Appearance

Quail-Doves (Geotrygon) are heavy bodied doves with a short tail and short tarsi. Most of the head of Buff-fronted Quail-Dove is gray, with a contrasting buff or pinkish buff forecrown; the rest of the crown, and the nape, have a greenish cast. There also is a slender black stripe from the bill to the eye, and a slender black lateral throat stripe. The upperparts are dark reddish brown, suffused with purple, and the underparts are gray. The sexes are similar.

Purplish-backed Quail-Dove (Geotrygon lawrencii) has a similar pattern, but with a white, not buff, forecrown. Chiriqui Quail-Dove (Geotrygon chiriquensis) is larger, has an entirely gray crown (with no contrastingly paler forecrown), and has cinnamon, not gray, underparts.

The following description is based on Wetmore (1968); see also Ridgway (1916):

Adult: Sexes similar. Forecrown buff, bordered below by a slender black stripe from the bill to the eye; crown, nape, and rear of head greenish gray. Back, rump, uppertail coverts, wing coverts, and inner secondaries reddish brown; the center of the upper back has a distinctly purple cast. Central rectrices dull brown; outer rectrices dusky gray, tipped with brownish gray. Primaries and outer secondaries dusky gray. Auriculars dull gray. Black lateral throat stripe. Throat and upper foreneck dull white. Lower foreneck and breast gray, washed on the sides with greenish; feathers of lower breast tipped with pale buff. Belly pale buff. Flanks pale brown.

Juvenile: Forecrown duller. Crown and nape dusky gray, with a faint green gloss. Upperparts dull chestnut, barred indistinctly with dusky, and dull cinnamon feather tips. Underparts barred and freckled with dull gray and dull cinnamon; belly mainly buff.

Undescribed. Buff-fronted Quail-Dove probably follows the complex basic molt strategy.

Iris: dark brown; bare space around eye carmine

Bill: dusky, but reddish at the base

Tarsi and toes: carmine

Bare parts color data from Wetmore (1968).

Total length: 24-28 cm (Ridgway 1916, Wetmore 1968), 28 cm (Stiles and Skutch 1989)

Linear measurements (from Wetmore 1968):

male (n = 9)

wing length: mean 140.3 mm (range 137.8-143.4 mm)

tail length: mean 75.1 mm (range 68.0-80.2 mm)

bill length (culmen): mean 13.4 mm (range 12.2-16.4 mm)

tarsus length: mean 43.1 mm (range 39.6-49.9 mm)

female (n = 5)

wing length: mean 134.4 mm (range 131.8-135.5 mm)

tail length: mean 73.7 mm (range 71.2-76.0 mm)

bill length (culmen): mean 14.0 mm (range 13.7-14.8 mm)

tarsus length: mean 41.9 mm (range 41.2-43.2 mm)

Mass: male, mean 320 g (range 310-330 g, n = 2; Hartman 1961)

female, mean 254 g (range 225-283 g, n = 2; Hartman 1961)