Pheasant pigeon
| Pheasant pigeon | ||||||||||
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Pheasant pigeon of the subspecies white-naped pheasant pigeon ( O. n. Aruensis ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||
| Otidiphaps | ||||||||||
| Gould , 1870 | ||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||
| Otidiphaps nobilis | ||||||||||
| Gould , 1870 |
The Pheasant Pigeon ( Otidiphaps nobilis ), also Pheasant Pigeon written, is a type of pigeon birds . It is the only representative of the genus of the pheasant pigeon. Several subspecies are distinguished for the species. These are the bronze neck Pheasant Pigeon ( O. n. Nobilis ), the gray neck Pheasant Pigeon ( n O.. Cervicalis ), the white neck Pheasant Pigeon ( O. n. Aruensis ) and the Fergusson Pheasant Taube ( O. n. Insularis ). These differ significantly in the plumage.
Appearance
The pheasant pigeon reaches a body length of 50 centimeters. It is about the size of a small domestic chicken . In its shape it is reminiscent of a pheasant. This is due, among other things, to the roof-shaped tail and long legs. The head, on the other hand, is typical of pigeons. A sexual dimorphism does not exist.
Pheasant pigeons have a shiny greenish black and blue head. The small forelock is carried backwards. The back neck is bronze green to turquoise in the nominate form. There is a bronze-colored neck mark underneath. The neck, chest and belly are dark green. The coat, the wing covers and the back are red-brown. The upper tail covers are dark blue. The beak is bright red. The iris is orange-red.
The subspecies differ from the nominate form mainly in the color of the neck patch. The white-naped pheasant dove is white. The gray-naped pheasant dove has a gray and the Fergusson pheasant dove a black patch on the neck.
distribution and habitat
The bronze-naped pheasant dove is native to western New Guinea. The gray-naped pheasant dove occurs in the east and southeast of this island. The white -naped pheasant dove belongs to the avifauna of the Aru Islands and the Fergusson pheasant dove lives exclusively on the Fergusson Island .
Pheasant pigeons are birds of original primeval forests and mainly use mountain forests as habitat up to an altitude of 1,600 meters above sea level.
behavior
The pheasant pigeon is a ground dwelling pigeon. It only grows up on low branches to sleep. Otherwise it is very rarely exposed. According to current knowledge, the food mainly consists of berries and insects and their larvae. Location calls are often made by both sexes and can be heard from afar. The sound is described as a groaning coooo .
The nest is built on the ground or low in branches. The clutch consists of only one egg. The breeding season is about 28 days. The young birds fledge after 28 to 30 days.
Systematics
Pheasant pigeons are anatomically different from other pigeons. Their relationship to the pigeon family (Columbidae) is uncertain, even if the classification to the pigeon birds is undisputed. It is therefore placed in its own subfamily Otidiphabinae within the pigeon family . Pheasant pigeons are very long-legged, have a pheasant-shaped tail with 20 to 22 feathers and, for a pigeon species of their size, unusually small and rounded feathers. The differences may be due to the fact that chicken birds are not found in New Guinea . The pheasant pigeon occupies the ecological niche of a partridge or a small pheasant , while the larger crowned pigeons fill the niche of a large pheasant, a grouse or a turkey .
Keeping in human care
Pheasant pigeons are rarely kept by private individuals. You need very spacious and warm aviaries. Pheasant pigeons have been kept more frequently in zoos - since many zoos have had large tropical halls and therefore have suitable housing conditions. One of the early keepers of the pheasant pigeon was the Walsrode bird park , in which the courtship behavior of this species was observed in more detail in the 1980s. The Frankfurt Zoo and Cologne Zoo also keep pheasant pigeons in their free-flying halls. The Frankfurt Zoo succeeded in breeding a total of 24 pheasant pigeons by the end of the 1990s.
literature
- Bruce M. Beehler , Thane K. Pratt: Birds of New Guinea; Distribution, Taxonomy, and Systematics . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-16424-3 .
- David Gibbs, Eustace Barnes and John Cox: Pigeons and Doves - A Guide to the Pigeons and Doves of the World . Pica Press, Sussex 2001, ISBN 90-74345-26-3 .
- Alois Münst and Josef Wolters: Tauben - The species of wild pigeons , 2nd expanded and revised edition, Verlag Karin Wolters, Bottrop 1999, ISBN 3-9801504-9-6 .
- Gerhard Rösler: The wild pigeons of the earth - free living, keeping and breeding . M. & H. Schaper Verlag, Alfeld-Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7944-0184-0 .
Web links
- Otidiphaps nobilis onthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved October 31, 2013.