Blue-eyed Ground Dove Columbina cyanopis Scientific name definitions

Few birds have so inexplicably slipped from the ornithological ‘radar’ as the Blue-eyed Ground-Dove, although it is doubtless the case that a lack of apprecation of its identification features and the low degree of interest amongst most birdwatchers in Columbina ground-doves have played an important role in the lack of modern sightings of this Critically Endangered species. Endemic to the southwest Brazilian cerrado, this ground-dove is best known from the states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Goiás, with an old record from São Paulo, and it could conceivably occur in westernmost Minas Gerais. Massive and more or less uncontrolled habitat modification within this region has unquestionably contributed to its apparent great rarity, although it seems to have been uncommon even historically; the last, published record dates from no more recently than 1992, although some sources claim that the Blue-eyed Ground-Dove persists in small numbers in the Serra dos Araras, in southern Mato Grosso. The Blue-eyed Ground-Dove’s natural history is almost completely unknown, but it clearly should be searched for amongst the abundant Ruddy Ground-Doves (Columbina talpacoti) and Plain-breasted Ground-Doves (Columbina minuta). In particular, Ruddy Ground-Dove lacks the rufous head of the present species, as well as the whitish throat and vent that characterize the Blue-eyed Ground-Dove. Its habits are doubtless similar to both these other species.

15·5 cm. Head , neck, wing-coverts, uppertail-coverts and breast purplish rufous, lighter brown on lower breast, belly, flanks, mantle, back and scapulars; vent and undertail-coverts white; iridescent blue spots on wings ; throat whitish; outer primaries dark brown with chestnut inner webs, inner primaries chestnut with dark tips; underwing and central tail feathers rufous; iris blue, orbital skin grey; bill black, with grey base; legs and feet pink. Female paler, especially on underparts. Juvenile with rufous edges to many feathers; wing markings obscure.

Formerly placed in monotypic genus, Oxypelia; resembles Claravis in having attenuated first primary.

Monotypic.

Few localities in SC Brazil, in S Mato Grosso (Cuiabá and Serra das Araras) and C Mato Grosso do Sul (Campo Grande) (1 BirdLife International (2013). IUCN Red List for birds. URL: http://www.birdlife.org (download Aug 2013). Close ). Historical records from elsewhere in Mato Grosso, and from S Goiás S to extreme W São Paulo; recently recorded in Minas Gerais.

Open savanna and campo grasslands within cerrado; recorded up to 800 m. A ground-dwelling species; found singly or in pairs.

No information available.

No information available; presumably feeds on seeds like congeners.

Song is a series of evenly-spaced, soft cooing notes at a rate of c. 1.5 notes per second. Repeated note typically is a short upslurred “wah” or more subdued “wuh”, occasionally a more purring “prrah”.

No information available.

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED. Historically rare cerrado endemic known with certainty from one recent locality in SC Brazil. Prior to 1980s known only from eight specimens: five collected in Mato Grosso in 1823–1825, two from Goiás in 1940–1941, and one from São Paulo in 1904 (2 Collar, N. J., L. P. Gonzaga, N. Krabbe, A. Madroño, L. G. Naranjo, T. A. Parker, and D. C. Wege (1992). Threatened Birds of the Americas. The ICBP/IUCN Red Data Book. Part 2. Third Edition. ICBP, Cambridge, UK. Close ). Undocumented records in Serra das Araras Ecological Station, Mato Grosso, in Feb 1986 (3 Silva, J. M. C., and Y. Oniki (1988). Lista preliminar da avifauna da Estação Ecológica Serra das Araras, Mato Grosso, Brasil. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (Zoologia) 4(2):123–143. Close ), and a single bird in Mar 2007 (4 Valadão, R. M. (2012). As aves da Estação Ecológica Serra das Araras, Mato Grosso, Brasil. Biota Neotropica 12(3): 263–281. Close ). Further sight records from near Cuiabá (also in Mato Grosso) in the 1980s (2 Collar, N. J., L. P. Gonzaga, N. Krabbe, A. Madroño, L. G. Naranjo, T. A. Parker, and D. C. Wege (1992). Threatened Birds of the Americas. The ICBP/IUCN Red Data Book. Part 2. Third Edition. ICBP, Cambridge, UK. Close ), and one individual at Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, in 1992 (5 Parker, T. A., and E. O. Willis (1997). Notes on three tiny grassland flycatchers with comments on the disappearance of South American fire-diversified savannas. In Studies in Neotropical ornithology honoring Ted Parker. Ornithological Monographs 48 (J. V. Remsen, Editor), American Ornithologists' Union, Lawrence, KA, USA. pp. 549–556. Close ). First photographs obtained in May 2016 in Minas Gerais, following sightings in Jun 2015; at least 12 individuals observed. Extremely rare and poorly known; range is tiny (1200 km² BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Columbina cyanopis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 04/02/2015. ) and probably contracting due to agricultural activities, but reasons for its apparently exceptional scarcity must remain open to speculation. On the basis of known records, population thought to be fewer than 250 mature individuals BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Columbina cyanopis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 04/02/2015. . Possibly close to extinction, even though now protected under Brazilian law. Considered Critically Endangered at the national level in Brazil (6 MMA (2014). Lista Nacional Oficial de Espécies da Fauna Ameaçadas de Extinção. Portaria No 444, de 17 de dezembro de 2014. Diário Oficial da União - Seção 1. Nº 245, quinta-feira, 18 de dezembro de 2014. Close ). If sightings were confirmed, would be protected within Serra das Araras Ecological Station (IUCN Cat. Ia; 280 km²), but this seems unlikely.