Grenada dove

Species of bird

The Grenada dove (Leptotila wellsi) is a medium sized New World tropical dove. It is endemic to the island of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. Originally known as the pea dove or Well's dove, it is the national bird of Grenada. It is considered to be one of the most critically endangered doves in the world (Bird Life International 2000).

The Grenada dove is characterised by a white throat; face and forehead pale pink shading to dull brown on crown and nape; upperparts olive brown; underwing chestnut; neck and upper breast pink buff fading to white on lower breast, belly and undertail coverts.

The Grenada dove is a little known species endemic to the main island of Grenada, West Indies. Historically, it has been recorded from locations throughout Grenada, including offshore islands, and the type specimen was collected from Fontenoy, on the west coast. True dry forest ecosystems are remnants of a type of xeric scrub habitat that dominated the West Indies at the end of the Pleistocene, and most areas classified as dry forest in the Caribbean are mosaics of degraded habitat, and do not represent natural ecosystems (Murphy and Lugo 1986, Vidal and Casado 2000). Beard noted the degraded nature of forested areas in Grenada in 1949. Results from the Grenada Dry Forest Biodiversity Conservation Project indicate that Grenada doves are found most often in areas composed primarily of degraded mosaics of evergreen forest. The overall uniting factors in Grenada dove habitat issues are the degraded nature of the habitat and close proximity to human habitation. This is readily apparent at the Mount Hartman sanctuary, which is an old government cattle farm with vegetation composed primarily of exotic species such as Leucaena leucocephala and Heamatoxylon. Populations of doves associated with the old golf course below Jean Anglais, in the Richmond Hill Watershed, are under heavy pressure from development for private homes, and are well outside the boundaries of the Mount Hartman Sanctuary as are most Grenada doves. Mount Hartman could be considered prime cattle habitat and has been developed as such until recent times. Rivera Lugo has suggested that past disturbance may have created new artificial vegetative cover types that are difficult to classify as natural forest communities. Grenada doves have been documented in south western Grenada within the Mount Hartman, Clark's Court Bay, and Richmond Hill watersheds (Blockstein 1988, Blockstein and Hardy 1989). Bright refers to these birds as Well's doves, although his physical descriptions of the birds indicate that they may have been L. verrauxi imported from Tobago. Only one active Grenada dove nest has been documented. This dove is classified as critically endangered by BirdLife International. The Grenada Government – in cooperation with the World Bank – set up two reserve zones in 1996 to preserve the dove: the Perseverance and adjacent Woodford Estates, which are adjacent to a landfill and abandoned quarry site, in the west of the island and a sanctuary of c. within the Mount Hartman Estate, a former government cattle farm and sugarcane plantation, in the south. Camera surveys of the Mount Hartman area failed to record the presence of Grenada doves there immediately following Hurricane Ivan in 2005 and only eighteen encounters with Grenada doves occurred during April–December 2005. Jackson and Associates noted many factors that could affect Grenada dove populations,

In addition to habitat destruction, predation may affect Grenada dove populations. There may have been two separate introductions of exotic species on Grenada. Of these, the common opossum, Didelphis marsupialis, which was originally introduced to Grenada by Amerindians, is a potential predator of all life stages of the Grenada dove, and other manicou species (Marmosa spp.) are potential nest predators. Exotic mammals introduced with European colonisation include Rattus species, Indian mongooses (Hepestes aropunctatus), Mona monkeys (Cercopithicus mona) and feral cats (Felis silvestris). Rats were the most abundant predator documented during the Grenada Dry Forest Biodiversity Conservation Project. This same project only documented one feral cat in the Mt. Hartman Watershed. Currently, hunting is not considered a major threat.

In late 2006, information was released stating that the Government intended to sell a portion of Mount Hartman Estate to a private promoter for development as a tourist resort under the probable management of Four Seasons Hotels. The Grenada Government issued a statement stating that any new project within the Mount Hartman Estate would have to respect the dove sanctuaries and that any project would have to meet the criteria of providing a "win win" situation. BirdLife International and other organisations questioned whether a "win win" situation could be achieved. BirdLife International, with other organisations (including the American Bird Conservancy) and private individuals (including authors Graeme Gibson and Margaret Atwood) campaigned against the proposed development. The original development plan for the resort included 255 villas, a hotel, and an 18 hole golf course. Due to pressure from opponents of the development, the plan for the resort was reduced from 255 villas to 173, although the hotel and golf course were retained.

There is very little information for this species that has been peer reviewed and very little research has taken place on the species. The most thorough scientific investigation to date is associated with the Grenada Dry Forest Biodiversity Protection Project. Unfortunately most of the documents associated with this project are unavailable to the public and are not currently available through the GEF Website.