Grenada Dove (Leptotila wellsi)

The Grenada Dove is endemic to the island of Grenada. It is listed as Critically Endangered in the 2006 IUCN Red List Category. Its population is extremely small and fragmented. The species has been limited to two isolated areas of secondary dry forest, one in the southwest on and adjacent to the Mt. Hartman Estate, and a second on the west coast, around the Perseverance Dove Sanctuary and the Beausejour Estate.

The total population declined by approximately 50% between 1987-1990, numbering an estimated 100 individuals in 1998, and increasing to an estimated 180 individuals by 2003/2004 (pre-hurricane Ivan). In 2003/2004, approximately 22% of world population was in the Mt. Hartman National Park. The remainder of the population, except for a few doves protected at the Perseverance Protected Area, is on unprotected fragmented land, both government and privately owned.

Hurricane Ivan hit Grenada in September 2004. Post-hurricane census data indicate that the Grenada Dove population has declined, the greatest loss noted on the west coast. Although the actual numbers could not be determined due to the inconsistent and atypical calling behavior, the number of recorded doves suggests a population decline. [photo below: Grenada Dove in habitat]

• Occupied habitat is also characterized by an abundance of legumes that produce seeds less than about 5 mm in diameter. Availability of water in the southwest during the dry season is severely limited, and dove’s source of water is speculated but unknown.
• Historically, the Grenada Dove may have always been confined to these dry coastal areas where climax vegetation was deciduous, seasonal forest and thorn woodland. This area is also subject to natural disturbances (particularly hurricanes) and human land-use practices, which has kept the vegetation in a sub-climax condition.

Interesting Facts

• When a Grenada Dove is flushed from a perch, it will fly to the ground and walk away. It likely evolved without ground predators, which now include mongoose, rats, and feral cats.
• No Grenada Doves have been seen outside the forest nor flying above the forest canopy. They are possibly isolated to the patches of remaining habitat. Dispersal patterns are not yet known.
• Within the forest, flight has only been observed from one perch to another, from a perch to the ground and from the ground to a tree. All other observations have been of doves walking on the ground. During the non-breeding season at Mt. Hartman, a pair of doves was observed walking side-by-side.

Conservation

In 1996, parts of Mt Hartman and Perseverance were declared a national park and a protected area, respectively. The pre-hurricane Ivan population increase may be in part the result of the protection of critical dove habitat areas. A recovery plan was drafted in 1997. In 1999, a workshop to develop a 4-year GEF-funded Dry Forest Biodiversity Conservation Project was drafted based on stakeholder input. Implementation began in 2002 and project was completed in June 2006.

Threats and Conservation Measures

• Primary threat is habitat loss and fragmentation. Cutting for cultivation and grazing has been eliminated at the Mt Hartman National Park, though remaining patches of scrub forest on privately owned lands is regularly being lost to housing and other development. Threats include predation by mongoose, rats and feral cats. Mongoose are abundant in the Mt. Hartman region. The Grenada Dove is legally protected from hunting and egg-collecting, but these are not known threats to the dove.
• Currently (2006/2007), a proposed hotel development on the Mt. Hartman Estate, in and around the National Park, threatens the survival of the species. An EIA, if completed, could help determine how a development outside the National Park and in non-dove habitat could move forward without impacting the Grenada Dove population at the Mt. Hartman Estate.
• Conservation measures have focused on ensuring that the Mt Hartman and Perseverance protected areas are effectively protected. A management plan for both sites was drafted in 1998 and revised in 2006. In addition, focus has been on education and stakeholder participation in habitat conservation on both protected and unprotected dove habitat, carried out as part of the Dry Forest Biodiversity Conservation Project, Forestry and National Parks Department. Portions of the recovery plan were also implemented as part of the Dry Forest Project, with a focus on vegetation and Grenada Dove research.

Where to Find More Information?  

Blockstein, D.E.  1991. Population declines of the endangered endemic birds of Grenada, West Indies.  Bird Conservation International 1:83-91.

Devas, R. P. (n.d.). Birds of Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Carenage Press, St. George’s, Grenada. 88pp.

Lack, D. and A. Lack. 1973. Birds on Grenada. Ibis 115:53-59.

Lugo, Pedro J Rivera. 2005. Composition and structure of Grenada Dove (Leptotila wellsi) habitat.

Unpublished report. Forestry and National Parks Dept. Government of Grenada, St. George’s, Grenada. 114 pp.

Rusk, B. L.  1992. The Grenada Dove and the Mt. Hartman Estate: Management Recommendations.  Forestry and National Parks Department, Government of Grenada. St. George's, Grenada.

Rusk, B. L.  1998. Status of the endangered endemic Grenada Dove (Leptotila wellsi) on Grenada, W.I. Unpublished report. Grenada, W.I.

Rusk, B. L.  2005. Draft Post Hurricane Ivan Grenada Dove Evaluation. Unpublished draft report. Grenada, W.I.

Rusk, B. L.  and S. A. Temple. 1995. Unpublished data. Grenada, W.I.

Rusk, B. L., D. E. Blockstein, S. A. Temple, and N. J. Collar. 1997, Draft recovery plan for the Grenada Dove.

Unpubl. report. The World Bank and the Government of Grenada. Washington, D.C.

Rusk, B. L. and L. Clouse. 2004. Status of the endangered endemic Grenada Dove (Leptotila wellsi). Unpublished report. Grenada, W.I.

Wells, J. G. 1886. A catalog of the birds of Grenada, West, Indies, with observations thereon. Proc. U.S. Nation. Museum. 9:609-633.

Wunderle, J. M. 1985. An ecological comparison of the avifaunas of Grenada and Tobago, West Indies.  Wilson Bull 97:356-365.

BirdLife International. 2006. Species fact sheet: Grenada Dove

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Grenada Dove 

Grenada Dove Campaign Website

Grenada Dove Bird of the Month contributed by Bonnie Rusk

 

Bird of the Month - January 2007 - Bicknell's Thrush

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Bird of the Month - August 2006 - Red-billed Streamertail

Bird of the Month - July 2006 - Cahow or Bermuda Petrel

Bird of the Month - June 2006 - West Indian Whistling-Duck

Range and Habitat Needs

• The Grenada Dove is limited to successional stage dry secondary coastal scrub forest, remaining primarily in southwestern Grenada. Doves are also found in patches remaining along the west coast.
• Dry forest is predominantly secondary deciduous thorn-scrub woodland with emergent trees and leguminous vegetation. Characteristic is a closed canopy, trees and shrubs 3-6 m high, with a sparse understory and open ground. West coast areas receive more annual rainfall and the dry forest patches are in the transitional area to moister deciduous secondary forest.