The Story
I photographed this Ruddy Ground Dove (Columbina talpacoti) at Spa Ambiental Turística Los Alpes in Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia. It is a resident breeder from Mexico south to Brazil, Peru, Paraguay and northern Argentina. 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. Ibagué, the capital of Tolima, sits on the Central Andes between the Combeima Canyon and the Magdalena valley, near Nevado del Tolima.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/160 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400. 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