Grey-headed Dove (Leptotila plumbeiceps) [XC28435]
by Manuel Grosselet from Rio Bravo Research Area, Orange Walk Dist., Belize (song)
Grey-headed Dove (Leptotila plumbeiceps) [XC894356]
by Manuel Grosselet - Benoit Larrouquis from Reserva la Florida, Tapijulapa, Tacotalpa, Tabasco, Mexico (song)
Subspecies
Brown-backed Dove (Leptotila battyi) has been widely treated as a separate species from either Grey-headed Dove (Leptotila plumbeiceps) or Grey-fronted Dove (Leptotila rufaxilla) on the basis of its distinct call and very slight plumage differences (Wetmore 1968, Ridgely and Gwynne 1989, Baptista et al. 1997, Dickinson 2003). Although Stiles and Skutch (1989) and Gibbs et al. (2001) suggest little or no difference between the voices of plumbeiceps and battyi, we provisionally accept battyi as a species pending further work determining the relationships of these taxa, rufaxilla and pallida.
May form superspecies with Grey-fronted Dove (Leptotila rufaxilla) and Pallid Dove (Leptotila pallida), and possibly also with Brown-backed Dove (Leptotila battyi) and Grenada Dove (Leptotila wellsi), and all five have been considered conspecific. Also related to White-tipped Dove (Leptotila verreauxi).
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
plumbeiceps Sclater & Salvin, 1868 - Eastern Mexico through Belize, eastern Guatemala, Caribbean slope of Honduras and Nicaragua to coastal western Costa Rica, and south to western Colombia.
notia Peters, JL, 1931 - Caribbean slope of western Panama.
malae Griscom, 1927 - Pacific slope of Panama in southern Veraguas and western Herrera, including Cebaco I. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Brown-backed Dove (Leptotila battyi).
battyi Rothschild, 1901 - Coiba I (off south-central Panama). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Brown-backed Dove (Leptotila battyi).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet