Columbina passerina
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The common ground dove (Columbina passerina) is a small bird that inhabits the southern United States, parts of Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. It is considered to be the smallest dove that inhabits the United States. As its name suggests, the bird spends the majority of its time on the ground, but can still fly.
The common ground dove was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758, in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other pigeons in the genus Columba and coined the binomial name Columba passerina. The specific name passerina is from the Latin passerinus meaning "sparrow-like". The species is now placed with other New World ground-doves in the genus Columbina that was introduced in 1825, by the German naturalist Johann Baptist von Spix. There are nine species in this genus including the Inca dove (Columbina inca) and the scaled dove (Columbina squammata).
There are 17 recognised subspecies: Males are paler and females have more white on their... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 2 | Santo Domingo | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | |
| 3 | São Luís | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Recife | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Belém | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Barranquilla | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 7 | Manaus | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 8 | Guatemala City | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | |
| 9 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Burgers' Ocean | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 3 | Royal Burgers' Zoo | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 4 | Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum | 🇺🇸 United States |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Common Ground-Dove sighting in Ciénaga de Zapata on a given day, based on 368 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 67th most-seen of the 177 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Common Ground-Dove in Ciénaga de Zapata on a given day, against about 20% in February–March and November–December, the lowest months. That is one of Ciénaga de Zapata's wettest months, with about 150 mm of rain against 15 mm in February. September has too few records to rate.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Ground-Dove sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 41
Of the 41 parks where we can rate Common Ground-Dove sightings, Ciénaga de Zapata ranks 6th at about 30%. The best odds are in Cabo Pulmo National Park (Mexico, about 40%), Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park (Jamaica, about 40%) and Bahía de Loreto National Park (Mexico, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Columbidae
The closest relatives of the Common Ground-Dove that you can see in Ciénaga de Zapata (family Columbidae, Pigeons and Doves) are White-crowned Pigeon (about 30%), Mourning Dove (about 30%) and Zenaida Dove (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Ground-Dove is recorded against all the birds logged in Ciénaga de Zapata (368 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.
