The Friendly Ground-dove (Gallicolumba stairi) is a medium sized brown dove that measures up to 26cm from the tip of its beak to the tip of its tail.
Also known as: Friendly Ground-dove
Local Names: Qilu, Qili, Ruveniqele
Description
The Friendly Ground-dove is a medium sized brown dove that measures up to 26cm from the tip of its beak to the tip of its tail. Males have rufous-brown upperparts with a bronze-green iridescence; the crown and nape are grey and the wings rufous with a purplish lustre. The tail is dark brown. The abdomen and belly are dark brown olive, whilst the breast shield is vinaceous pink with a white border. Female Friendly Ground-doves are dimorphic in Fiji and Tonga but apparently not in Samoa and American Samoa where only the pale phase occurs. The brown phase has complete tawny underparts with no breast shield, whilst the pale phase is similar to males but rather duller. Immature birds are similar to adults but are uniformly brown.
Distribution
The Friendly Ground-dove is endemic to the Fiji, the Samoas, Wallis and Futuna and Tonga. Within Fiji they are generally rare but widespread in the forests and woodlands of the larger islands, but may be more common on some of the smaller islands in the Lomaiviti and Lau Groups. They have been recorded on such small islands as Wailagilala.
Habitat Ecology and Behaviour
The Friendly Ground-dove occurrence anywhere is unpredictable for it may be found not only on the larger and medium sized islands but also on very small offshore and quite remote islands. By no means confined to mature forest, it may be found in disturbed dry forest areas with sparse undergrowth, and on some small islands can be found at very high density in open scrubby habitats. Food consists of seeds, fruit, buds and young leaves and shoots taken on the ground or in the substage. An insubstantial nest of interwoven twigs, vine stems and rootlets usually constructed between one and three metres from the ground. One or two pure white eggs are laid. Friendly Ground-doves prefer to escape by running, but when forced to fly do so with an explosive start, accompanied by a clatter of wings and a swift agile flight through the substage of the forest. The Friendly Ground-dove is not very vocal, but produces a characteristic call – a short, mournful monosyllabic cooouk, monotonously repeated, often in series of 10-13.
Threats
It is possible that the Friendly Ground-dove’s preferred habitat is the drier, open forests of coastal areas, particularly the leeward coasts of the larger islands and smaller offshore islands. These habitats have all but disappeared in Fiji having given way to settlement, grasslands or coconut plantations.
The ensuing predation by introduced mammalian predators has aggravated this and caused widespread extirpation. Where the Ground-dove does survive as relict populations on some of the larger islands, it is a timid, wary bird, the usual sighting being a brief glimpse of a brown bird flying swiftly away.
When perching in low trees or shrubs it is noticeably clumsy, and when alerted on the forest floor it often holds its tail cocked up above its back.
Observations of this dove on remote, uninhabited islands with no introduced mammalian predators have found it to be tame and confiding. Clearly, this ground-dove is unable to survive in the presence of man together with his cohort of predators – dogs, cats, rats and mongooses. As a result, this bird, once widespread and common, is now rare and declining.
Conservation Status
While it is very rare in Tonga and Samoa, in Fiji, the Friendly Ground-dove remains widespread and quite common on some smaller islands. It is currently listed as Vulnerable under the IUCN Redlist of Threatened Species.
There is no evidence that this species is declining as rapidly as the rate of forest loss or degradation in Fiji, however, the Fijian population of the Friendly Ground-doves is estimated to be 2, 500 – 10, 000 individuals. This estimate was derived from BirdLife International’s widespread survey of Fijian forests whereby 54 birds were sighted, and calculations were made against Fiji’s current forest cover. This estimate probably under-estimates the numbers on Fiji’s smaller islands.
Remarks and Cultural Significance
While it is very rare in Tonga and Samoa, in Fiji, the Friendly Ground-dove remains widespread and quite common on some smaller islands. It is currently listed as Vulnerable under the IUCN Redlist of Threatened Species.
There is no evidence that this species is declining as rapidly as the rate of forest loss or degradation in Fiji, however, the Fijian population of the Friendly Ground-doves is estimated to be 2, 500 – 10, 000 individuals. This estimate was derived from BirdLife International’s widespread survey of Fijian forests whereby 54 birds were sighted, and calculations were made against Fiji’s current forest cover. This estimate probably under-estimates the numbers on Fiji’s smaller islands.
References
Masibalavu and Duston (2006);
Watling (2004)
Illustration by: Chloe Talbot Kelly in Watling (2004).