Our Island Birds

Grenada, the southernmost of the Windward Islands, has a wide variety of habitat, ranging from lush, misty valleys and rainforest canopies in the interior, to mangrove forests, swamps and thorny scrubland near the coast. It is in the coastal woodlands that we find one of the rarest birds in the world — the highly elusive Grenada Dove (Leptotila wellsi).

Originally known as the Pea Dove and Well’s Dove, the Grenada Dove was first described in 1884 as a member of the genus Engyptila. Later, it was placed in the genus Leptotila, a group consisting of 11 species of ground foraging doves, found only in the Americas. Initially considered a conspecific (member of the same species) with the Grey-Fronted Dove (Leptotila rufaxilla) found in Trinidad and South America, it wasn’t until 1988 that, using sonographic analyses, the Grenada Dove was officially established as a separate species.

The Grenada Dove is a delicate, medium-sized bird found only in Grenada and easily distinguished from other doves on the island by its stout body, reddish-brown or olive mantle, white-greyish crown and forehead, light pinkish-cinnamon breast and neck, whitish belly and flanks and red covers around the eyes. The Grenada Dove is the national bird of Grenada and can be seen depicted in the national coat of arms alongside the armadillo.

Historically, this unique bird was recorded throughout the island’s coastal forests, including offshore islands, but unfortunately for the dove, coastal lands are considered prime areas for agriculture and tourism development. Agriculture had a profound negative impact on its habitat, with the land being repeatedly cleared to make way for plantations and grazing, and more recently for urbanization and tourism developments.

Thought to be nearly extinct in the 1960s, the Grenada Dove is now listed as a critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with its population estimated to be less than 160 individuals.

While until 1996, conservation efforts had been largely unsuccessful, the government of Grenada established Mt. Hartman Estate, previously a governmentadministered cattle farm and sugar plantation in the south of the island, as a National Park and protected area, along with the Perseverance Protected Area on the west coast, for the protection of the dove. Despite these protected areas covering only a small portion of the dove’s territory, its numbers increased from an estimated 100 individuals in 1998 to 182 individuals in 2004.

Tragically, the passage of Hurricane Ivan that same year resulted in a dramatic population decline, particularly along the west coast, where the population of singing males dropped from 36 to 12. Today, what is left of the species is found mostly in the Mount Hartman and Clarkes Court Bay area. Nevertheless, the government has recently re-designated the Mount Hartman National Park boundaries to include only areas where the birds have been observed, thus allowing for parts of the Mount Hartman estate to be sold to developers. The construction of a resort and golf course is currently underway and is estimated to displace about six percent of the dove’s population. Although the developers gave assurances that they would help preserve the adjacent dove sanctuary, the construction of roads and buildings in such close proximity to the reserve is predicted to further impact the dove’s habitat. As well as being among the rarest creatures on the planet, Grenada Doves are shy creatures, rarely observed. They tend to hide in the newly formed vegetation cover that emerges from heavily grazed and intensively farmed land. They favour woodland with a dense canopy of up to eight metres high, consisting of small trees, such as Acacia and white Indigo Berry (Randia mitis), as well as emerging trees, such West Indian birch (Bursera simaruba) and Mother of Cocoa (Glivicidia). Like all members of the genus Leptotila, Grenada Doves feed mostly on the ground, either alone or in pairs. The species consumes a varied diet of fallen fruit, including papaya, as well as seeds, grubs, insects and caterpillars. They almost always feed among the trees, occasionally near the edge of clearings, but never outside the forest boundaries, or above the forest canopy. If you’ve spent time anchored in the Mount Hartman and Clarkes Court Bay area, there is a good probability that you have heard a male’s sorrowful cooing drifting across the quiet bay during the breeding season. The call is a single, descendingnote hooo, given every five to eight seconds. Grenada Doves breed between December and July. While there is no data available on the species’ breeding behaviour, individuals have been observed fighting on the forest floor, indicating that males are territorial. Only one active Grenada Dove nest has been studied. It was a fragile structure of sticks lined with rootlets, found on a palm, about four metres from the ground, and contained two small, white eggs. Incubating birds are easily flushed and will abandon the nest when disturbed by flying to the ground and walking away. Grenada Doves appear to spend much of their time walking on the ground, making them easy prey for introduced predators, such as rats and mongoose. In fact, flight has only been observed in short bursts, from the ground to a tree, from perch to perch and from perch to ground.

So, next time you visit Mount Hartman and Clarkes Court Bay, listen carefully for the very soft, low-pitched hoo — a sound reminiscent of the wind blowing across the top of an open bottle. You can also take a stroll along the dusty trails to try catch sight of these lovely doves, but remember that they are endangered. As exciting as it is to glimpse one of the rarest birds in the world, be sure to remain at a distance so as to not disturb these unique creatures!

Leptotila wellsi is a delicate, medium-sized bird found only in Grenada.

BELA A BROWN