Inca Dove, Columbina inca

Inca Dove, Columbina inca. Birds photographed in residential Mexico City, Mexico, March 2021. Photographs and identification courtesy of Marina Sutormina, Stockholm, Sweden.

Inca Dove, Columbina inca. Bird photographed within Parque National Huatulco, Huatulco, Oaxaca, March 2021. Photograph and identification courtesy of Marina Sutormina, Stockholm, Sweden.

Background and Identification

The Inca Dove, Columbina inca, is a species of the Columbidae Family of Pigeons and Doves, which has three hundred forty-eight members placed in forty-nine genera, and in one of thirty-six global species of the Columbina Genus. They are known in Mexico as tortolita mexicana.

The Inca Dove is small in stature. The sexes are similar. They have brownish gray upperparts transitioning to pale ventrally. They have an overall scaly appearance caused by the barring of dark brown feather tips. Their tail is long with a square tip and white outer corners and edging. Their primaries and wings have a chestnut appearance in flight. Their bill is blackish, being thicker at the tip, their iris is dark red and their legs and feet are pinkish gray.

Habitat and Geographical Range

The Inca Dove is conspicuous, being found on lawns and short grass habitats within human habitations , including cities, farms, towns, and villages at elevations up to 3,000 m (10,000 feet). They are non-migratory. They are ground foragers in open areas, in large flocks and on elevated platform bird feeders. Their diet consists of grains, grass seeds and weed seeds. They are frequent visitors to home bird feeders. Inca Doves are sensitive to cold and suffer nocturnal hypothermia during cold weather episodes in areas with food or water shortages. They practice pyramid roosting with five to twelve birds stacked in two or three rows on top of one another in sheltered, sun locations during the day and occasionally at night to conserve heat. They breed year-round with their nests in shrubs and small trees. They are known for their territorial call “NO HOPE” repeated over and over again for long periods during the day. They have life spans up to eight years. The Inca Dove is poorly studied and very little about their biology and behavioral patterns has been documented.

The Inca Dove is found throughout Mexico with the exception that they are absent from the entire Yucatán Peninsula.

Common Misidentifications

Conservation Status

From a conservation perspective the Inca Dove is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. Their populations are slowly expanding both north and south which has been attributed to human habitation providing them with a source of water.