Key West Quail-Dove
Encyclopedia
The Key West Quail-Dove (Geotrygon chrysia) is a member of the bird
family Columbidae, which includes doves and pigeons.
The Key West Quail-Dove breeds in the Bahamas
and, except for Jamaica
, throughout the Greater Antilles
. It formerly bred in the Florida Keys
and southernmost mainland Florida
. It was discovered on Key West
and that is how the bird received its name. Although no longer breeding in Florida, it occasionally is still recorded on the Keys and southernmost mainland Florida as a vagrant
. It lays two buff colored eggs
on a flimsy platform built on a shrub. Some nests are built on the ground.
The Key West Quail-Dove is approximately 27–31 cm in length. The bird is distinguished by having a dark rust colored back and similarly colored wings. It has some amethyst or bronze green iridescence
on its crown, nape and in the back of its neck. The mantle, back, rump and inner wing coverts show some purplish red iridescence. It also has a bold white facial stripe. Its call is similar that of the White-tipped Dove
.
This bird is found in tropical and subtropical dry forests
, shrublands
, and lowland moist forests
. These birds forage on the ground, mainly eating seed
s, berries and fallen fruit
. It is fond of poisonwood
fruit. It will also take snail
s in its diet.
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
family Columbidae, which includes doves and pigeons.
The Key West Quail-Dove breeds in the Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
and, except for Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, throughout the Greater Antilles
Greater Antilles
The Greater Antilles are one of three island groups in the Caribbean. Comprising Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico, the Greater Antilles constitute almost 90% of the land mass of the entire West Indies.-Greater Antilles in context :The islands of the Caribbean Sea, collectively known as...
. It formerly bred in the Florida Keys
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...
and southernmost mainland Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. It was discovered on Key West
Key West
Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....
and that is how the bird received its name. Although no longer breeding in Florida, it occasionally is still recorded on the Keys and southernmost mainland Florida as a vagrant
Vagrancy (biology)
Vagrancy is a phenomenon in biology whereby individual animals appear well outside their normal range; individual animals which exhibit vagrancy are known as vagrants. The term accidental is sometimes also used...
. It lays two buff colored eggs
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
on a flimsy platform built on a shrub. Some nests are built on the ground.
The Key West Quail-Dove is approximately 27–31 cm in length. The bird is distinguished by having a dark rust colored back and similarly colored wings. It has some amethyst or bronze green iridescence
Iridescence
Iridescence is generally known as the property of certain surfaces which appear to change color as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes...
on its crown, nape and in the back of its neck. The mantle, back, rump and inner wing coverts show some purplish red iridescence. It also has a bold white facial stripe. Its call is similar that of the White-tipped Dove
White-tipped Dove
The White-tipped Dove is a large New World tropical dove. 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...
.
This bird is found in tropical and subtropical dry forests
Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests
The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest biome, also known as tropical dry forest, is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive several hundred centimeters of rain per year, they have long dry seasons...
, shrublands
Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands
Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands are a grassland terrestrial biome located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and tropical latitudes. Grasslands are dominated by grass and other herbaceous plants. Savannas are grasslands with scattered trees...
, and lowland moist forests
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests , also known as tropical moist forests, are a tropical and subtropical forest biome....
. These birds forage on the ground, mainly eating seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s, berries and fallen fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
. It is fond of poisonwood
Metopium toxiferum
Metopium toxiferum is a species of flowering tree in the cashew or sumac family, Anacardiaceae, that is native to the American neotropics...
fruit. It will also take snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s in its diet.