Patagioenas speciosa
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The scaled pigeon (Patagioenas speciosa) is a large New World tropical dove. It is a resident breeder from southern Mexico south to western Ecuador, southern Brazil, northern Argentina, and Trinidad. The scaled pigeon is fairly common in semi-open forest. It builds a stick platform nest in a tree and lays two white eggs.
Its flight is high, fast and direct, with the regular beats and an occasional sharp flick of the wings which are characteristic of pigeons in general. It is usually very wary, since it is frequently hunted. The scaled pigeon was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other doves and pigeons in the genus Columba and coined the binomial name Columba speciosa. Gmelin based his description on "Le Ramiret" and the "Pigeon ramier de Cayenne" that had been described and illustrated in 1871 by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. The scaled pigeon was moved to the resurrected genus Patagioenas based on a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2001. The genus had been introduced by the German naturalist... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | João Pessoa | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 3 | Bogota | 🇨🇴 Colombia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zoo Pilsen | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 2 | Wilhelma | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Dallas World Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Scaled Pigeon sighting in Chapada dos Guimarães National Park on a given day, based on 286 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 22nd most-seen of the 273 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Scaled Pigeon in Chapada dos Guimarães National Park on a given day, against about 20% in May and November–December, the lowest months. That is one of Chapada dos Guimarães National Park's driest months, with about 15 mm of rain against 240 mm in March. February to April have too few records to rate.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Scaled Pigeon sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 28 parks where we can rate Scaled Pigeon sightings, Chapada dos Guimarães National Park has the highest daily chance: about 40%. Next come Chagres National Park (Panama, about 30%) and Soberanía National Park (Panama, about 20%).
Same genus: Patagioenas
The closest relatives of the Scaled Pigeon that you can see in Chapada dos Guimarães National Park (genus Patagioenas, New World Pigeons) are Picazuro Pigeon (about 20%) and Pale-vented Pigeon (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Scaled Pigeon is recorded against all the birds logged in Chapada dos Guimarães National Park (286 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
