Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Bridled Quail-Dove
The Bridled Quail-Dove is a mostly orange-brown dove with a white stripe below its eye. Its mournful who whooo call can usually be heard in May during peak breeding season. It is endemic to the West Indies and can be found in forested areas where it forages on the ground for seeds, fruits and the occasional gecko. They use their bill to toss aside leaf litter while searching for food.
It is exciting to see this species because they are quite shy and afraid of humans. If you’re lucky enough to see one, move slowly or stand very still and you may get a glimpse of its shimmering turquoise neck feathers. More often than not, the quail-dove will walk away rather than fly, allowing you a little time to admire its beauty.
The Bridled Quail-Dove is found in the Lesser Antilles, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Its natural habitats are tropical dry forests or moist lowland forests. It is considered uncommon or rare everywhere in its range and isolated populations are declining. Habitat loss from development and hurricanes threaten this species, as well as predation by cats and rats.
Unfortunately, not much is known about the quail-dove due to its secretive nature, but BirdsCaribbean is working with partners to try to learn more about its status on different islands and how we can help. If you want to help too, you can start by teaching others about this bird, as well as supporting conservation of forests in the Caribbean where it occurs. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Bridled Quail-Dove!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Bridled Quail-Dove
The Bridled Quail-Dove call is a mournful who-whooo, on one pitch or descending towards the end, getting loudest in the middle of the second syllable, and then trailing off. Note that there is also a Zenaida Dove calling in this recording; it’s call is coo-oo, coo, coo, coo, the second syllable rising sharply.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Complete our All About Birds Crossword Puzzle! How many words do you know? If you need help, check out our Glossary for some definitions that will help you complete this puzzle. And here is a the Answer Key to the puzzle.
FOR ADULTS: Read a story about the Impacts of Hurricane Irma on Bridled Quail-Doves in St. Eustatius by Ornithologist and BirdsCaribbean Board member, Hannah Madden. The Quill is the only habitat on Statia that supports the quail-dove.