Ruddy Ground-Dove / Steenduif, Stonka

Ruddy Ground-Dove (Columbina talpacoti)

Pictures (click on them to enlarge)
© Foek Chin Joe	© Firdous Khodabaks	© Firdous Khodabaks
© Jan Hein Ribot	© Jan Hein Ribot	© Jan Hein Ribot
© Paul van Giersbergen	© Jan Hein Ribot	© Jan Hein Ribot
© Frank Valk	© Lidwien Peterse	© Dominiek Plouvier
© Hans Majong

Ruddy Grounddove; There are three species of ground-dove (Columbina) in Suriname. The most numerous in Paramaribo is this ruddy ground-dove, red-brown with some grey on the head. They search for food in gardens and on empty parcels, looking for seeds under stones. They also breed in gardens, in low bushes, and a brood is often composed of two eggs. They coo with a rather sad sound.
The first photo is of a male and a nestling on a nest in Paramaribo (by Foek Chin Joe). Then two pictures made by Firdous Khodabaks, the first on June 20, 2008 and the young bird fallen from the nest on the 6th of July. Then photos by J.H. Ribot from Paramaribo, two grounddoves on a nest in Paramaribo, then of two eggs and of a bird on a feeding table and a pair in a garden. Stephan Ferrier made his photo in March 2013, also in Paramaribo. Paul van Giersbergen made the photo in september 2014.
Dominiek Plouvier made the video of two food searching grounddoves.

Video (click the link or the 'play'-button to see)
Video recording of a Ruddy Ground-Dove © ;

Distribution

Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least four observations on different days and the largest ones ten or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.
Not all places in Suriname have been equally often visited by birders, so the distribution of the squares gives an indication of the whereabouts of the birds, but also of the birders. Some places deep in the south have no reported bird observations, by experienced birders, within 60 kilometer.

Abundance in different areas
coastal zone (blue dots on the map) :
northern savannas (yellow dots (in the north)) :
rainforest under 400 m (red dots) :
rainforest above 400 m (red dots) :
Sipaliwini savanna (yellow dots (in the south)) :
A blank is shown if not convincingly reported in the zone. Data interpreted by Arie Spaans, Otte Ottema and Jan Hein Ribot.

Names
Scientific name:	Columbina talpacoti
Order:	Columbiformes
Family:	Columbidae, 14 in Suriname
Dutch:	Steenduif, Stonka
English:	Ruddy Ground-Dove
Sranan ('Surinamese'):	Stonka
Guyana:
Papiamento:
Spanish (Venezuela):	Tortolita rojiza
Portugese (Brazil):	Rola, Rolinha
Arowak:	Malai
Carib:	Toekoelowe
French:	Colombe rousse

Observations through the year	Observations of breeding through the year

The 1008 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.	The 177 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest. Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences. The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Observations through the year

Observations of breeding through the year

The 1008 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.

The 177 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest.

Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences.
The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Last update: September 2024 by Jan Hein Ribot. Please mail your comments, photos to: jhribot ( residing at ) gmail (point!) com.
observations can be uploaded to suriname.observation.org or ebird.org ).