The Story
I made this photo of a Ruddy Ground Dove (Columbina talpacoti) at Fundación Orquídeas del Tolima in Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia. It feeds mainly on seeds, and sometimes on snails and small insects. It builds a sparsely lined cup nest of sticks in a tree and lays two white eggs. The female is gray-brown rather than rufous. It is a resident breeder from Mexico south to Brazil, Peru, Paraguay and northern Argentina. Ibagué, the capital of Tolima, sits on the Central Andes between the Combeima Canyon and the Magdalena valley, near Nevado del Tolima.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. IUCN lists the Ruddy Ground Dove as Least Concern, with an increasing population.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Ruddy Ground Dove (Columbina talpacoti) belongs to the family Columbidae (Pigeons and Doves) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2020), with the population trend listed as increasing. Source: IUCN Red List