Description
The Sulu Bleeding-heart is a medium-sized pigeon with a short tail. Bright metallic green feathers stretch from the forehead and crown down to the mantle and sides of the breast. The scapular feathers are a dark chestnut color and are fringed with iridescence that can appear violet, green, or lilac in different lights. The wing-coverts are also a dark brown, with some of the feathers being ashy-gray at the tip to form a slight wingbar. The primary and greater coverts as well as the secondaries are a fulvous-brown edged in rufous, while the primaries are a dark brown with the longest feathers being tipped in black. The bleeding-heart's underwings are chestnut. The back down to the upper portion of the tail is a ruddy-brown narrowly fringed with metallic green or violet. The center of the tail is dark brown while the edges are ashy-gray and tipped with a broad black band; the undertail-coverts are orange while the undertail is ashy-gray. The area around the bird's eyes is black with a faint hint of glossy green, and the chin, throat, and breast are pure white. The upper breast is framed by large patches of metallic green feathers of the same coloration as the mantle that form an incomplete breast band in the center of the chest. In between these patches is a large, pale orange breast spot with diffuse edges. The belly is ashy-gray. Males and females are similar in appearance, and the plumage of the juvenile is unknown. The iris is a light silver-gray. The bill is black with a gray tip, and the feet are red. The bleeding-heart is between 25 and 27 cm (9.8 and 11 in) long, and the weight is unknown.
The Sulu Bleeding-heart is easily distinguished from most terrestrial doves found on Tawi-Tawi. The Emerald Dove is most likely to be confused with the bleeding-heart, but the Emerald Dove is distinguished by a larger and whiter shoulder patch, a white supercilium, and dark chestnut underparts. Two bleeding-hearts are kept as pets and may escape on Tawi-Tawi; the Sulu Bleeding-heart differs from the Luzon Bleeding-heart by not having the Luzon Bleeding-heart's purple nape and back, and from the Mindanao Bleeding-heart by lacking prominent gray wing-bars and an orange belly.
The Sulu Bleeding-heart's vocalizations have never been described.
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