Macropygia ruficeps

The Little Cuckoo Dove is smaller than the Spot-tailed Cuckoo Dove, with a body length of 32 cm. The top and sides of the male's head are chestnut brown, and the upper back and shoulders are slightly lighter in color, with a few thin dark brown horizontal spots and a metallic green luster. The lower back, waist and tail coverts are dark brown, and the tail coverts are also embellished with rusty red. The central tail feathers are brownish-reddish-brown with no spots, and the outer tail feathers are chestnut brown with black secondary spots. Unlike the spotted-tailed cuckoo dove, there is no gray. The wings are mostly dark brown. The chin and throat are nearly white, and the rest of the lower body is brown. The chest also has a wide white feather edge, forming obvious white spots. The chest side is mixed with black horizontal spots, and the lower tail coverts are dark brown-red. The feather color of the female bird is similar to that of the male bird, but there is no metallic green

Distributed in Brunei, China, Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, East Timor, Vietnam. China has only the Yunnan subspecies, which is distributed in Xishuangbanna in southern Yunnan.
Widely distributed and common in subalpine forests in Southeast Asia. China is a rare resident bird in southern Yunnan (Xishuangbanna), inhabiting mountain forests below 2,000 meters above sea level, and sometimes appears at the edge of the forest and the plain at the foot of the mountain. It inhabits and feeds in the forest, and often gathers in groups to prey on nearby rice fields.

Little Cuckoo-dove is called Little Cuckoo-dove in English, and there are 8 subspecies.

Little Cuckoo-dove is a resident bird, usually moving in groups. It moves calmly, and always stays for a while before taking off when it encounters danger. It has a low voice. It mainly feeds on plant fruits, seeds and tender shoots.

The breeding season of the Little Cuckoo Dove is from April to July. They often breed in pairs. They usually nest in the branches of trees in the forest or in the bushes and bamboo groves. The nest is mainly composed of twigs and moss. Each nest usually lays one egg. The egg is light yellow in color and measures 29×21 mm.

Listed in the "Red List of Endangered Species of the World Conservation Union" (IUCN) 2016 ver 3.1-Least Concern (LC).

Listed in the second level of China's "National Key Protected Wildlife List" (January 14, 1989).

Listed in China's "National Key Protected Wildlife List" (February 5, 2021) Level 1.

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