Ruddy Ground-Dove

Table

Ruddy Ground-Dove – Accepted
1. 31 Aug–29 Sep 1984		China Ranch INY	1988-231	13	ph.
2. 11 Oct–03 Nov 1984		Iron Mtn. Pumping Plant SBE	1985-023	11	ph.
3. 09 Oct 1985		Iron Mtn. Pumping Plant SBE	1986-062	11	ph.
4. 17–20 Sep 1987		China Ranch INY	1987-257	13	ph.
5. 17 Oct 1987–04 Jan 1988		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1987-293	13	ph.
6. 12–20 Oct 1988		Tijuana R. valley SD	1988-220	15
7. 21 Oct–03 Nov 1988		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1988-205	13
8. 03–12 Nov 1988		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1988-249	13	ph., AB 43:169, Dunn & Garrett (1990), Pyle & McCaskie (1992)
9-10. 03 Nov 1988–02 Apr 1989		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1988-250/1988-251	13	ph., Dunn & Garrett (1990)
11. 14–31 Oct 1989		Tijuana R. valley SD	1989-152	15
12. 14 Oct 1989–07 Apr 1990		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1989-118	15	ph.
13. 18–31 Oct 1989		Tijuana R. valley SD	1989-153	15
14. 21–29 Oct 1989		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1989-119	15
15. 29 Oct 1989–01 Apr 1990		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1989-150	15
16-17. 25 Nov–02 Dec 1989		Bard IMP	1989-191/1989-192	15
18. 08 Sep 1990		Tijuana R. valley SD	1990-134	16
19. 26 Sep 1990		Deep Springs INY	1990-169	16	ph.
20. 30 Sep 1990		vic. Cantil KER	1990-199	16	ph., AB 45:152
21. 01 Oct 1990		Iron Mtn. Pumping Plant SBE	1991-139	16
22. 14 Oct–24 Nov 1990		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1990-156/1990-204	16	ph.
23. 17–24 Nov 1990		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1990-205	16
24. 17 Nov–23 Dec 1990		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1990-219/1991-109	16	ph.
25. 17 Nov–23 Dec 1990		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1990-220/1991-109	16
26-31. 21 Sep 1991–21 Jul 1992	≤ 6	Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1991-128/1992-132	17,18	ph., AB 46:150
32. 21 Sep 1991		vic. Cantil KER	1991-199	17
33. 05 Oct 1991–30 Jan 1992		Goleta SBA	1992-067	17	ph.
34. 17–18 Oct 1991		vic. Cantil KER	1991-200	17	ph.
35. 25 Oct 1991		Baker SBE	1992-058	17
36. 26 Oct 1991		Stovepipe Wells INY	1992-066	17	ph.
37. 28 Oct 1991		Iron Mtn. Pumping Plant SBE	1991-193	17
38. 09 Dec 1991–10 Feb 1992	HY	vic. Earp SBE	1991-212	17	ph., Patten et al. (1995)
39. 03 Feb–04 Apr 1992		Ridgecrest KER	1992-127	18	ph.
40-49. 12 Sep 1992–04 Jun 1993	≤ 10	Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1992-257	18	ph.
50. 09–17 Oct 1992		Iron Mtn. Pumping Plant SBE	1992-262	18	see records not submitted
51. 23 Oct 1992		Tijuana R. valley SD	1993-017	18
52. 26 Nov 1992	HY	vic. Palo Verde Dam RIV	1994-072	24	ph., LACM 107326 (found dead)
53. 25–31 May 1993		vic. Palo Verde Dam RIV	1993-108	19	only one bird, cf. AB 47:453
54. 04 Oct–17 Nov 1993		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1993-156	19	ph.
55. 10–24 Oct 1993		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1993-149	19	ph.
56. 12 Oct 1993		Deep Springs INY	1993-189	19
57. 24 Oct 1993		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1993-166	19
58. 04–05 Nov 1993		Dana Point ORA	1993-183	19
59-61. 17 Nov 1993–31 May 1994	≤ 3	Furnace Creek Ranch INY 1993-199/1994-088	19,20
62. 21–22 Oct 1995		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1995-113	21
63. 12 Oct–02 Nov 1996		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1996-151A	22
64. 21 Oct 1996		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1996-151B	22
65. 30 Oct 1996		Iron Mtn. Pumping Plant SBE	1997-017	23	ph.
66. 06–15 Nov 1996		Ridgecrest KER	1996-152	22
67. 18 Oct 1997		Tijuana R. valley SD	1997-185	23
68. 07 Oct 1998	HY	Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1998-212	24	ph.
69. 02 Nov 1998		Independence INY	1998-213	24
70. 16 May 1999		Santee SD	1999-103	25	ph.
71. 10 Jul 2000		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	2000-107	26
72. 09–22 Oct 2000		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	2000-151	26	ph.
73. 20–22 Oct 2001		Galileo Hill KER	2001-204	27	ph.
74-78. 13 Oct 2001–11 May 2002	≤ 5	Furnace Creek Ranch INY	2001-199	28	Fig. 186, ph., Cole & McCaskie (2004)
79. 03 Nov–08 Dec 2001		Blythe RIV	2001-201	28	video
80-83. 04 Nov 2001–08 Mar 2002	≤ 4	Blythe RIV	2001-189	28	Fig. 235, ph., video
84-85. 01 Dec 2001–27 Mar 2002	2	Blythe RIV	2002-124	28	video
86-87. 27 Jan–15 Mar 2002		El Centro IMP	2002-033	28	ph.
88. 14 May 2002		Primm Valley SBE	2002-116	28
89. 06 Oct 2002–23 May 2003		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	2002-193/2003-081	29	ph.
90. 11 Oct 2002–23 May 2003		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	2002-188/2003-081	31	ph.
91-94. 26 Oct 2002–30 Mar 2003	4	Blythe RIV	2002-178	28	see records not submitted
95. 07–23 Dec 2002		Lake Perris RIV	2002-208	28	ph.
96-101. 08 Dec 2002–01 Dec 2003	≤ 6	vic. Calipatria IMP	2002-200	28	ph., successful nesting, see records not submitted
102-103. 20 Dec 2002	2	Laguna Dam IMP	2003-016	28
104-106. 14 Oct–11 Nov 2003	≤ 3	Furnace Creek Ranch INY	2003-157	29	ph.
107. 14 Dec 2003–13 Jan 2004		Bishop INY	2004-002	29	ph.
Ruddy Ground-Dove – Not accepted, identification not established
early Oct 1988		Encinitas SD	1988-220A	13
22–24 Oct 1988		Tijuana R. valley SD	1989-069	16
01 Oct 1989		vic. Zzyzx SBE	1989-149	15
10 Oct 1989		Huntington Beach ORA	1989-154	16
29 Sep 1990		Ridgecrest KER	1991-032	16
23 Nov 1990		Desert Center RIV	1991-031	16
20 Apr 1991		Wister IMP	1991-095	17
29 May 1993		Hidden Valley Wildlife Area RIV	1993-110	19
24 Sep 1994		Iron Mtn. Pumping Plant SBE	1994-170	21
30 Nov 1995		Furnace Creek Ranch INY	1995-124	22
24 Oct 1998		Twentynine Palms SBE	1998-225	24
24 Jun 1999		Valley Center SD	1999-169	25
21 Oct 1999		Galileo Hill KER	2000-031	25
05 Feb 2000		Ramer Lake IMP	2000-072	26
Ruddy Ground-Dove – Not accepted, natural occurrence questionable (identification established)
24–26 Nov 1978		vic. Fillmore VEN	1981-031	7,20	record undergoing re-review
Ruddy Ground-Dove – Not submitted
17 Dec 1988		Bard IMP			Rosenberg et al. (1991)
14 Oct 1990		Pt. Loma SD			AB 45:152
22 Oct 1992	2	Iron Mtn. Pumping Plant SBE			AB 47:150, see table entry 50
18 Jul 2003+		Blythe RIV			NAB 57:545, see table entries 90-93
16 Nov 2003		Niland IMP			NAB 58:282
winter 2003/2004+	≤ 6	Calipatria IMP			NAB 58:282, 434; see table entries 95-100

Figures

Figure 186. Note the dark bill, marked tertials, and pattern of spots on the wing coverts of this female Ruddy Ground-Dove, photographed on 4 November 2001 at Furnace Creek Ranch, Inyo County (2001-199; Larry Sansone).

Figure 187. Following the state’s first accepted record of a Ruddy Ground-Dove in 1984, the species’ frequency of occurrence quickly increased, mirroring increases elsewhere in the Southwest. After a peak in the early 1990s came a several-year trough followed by resurgence in the early 2000s, including the state’s first nesting record in 2003.

Figure 188. Distribution of 107 Ruddy Ground-Doves accepted through 2003, showing desert concentrations at Furnace Creek Ranch in Inyo County, Blythe in Riverside County, and Calipatria in Imperial County. The Tijuana River valley in San Diego County accounts for six of the ten CBRC- endorsed coastal records.

Figure 235. Almost all of California’s records of the Ruddy Ground-Dove are from the desert in fall and winter. Contributing to the dominant pattern was this male, photographed on 9 December 2001 along the Colorado River near Blythe, Riverside County (2001-189; Kenneth Z. Kurland).

Ruddy Ground-Dove

RUDDY GROUND-DOVE Columbina talpacoti (Temminck, 1811)

Accepted: 107 (88%)	Treated in Appendix H: no
Not accepted: 15	CBRC review: records through 2003
Not submitted/reviewed: 12	Large color image: see Figures

This small dove is considered resident across most of Middle and South America, and since the 1980s has expanded its range through northern Mexico (see Russell and Monson 1998) into the Southwest. The species now occurs annually—mostly during fall and winter but with a few records of breeding and potential breeding—in southeastern California and Arizona, and it is approaching this status in New Mexico. Records are scattered through western and southern Texas, as well as southern Nevada, and the species has reached southwestern Utah. This dove is colonizing Baja California Sur (e.g., Llinas Gutiérrez 2001, Unitt 2001, NAB 60:442) and is casual in Chile. Most birds recorded in the United States (including the two California specimens) show characters of the pale C. t. eluta of western Mexico, although the more richly colored C. t. rufipennis of eastern Mexico has been recorded in the lower Rio Grande valley in Texas (Lockwood and Freeman 2004). One bird reached Mississippi (NAB 59:280).

California’s first accepted record of the Ruddy Ground-Dove, a male present 31 August–29 September 1984 at China Ranch in Inyo County, was preceded by the 24–26 November 1978 record of a male near Fillmore, Ventura County. The CBRC did not endorse the earlier record because, at the time, eluta was “thought to be largely sedentary” and the Committee preferred “to await the development of a clear pattern of vagrancy in regions between California and the normal range” (Binford 1985). Such concerns led to some hesitancy in accepting the first wave of records from the mid 1980s (Goodwin 1983, Clinton-Eitniear 1989), and the possibility of encountering escapees remains, especially on the coastal slope (Hamilton 2001 provided some data on captives). Nonetheless, the plethora of records in the late 1980s and early 1990s throughout the Southwest and the Baja California Peninsula (Bevier 1990, Dunn and Garrett 1990, Patten and Erickson 1994, Howell and Webb 1995, Rosenberg and Witzeman 1998, Wurster et al. 2001) had the earmark of natural range expansion (see also Figure 187). Thus the CBRC voted in 2007 to review this record again.

As shown in Figure 188, more than 90% of records come from the state’s interior—especially Furnace Creek Ranch in Inyo County and the southern deserts—and inland areas have experienced two surges of records since the 1980s. The southern coast has experienced only an unsteady trickle of records, about half of them from the Tijuana River valley in San Diego County. A male and female together there in October 1989 furnished the only multi-bird record for the California coast during the review period. All but six of the 107 accepted individuals were first detected in mid September or later. Many overwintered, some remained through the summer, and in 2003 a pair nested successfully in Calipatria, Imperial County (McCaskie 2003). The species appears to be deepening its toehold in Calipatria, where 15 were found during winter 2004/2005 alone (NAB 59:325).

Determining the sex of some Ruddy Ground-Doves in the field can pose problems (Patten and Erickson 1994). The more confusing birds might be in partial juvenal plumage, as Pyle (1997b) found little overlap in plumage between the sexes after the preformative molt. Dunn and Garrett (1990) thoroughly treated the identification of the Ruddy and Common Ground-Doves.