Sulawesi Ground Dove

The Sulawesi ground dove is a stocky, short-tailed forest pigeon about 35 cm long. A yellow or golden forehead, green crown and upper nape and burgundy-purple neck patch form a diagnostic head pattern. The back, wings and tail are dark brown, the outer tail feathers greyer, and the pale underside carries a soft yellow wash across the breast. The sexes look alike, while juveniles are browner with rusty feather edges (eBird/Merlin and Wikipedia general species accounts).

This endemic dove normally occurs singly or in pairs on the floor of Sulawesi’s primary and montane rainforest. It searches there for seeds and fallen fruit and, when disturbed, typically runs away rather than immediately taking flight. Its call is a deep two-part hoot, sometimes preceded by a note so soft that it is barely audible. The female lays a single white egg, although the opened accounts provide no incubation or fledging period (eBird/Merlin and Wikipedia general species accounts).