My guide, Bobby, saw several white-tipped doves at Finca El Pilar near Antigua, Guatemala. I saw only one, after scanning the vegetation for what seemed like minutes and finally finding it heavily obscured. Birds of the World notes that it is "elusive, and despite its extensive range in the Americas, relatively little is known about its biology." It prefers to forage on the ground, alone or in pairs. It is more often heard than seen, preferring to remain in concealing vegetation or along the edges of clearings and trails. That is consistent with my experience. Look at my photo below and it tells the same story.
There are 12 subspecies, but I find conflicting information about which one I saw. AI points to ssp. capitalis, the typical form found in the highlands of Guatemala, including the Antigua area. Wikipedia points to ssp. bangsi, found in western Guatemala to western Nicaragua and Honduras (it has capitalis in the Tres Marias Islands and nuttingi in Lake Nicaragua). Birds of the World points to ssp. nuttingi, which includes bangsi, as resident on the pacific coast from Guatemala south to western Honduras and, disjunctly, Lake Nicaragua. Birds of the World does not have an illustration of ssp. bangsi, nuttingi or capitalis, so I'm going with an illustration of ssp. verreauxi.
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| Range from Birds of the World. |
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