White-winged Dove

How to find it

Start in the dry northwest, in savanna, forest edge and thorny scrub. Scan savanna trees for roosting flocks. Watch open ground for birds walking with a bobbing head rather than hopping. In San José and the Central Valley it is one of the most common doves, so a garden or park can be enough. Garden birding in Tibás, a San José suburb, turns it up readily alongside Inca Dove.

How to recognise it

This is a medium-sized, brownish dove with a bold white wing stripe and a rounded tail with a white tip.

Look at the face for a black spot low on the cheek, an orange eye and blue bare skin around the eye. The bill is black and the legs are red.

Males show a purplish wash on the head and neck and a bronzy purple patch on the side of the neck. These marks are reduced or missing in females. Juveniles are paler and grayer, with no purple.

The Costa Rican subspecies, australis, breeds in western Costa Rica and western Panama. It is smaller than the northern form, with a browner back and wings and a redder chest.

What it sounds like

Recording: Dan MacNeal, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

The White-winged Dove is very sociable, and it roosts in big flocks in savanna trees. It forages alone, in pairs or in big flocks, mainly on the ground in fields, parks and urban areas.

It nests in a shallow stick platform 2 to 8 m up in thorny trees, cacti, shrubs or low mangroves. Breeding runs from January to March. It uses mostly open habitats and even nests on human structures.

Where it lives

It usually lives up to about 500 m elevation and is only rarely seen higher. Its habitat is savanna, forest edge, and dry country with cactus, thorny scrub and scattered trees.

Its stronghold is the dry north Pacific, with a range reaching south to about Jacó. In the west it comes close to the Central Valley and sometimes strays east to San José. It also adapts well to towns and settled areas.

When to see it

Large numbers of migrants from North America winter in Guanacaste, roughly from November to May. Nesting in the dry season peaks in March and April.

Similar birds

It is about the size of a Rock Pigeon in the city and much larger than the Inca Dove. The white wing stripe separates it from both.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Ricans call it Paloma Aliblanca or Arrocera, a local name that echoes rice. Other Spanish names used for the species include paloma ala blanca, paloma pitayera, tórtola aliblanca and torcaza aliblanca, though not all of these are specific to Costa Rica.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident and migrant (R,M), and it has expanded its range and numbers in Costa Rica, while the IUCN lists it globally as Least Concern.

Photography tips

In Taboga, Guanacaste, the dove often nests on tops of posts at about 2.4 m, so nests can be seen at eye level. Parents peck at Black Iguanas that climb the posts.