Patagioenas nigrirostris
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The short-billed pigeon (Patagioenas nigrirostris) is a largish pigeon which breeds from southern Mexico south to northwestern Colombia. It is a member of a clade of Patagioenas that contains the smaller and rather plain species with characteristic calls that constitute the subgenus Oenoenas.
It is found in lowland forest canopy and semi-open woodland, and builds a rudimentary platform nest out of twigs 5–30 m (16–98 ft) high in a tree or amongst vines. It lays one white egg. The short-billed pigeon is 26.5 cm (10.4 in) long and weighs 150 g (5.3 oz). It is unpatterned and mainly wine-purple in colour, becoming browner on the belly and more olive-brown on the back. The tail and primary flight feathers are blackish, the bill is black, and the legs and eyes are purple-red. The female is slightly duller and browner than the male, and the juvenile bird has a greyish brown head, neck and breast, with cinnamon scaling on the head and upperparts.
The short-billed pigeon has a complex, loud and high-pitched call coo... cu-COO k’CO coohoo; this is usually uttered singly or at least with considerable pauses between calls. It is normally sighted in pairs as it forages in the tree tops for mistletoe, fruits and berries, but may also be seen on tracks and roadsides seeking grit or small invertebrates.
In southern Central America, this species is replaced at higher altitudes by its close relative, the very similar ruddy pigeon, Patagioenas subvinacea. They can be distinguished by the slower, more complex "song" of the short-billed pigeon. Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Short-billed Pigeon sighting in Chirripó National Park on a given day, based on 26 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 224th most-seen of the 332 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Short-billed Pigeon in Chirripó National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Short-billed 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.
26th of 32
Of the 32 parks where we can rate Short-billed Pigeon sightings, Chirripó National Park ranks 26th at under 5%. The best odds are in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (Belize, about 60%), Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (Panama, about 50%) and Corcovado National Park (Costa Rica, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Patagioenas
The closest relatives of the Short-billed Pigeon that you can see in Chirripó National Park (genus Patagioenas, New World Pigeons) are Ruddy Pigeon (about 20%), Scaled Pigeon (about 10%) and Band-tailed Pigeon (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Short-billed Pigeon is recorded against all the birds logged in Chirripó National Park (26 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.
