# Zenaida Dove

Scientific name: Zenaida aurita

Bird group: [dove](https://birdsofpuertorico.com/family/dove)

Canonical source: https://birdsofpuertorico.com/bird/72/Zenaida-Dove

## Identification

The zenaida dove (Zenaida aurita) is a member of the bird family Columbidae, which includes doves and pigeons. It is the national bird of Anguilla, where it is locally referred to as "turtle dove".
The Zenaida dove is approximately 28–30 cm (11–12 in) in length. It looks very similar to the mourning dove, but is smaller in size, has a shorter, more rounded tail, and is a bit more darkly colored.   It is also distinguished from the mourning dove by showing white on the trailing edge of its wings while in flight. The mourning dove does not have the white trailing edge.


## Distribution and habitat

The Zenaida Dove occurs on the south coast of Florida, the 
coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, 
and throughout the West Indies, 
where it is a common year-
round resident (Raffaele and 
others 1998). It is fairly abundant 
throughout Puerto Rico and can be seen from cultivated fields 
in the lowlands all the way up 
to the mountains (Biaggi 1997, 
Rivera-Milán 1996). It also occurs 
in Mona (Barnés 1946, Gordon 
and others 1961, Oberle 2018, 
Terborgh and Faaborg 1973), 
Desecheo (Meier and others 
1989), Culebra (Oberle 2018, 
Wetmore 1917), and Vieques 
(Sorrié 1975, USFWS 1994), 
in the latter being a common 
resident throughout the year 
(Gemmill 2015). It is found 
throughout the archipelago 
including mangrove cays and 
other small cays with scarce 
vegetation. This species primarily 
inhabits open coastal areas, hotel 
grounds, and gardens but also 
scrub thickets, open woodlands, pine woods (Raffaele and others 
1998), farms, towns (Oberle 
2018), coffee plantations (Biaggi 
1997), and mangroves (Biaggi 
1997, Oberle 2018, Sorrié 1975). 
The atlas fieldwork yielded a 
total of 938 records within 406 
hexagons or 85 percent of the 
479 total hexagons (see map). 
Of the 406 hexagons where this 
species was found, breeding 
met the atlas definition of 
confirmed in 12 percent (48) 
of the hexagons, probable in 
47 percent (192), and possible 
in 41 percent (165), while this 
species was also observed in an 
additional hexagon (<1 percent) 
but without evidence of breeding 
(see map). Zenaida Dove distribution. The map shows the highest breeding code by hexagon and overlaying the ecological life zones in 
Puerto Rico. Note: percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.      63Zenaida Dove/Tórtola Cardosantera 

## Breeding

The Zenaida Dove generally builds a thin platform nest 
made of twigs, usually in a 
tree or bush, but sometimes 
on the ground (Raffaele and 
others 1998, Wiley 1991) or in a 
cactus, palm (Oberle 2018), and 
even mangroves (Sorrié 1975). 
Previously published reports 
indicate that breeding is variable 
as it occurs throughout the year 
in urban areas, from February to 
June in moist and wet habitats, 
and from April to June in dry or 
arid zones (Raffaele and others 
1998). Atlas results show that this 
species breeding season extends 
throughout the year with the most breeding activity from 
March to June (see chart). The 
breeding activity peaks during 
May and June, and mostly takes 
place within the subtropical 
moist forest life zone (see chart). 
Results show that this species 
breeds throughout the island but 
mostly within the subtropical 
moist forest life zone (61 percent 
of the hexagons) (see table), but 
it also breeds in the subtropical 
dry forest life zone (23 percent 
of the hexagons) and within 
subtropical wet forest life zones 
at higher elevations (15 percent 
of the hexagons) (see table 
and map).

## Conservation

The current population trend of the Zenaida Dove is suspected 
to be increasing in some parts 
of the West Indies (del Hoyo 
and others 2013). This species 
is currently listed as a species 
of least concern by the IUCN 
(BirdLife International 2016). 
Locally, this species is not 
listed in any of the threatened 
categories of PRDNER and 
USFWS. In Puerto Rico, the 
Zenaida Dove has a protected 
habitat in land of 12 percent 
or 1192 km2 of the total area covered by the hexagons where 
evidence of breeding was found 
for this species (9685 km2).

Photo: https://birdsofpuertorico.com/static/images/webp/in_072_Im0.png.webp

Distribution map: https://birdsofpuertorico.com/static/images/webp/in_072_Im1.png.webp

Source note: Text is reproduced from this site's published record. Historical conservation statements and taxonomy have not been independently revalidated. See https://birdsofpuertorico.com/about for source credits and limitations.