Olive-backed Quail-Dove

How to find it

Aim for mature wet forest on the Caribbean side and scan the floor below fruiting trees. Walk slowly and silently, and track down calling birds. Because it tends to walk or run away rather than fly, stop often and watch the trail far ahead for movement on the ground. Army ant swarms can draw it in, as at Tirimbina. Views are usually brief, so patience matters more than speed.

How to recognise it

Start with the face. The forehead is white, and a broad white stripe runs below the eye, with a narrower black stripe under it. The throat is white and the flanks are reddish buff.

The rest of the bird in Costa Rica:

- Upperparts: dark olive brown.

- Neck and breast: dark brownish gray with a greenish sheen.

- Belly: white.

- Bill: black.

- Legs: dull coral red.

- Bare skin around the eye: magenta.

It is about 21.5 cm long and about 165 g. Juveniles are darker and duller than adults, with thick scaly cinnamon to rufous edging on the upperparts.

Behaviour and diet

It eats seeds, small fruits and small invertebrates, and it is usually seen alone or in pairs. When disturbed it tends to walk or run away, though it sometimes flies a short distance.

The nest is a bulky pile of twigs and rootlets placed in vegetation, usually 1 to 2 m above the ground. The clutch is two eggs. In Costa Rica the breeding season runs from January to July.

Where it lives

Across its whole range it lives in dense wet forest, especially wet ravines, from sea level up to about 900 m. That range runs from the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica to northwestern Ecuador.

In Costa Rica it occurs in forested Caribbean lowlands and reaches about 450 m locally on the foothill slopes of the mountain ranges. A photographed record comes from the Recope road in Limón province, in the southern Caribbean lowlands near the Panama border.

When to see it

In Costa Rica the breeding season runs from January to July.

Similar birds

Among Costa Rican quail-doves it is the only one with mostly dark gray plumage plus a white mark on the face. Identification is straightforward if you get a look.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Costa Rican Spanish name is Paloma-perdiz bigotiblanca, and Paloma Bigotiblanca is also used in Nicaragua. Other Spanish names used elsewhere in its range include Paloma-perdiz de Veragua, Paloma-perdiz cariblanca and Paloma perdiz de pecho negro.

Status and conservation

The AOCR official list gives it as a resident (R) in Costa Rica, and the IUCN rates it Least Concern.

Photography tips

Quail-doves are among the harder birds to see in Costa Rica and need patience. Group tours find them especially tough, so keep movement slow and be ready for a brief view.