Luzon bleeding-heart dove

The Luzon bleeding-heart dove is a relatively long legged, short tailed, plump ground dove with a total length of about 25 cm and a body-weight of 150-200 g.

The plumage is light blue-grey on forehead and wing coverts, with three dark redbrown bands across the closed wing. Crown, nape, sides of breast, mantle, back and rump are dark grey with iridescent fringe, giving purple/ greenish appearance. The primaries, secondaries and central tail feathers are dark brown; under wing chestnut; outer tail feathers blue-grey with blackish subterminal bands; throat, breast and under parts are white, tinged pale pink below breast patch and a deeper pinkish-red adjacent to it; Very obvious and diagnostic is a longitudinal patch of blood red feathers with loose hairy texture in the centre of the breast, usually forming a groove or indentation

The bill is blackish, grey at base; legs and feet are red. Sexes are alike. The iris blue grey or purplish. This is not an indicator of sex but the colour changes as the bird matures.

The Luzon bleeding-heart dove spends most of the time on the forest floor, flying on trees only for resting and sleeping. The nest is built not far from the ground in bushes or creeping plants. A clutch consists of two eggs which are incubated for 17 days. The young fledge at an age of 12 days.

Luzon bleeding-heart doves feed on seeds, fallen berries, and insects, worms and other invertebrates