Bad at Goodbyes

Rough Transcript

Intro 00:05

Welcome to Bad at Goodbyes.

On today’s show we consider the Grenada Dove.

Species Information 02:05

The Grenada Dove is a critically endangered avian species, a bird, native to the island of Grenada in the Caribbean Sea. Its scientific name is Leptotila wellsi.

 

Appearance

The Grenada Dove is a medium sized ground dove that measures roughly 1 foot in length from beaktip to tailfeather. And weighs roughly half a pound. Its plumage is a soft tan, light brown, with deeper brown wing and tailfeathers and cream to white lower breast and belly. It has a short skinny black beak, black eyes ringed in white or yellow, and crimson red legs and feet. Its toes are arranged in an anisodactyl formation, so three toes pointing forward, one backward, an adaptation for gripping and perching upon low branches in their habitat.

 

The Grenada Dove is a terrestrial bird, meaning that it spends most of its time on the ground. Contrast this to arboreal birds who spend most of their time in trees; aquatic birds who thrive in the water, and aerial birds whose lives are largely spent in the air. Terrestrial, the Grenada Dove forages on the forest floor, perches on low branches, less than 20 feet in the air and has only been observed flying very short distances.

 

In fact, when the Dove is startled or senses predator threat, it drops to the forest floor and flees running (not flying) into deep cover to hide. Which is adorable and also seems like a not super successful escape strategy. But ornithologists suggest this an historic adaptation. Before invasive land mammals were introduced to the island, the Grenada Dove’s primary predators were birds of prey like hawks, and kites, species who could surely outfly the Dove and who are too large to navigate the tangled brush of the forest floor. So for most of its evolutionary history, flee on foot was a viable defense.

 

The Grenada Dove is a rare and reclusive species, frequently described as shy in the literature I reviewed. Sightings are rare, its plumage a camouflage in the ground cover and it is more often identified by its distinctive song. A long descending ‘hoooo’ that repeats every 5-10 seconds.

 

Let’s listen. This is a recording, made by Barry Edmonston in Feb 2025, in Grenada. Note the brighter trilling birdsong you’ll hear is likely a Grey Kingbird, we’re listening for the deeper, less frequently ‘hoooo’; that’s our Grenada Dove:

 

[SOUND RECORDING: a dove coos, a kingbird tweets]

 

The Grenada Dove is a solitary species generally found alone or in pairs, they do not congregate in flocks and territorial behavior has been observed in males. They do form long term pair bonds and the coo we just heard was likely a male courting a potential female mate.

 

Territories are established, pair bonds form, and mating occurs from roughly June–December. My research suggests that only a single nest has been observed, a dozen feet up in a palm tree, holding two small white eggs. Both the male and female take turns incubating the eggs, which hatch after about two weeks.

 

The young are born altricial, meaning they hatch helpless, blind, and with minimal down, requiring parental care, which is provided by both male and female. And then two weeks after hatching the young fledge, which means they leave the nest and begin to fend for themselves.

 

Grenada Dove are omnivorous, their diet primarily consists of fallen seeds and fruit they forage from the forest floor. Though they will also consume some animal protein: small invertebrates like grubs, insects, and caterpillars.

 

They are diurnal, meaning most active during the day, foraging in the early morning and late afternoon hours.

————

In the dream,

 

Here in the descending years

Of my one wander on this earth,

Our noisy blue bulb in the void of celestial silence,

The band plays a song so tender, that I’m weeping in Union Pool, again.

 

But the song is so quiet, and my sniffles are so loud,

I slip out to cry in the courtyard in the spitting summer rain,

Looking up into the grey smeared sky,

Looking down into my can of beer,

 

My tears are diamonds, are pearls, are bitcoin, are essential alchemicals.

 

For tonight I am a listener, which is perhaps the most lucrative of vocations.

Tonight I have granted passage of another’s song into the deepest parts of me

And invited it frolic and torment.

 

A child singing happy birthday, an Ada Límon poem, a band at a bar,

A lonesome bird coos at the island’s edge.


Sometimes, I was listening. And sometimes, I think, you were too.

 

And so, someday when our path turns from concrete and promises,

To dirt and grass, then to pebble and sand,

At the trailend where the water laps at Death’s barge,

We will purchase our tickets with the wind through sycamore,

With mp3s from our lovers, with the birdsong we remember.

 

And sweet smiling Death will say, “Welcome aboard.”

 

In the dream.

————

The Grenada Dove is native to the island of Grenada, the southernmost of the Windward Islands in the east of the Caribbean Sea. Its remaining population is split between two distinct subpopulations, on the southwest of the island, in and near Mt. Hartman National Park & Dove Sanctuary and the other to the west at Perseverance Dove Sanctuary and near Woodford Estates. These populations do not interbreed, they are entirely separated by the city of St. Georges, Grenada’s capital.

 

In both locations the Dove’s habitat is tropical dry broadleaf forest, remnant ecosystems once more widespread across the island, today these are pockets of secondary growth, shaped by historic human agriculture and development. Vegetation is dense thorny scrub, succulents and small trees adapted to the arid climate, forming a low dense canopy.

 

These are rugged, low-lying coastal hills and valleys with thin rocky soils, covered in leaf litter, and dense undergrowth. It is a tropical climate with relatively consistent temperatures throughout the year. Summer highs average in the mid-80s°F and winter lows rarely drop beneath 70°F. There are distinct wet and dry seasons, and these coastal zones see significantly less precipitation than the island’s interior. Rainfall averages roughly 50 inches per year with a rainy season from June to December and a dry season from January to May.

 

The Grenada Dove shares its island home with:

Grenada Wren, Zenaida Dove, Nine-banded Armadillo, Papaya Tree, Grey Kingbird, Turnip-Tailed Gecko, Grenada Hook-billed Kite, Barbour’s Tropical Racer, West Indian Birch, White Indigo Berry, Grenada Tree Anole, Mother of Cocoa, Spiny Amaranth, Giant Ameiva, Acacia, Scaly-Naped Pigeon, Grenada Worm Snake, Lesser Antillean Tanager, Logwood, Eared Dove, and many many more.

 

Historically, the Grenada Dove’s population has been significantly reduced by habitat destruction from human development, specifically commercial agriculture. Grenada has been peopled for over 2000 years, but major transformation of the landscape did not occur until the 1700s when French and British imperialists razed portions of the island to create sugar cane and indigo plantations, worked by enslaved persons stolen from Africa.

 

Today, the Grenada Dove continues to be threatened by habit loss and degradation. For example, a proposed tourist resort that would take land from Mt Hartman Sanctuary threatens the Southwest population. And the population in the west is at risk of degradation from a growing nearby landfill.

 

Extreme weather events, resulting from human induced climate change are already impacting the Grenada Dove. In 2004, Hurricane Ivan struck Grenada’s west coast, reducing the western subpopulation of Dove by over 60%

 

Predation by human introduced invasive species is an additional threat. Introduced mongoose, cats, rats and opposum prey on the Grenada Dove. As mentioned early, the Grenada Dove’s defensive behavior of running to thick cover, effective against birds of prey, is much less successful against these ground dwelling introduced hunters.

 

And lastly, simply low population and lack of genetic diversity in the remaining population is a looming threat.

 

Fortunately the Grenada Dove is receiving conservation attention. The Grenadian government, in an effort to raise awareness of the threatened species, named the Grenada Dove, its national bird in 1991. And established the Mt. Hartman National Park and Dove Sanctuary, to help protect the Southwest subpopulation and the Perseverance Dove Sanctuary to help protect the Western subpopulation.

 

The government’s Grenada Dove Recovery plan includes education and community outreach to build awareness, and legally protects the species from hunting and egg-collecting.

 

Active predator control programs have been implemented within both the Mt. Hartman and Perseverance protected areas. Trapping of mongoose and rat, has successfully removed high numbers of these human introduced predators from the Dove’s habitat.

 

Nevertheless, the Grenada Dove has been considered critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1994 and their population is currently in decline.

 

A recent, August 2025 population viability analysis which modeled population trends, effects of extreme weather, habit loss and degradation, etc, suggests that without increased conservation activity, the Grenada Dove’s Western subpopulation will go extinct within the next twenty years, and the Southwestern subpopulation has a 93% chance of extinction within the next 50 years.

 

Our most recent counts estimate that less than 190 Grenada Dove remain in the wild.

Citations 24:42

Information for today’s show about the Grenada Dove was compiled from:

 

BOLTON, N. M., C. van OOSTERHOUT, N. J. COLLAR, and D. J. BELL. “Population Constraints on the Grenada Dove Leptotila Wellsi: Preliminary Findings and Proposals from South-West Grenada.” Bird Conservation International 26, no. 2 (2016): 205–13. – https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959270915000064 

 

Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Baptista, L. F., P. W. Trail, H. M. Horblit, G. M. Kirwan, C. J. Sharpe, and E. Garcia (2020). “Grenada Dove (Leptotila wellsi)”, version 1.0. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. – https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.gredov1.01

 

Blockstein, David E. and Hardy, J. W. (1989) “The Grenada Dove (leptotila Wellsi) is a Distinct Species,” The Auk: Vol. 106: Iss. 2, Article 30. – https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/auk/vol106/iss2/30

 

Caribbean Compass. Brown, Bela. September 7, 2024. “Our Island Birds: The Endangered Grenada Dove” – https://caribbeancompass.com/the-endangered-grenada-dove/

 

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T22690874A178391475 - BirdLife International. 2021. “Leptotila wellsi” – https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T22690874A178391475.en

 

Peters, Catherine, Matthew Geary, Howard P. Nelson, Bonnie L. Rusk, Achaz Von Hardenberg, and Anna Muir. “Phylogenetic Placement and Life History Trait Imputation for Grenada Dove Leptotila Wellsi.” Bird Conservation International 33 (2023): e11. – https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959270922000065

 

Peters, Catherine; Muir, Anna; Hosie, Charlotte; Nelson, Howard; Geary, Matthew. “Assessing threats and conservation action using population viability analysis for the Critically Endangered Grenada Dove Leptotila wellsi”. Journal for Nature Conservation, Aug 15, 2025, 127052, – https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2025.127052

 

Rivera-Milán, F.F., Bertuol, P., Simal, F. and Rusk, B.L. (2015). Distance sampling survey and abundance estimation of the critically endangered Grenada Dove (Leptotila wellsi). The Condor. 117(1): 87-93. – https://doi.org/10.1650/CONDOR-14-131.1

 

Rusk, B.L. (2017). Long-term population monitoring of the Critically Endangered Grenada Dove (Leptotila wellsi) on Grenada. West Indies Journal of Caribbean Ornithology. 30(1): 49–56. – https://doi.org/10.55431/jco.2017.30(1).49-56

 

Sound recording. Barry Edmonston. Xeno-Canto: XC977216. Petit Bouc, Saint George. 2025 – https://www.xeno-canto.org/977216

 

For more information about Grenada Dove conservation, see Birds Caribbean at birdscaribbean.org.

Music 26:28

Pledge 32:48

I honor the lifeforce of the Grenada Dove. I will commit its name to my record. I am grateful to have shared time on our planet with this being. I lament the ways in which I and my species have harmed and diminished this species. I grieve.

 

And so, in the name of the Grenada Dove I pledge to reduce my consumption. And my carbon footprint. And curb my wastefulness. I pledge to acknowledge and attempt to address the costs of my actions and inactions. And I pledge to resist the harm of plant and animal kin and their habitat, by individuals, corporations, and governments.

 

I forever pledge my song to the witness and memory of all life, to a broad celebration of biodiversity, and to the total liberation of all beings.