Purplish-backed Quail-Dove

How to find it

Quail-doves are best seen by walking quietly along trails at dawn and dusk. Move slowly and in total silence, even without whispering. Scan the forest floor in mature forest, especially under fruiting trees, and track down calling birds. The few lucky birders who see it usually do so on early dawn walks along remote trails in the Caribbean foothills. Visitors meet it on quiet forest trails there, and one birder photographed it on a trail, which is how it is often seen.

How to recognise it

Look for a smallish, dark forest dove with a few clear marks.

The back is dark brown with a purple tinge on the upper back. A distinct amethyst patch against duller brown wings is a good clue, though the iridescent purple can be hard to see.

The breast and neck are slate gray, with a pale gray front, and the flanks are light brown to chocolate brown.

The face and throat are white, with a black stripe below the cheek and a black line from the bill to the eye.

The eye is brownish orange to red, ringed by bare magenta skin. The legs are pinkish red.

Behaviour and diet

It eats fruit, seeds, insects and worms on the ground. It is rarely seen, usually when it walks along shaded forest paths. Unless it is flushed up into the lower levels of a tree, it stays on the ground.

The calling male sits motionless in dense growth in the lower or middle levels of the forest, so he is hard to see.

The nest is a loose platform of sticks placed in dense undergrowth, and it lays a single egg.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it is a fairly common but local resident of the Caribbean foothills, mostly between 400 and 800 m. In the southeast it reaches 1000 m or more.

It is resident from the Cordillera de Guanacaste in the north, south into Panama. Across its range it lives in humid lowland and montane forest.

When to see it

The breeding season in Costa Rica runs from June to October. It apparently starts earlier in Panama.

Similar birds

Two related quail-doves share the country. The Buff-fronted lives higher, in wet montane forest at 1000 to 3000 m, and has a green nape with back and wings of the same maroon-brown and a buff front. The Chiriqui sits in between, above this species on the Caribbean side, with a buffy face, rusty chest, cinnamon belly and purple only on the upper back. Elevation alone is not reliable where foothill rainforest meets cloud forest, so check the back and the front.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Costa Rican Spanish name is Paloma-perdiz Sombría. Names used elsewhere include paloma perdiz morena, paloma perdiz tuxtleña and paloma perdiz de Lawrence.

Status and conservation

It is a resident (R) on the official Costa Rican bird list and is rated Least Concern globally.

Photography tips

Its habit of walking along shaded forest paths is the best chance for a photograph, as one birder showed on a trail. Move slowly and silently and wait on a quiet path in early light.