-
uses sight to communicate
- tactile
-
uses touch to communicate
- acoustic
-
uses sound to communicate
- chemical
-
uses smells or other chemicals to communicate
References
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Bowman, R. 2002. "Common Ground-Dove" (On-line). Birds of North America. Accessed March 17, 2020 at https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/cogdov/introduction .
Burger, J. 1992. Drinking, Vigilance, and Group Size in White-Tipped Doves and Common Ground-Doves in Costa Rica. Wilson Bulletin , 104(2): 357-359.
Faaborg, J., J. Winters. 1979. Winter resident returns and longevity and weights of Puerto Rican birds. Bird-Banding , 50: 216-223.
Gaud, J., N. Barre. 1992. Falculiferidae (Astigmata, Perolichoidea) infesting Columbiformes in the West Indies. 1. Genera Atyeonia, Byersalges, Hyperaspidacarus, Nanolichus, Pterophagoides, and Pterophagus.. Acarologia , 33: 273-283.
Hailman, J. 1989. Common Ground-Dove's injury-feigning distracts Florida Scrub Jay. Auk , 106: 742.
Hesse, V., A. Lamoreaux, L. Arbanas, C. Hanks, B. Whitney, I. Arellano, L. Woff, J. McGowan. 2017. "Common Ground Dove" (On-line). All About Birds. Accessed March 17, 2020 at https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Ground_Dove/id .
Johnston, R. 1964. Remarks on the behavior of the ground dove. Condor , 66: 65-69.
Kennard, J. 1975. Longevity records of North American birds. Bird-Banding , 46(1): 55-73.
Landers, L., J. Buckner. 1979. Ground dove use of young pine plantations. Wilson Bulletin , 91: 467-468.
Mitchell, M., L. Best, J. Gionfriddo. 1996. Avian Nest-Site Selection and Nesting Success in Two Florida Citrus Groves. The Wilson Bulletin , 108(3): 573-583.
Nicholson, D. 1937. Notes on the breeding of the ground dove in Florida.. Wilson Bulletin , 49: 101-114.
Passmore, M. 1984. Reproduction by juvenile common ground doves in South Texas. The Wilson Bulletin , 96/2: 241-248.
Peters, H. 1936. A list of external parasites from birds of the eastern part of the United States. Bird-Banding , 7: 9-27.
Prince, R., D. Clayton, R. Hellenthal. 1999. Taxonomic review of Physconelloides (Phthiraptera: Philopteridae) from the Columbiformes (Aves), including descriptions of three new species. Journal of Medical Entomology , 36: 195-206.
Rivera-Milan, F. 1996. Nest density and success of columbids in Puerto Rico. Condor , 98: 100-113.
Rivera-Milan, F. 2001. Transect surveys of columbid nests on Puerto Rico, Vieques, and Culebra Islands. Condor , 103: 332-342.
Robertson, H. 1988. Relationship between body weight, egg weight, and clutch size in pigeons and doves (Aves: Columbiformes). Journal of Zoology (London) , 215: 217-229.
Skutch, A. 1956. Life History of the Ruddy Ground Dove. Condor , 58: 188-205.
Tella, J., R. Rodriguez-Estrella, G. Blanco. 2000. Louse flies on birds in Baja California. Journal of Wildlife Diseases , 36: 154-156.
Unitt, P. 1984. The birds of San Diego County. San Diego Society of Natural History Memoirs , 13: 1-276.
Wunderle, J. 1985. An ecological comparison of the avifaunas of Grenada and Tobago, West Indies. Wilson Bulletin , 97: 356-365.