English            -             Scaled Dove

Portuguese     -             Fogo-apagou

Latin                -             Columbina squammata

The Scaled Dove is a distinctive little Ground-Dove, also known as the Scaly dove, Ridgway’s dove, Mottled dove, and South American Zebra dove.  It is a species of bird in the Columbidae family.

The Scaled Dove measures around 22 centimetres in length and can weigh up to 60 grams. The Scaled Dove has greyish-brown upper parts, pinkish-grey face and breast, white throat and white flight feather coverts that form a conspicuous white patch on the bird’s closed wings. The dove gets its “scaled” appearance from the dark edges of the birds feathers. Their song is a rather loud rhythmic three-note phrase “pow-co-pow”, repeated every 2-3 seconds.

The Scaled Dove has quite a vast range and is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry scrubland, subtropical or tropical moist scrubland, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grasslands, and heavily degraded former forest.

The Scaled Dove normally feeds from the ground. It feeds on seeds, grains and invertebrates. They typically are found alone or in pairs when foraging on the ground. 

The nest of  the Scaled Dove is made from twigs and is in a shape of a cup, The nest is usually 1 or 2 meters of the ground but sometimes they nest on the ground. The female lays 2 white eggs. No other was information found regarding breeding,                 

The Scaled Dove is not globally threatened and the species is considered common throughout much of its sizeable range. Therefor it is listed on the IUCN list of threatened species, as a species “of least concern”

Photo of the Scaled Dove was taken at Tabocas (near Santa Teresa) - Espirito Santo