Spotted pigeon

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Spotted pigeon
Spotted pigeon

Spotted pigeon

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Pigeon birds (Columbiformes)
Family : Pigeons (Columbidae)
Genre : Large fruit pigeons ( Ducula )
Type : Spotted pigeon
Scientific name
Ducula spilorrhoa
( GR Gray , 1858)

The spotted fruit dove ( Ducula spilorrhoa ), also known as the imperial fruit dove , is a species of pigeon bird that is one of the large fruit pigeons . Within this genus it belongs to the medium to large species. It is very closely related to the two-color fruit pigeon and has long been classified as a subspecies of this.

The population of the spotted pigeon was classified in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2016 as “ Least Concern (LC) ” = “not endangered”. No subspecies are distinguished.

Appearance

Spotted pigeon, Cairns, Australia
Spotted pigeon, Darwin in the Australian state of Northern Territory

The spotted fruit pigeon reaches a body length of 38 to 44 centimeters. The wing length is 23.3 to 25.1 centimeters. The weight is between 378 and 500 grams.

The head, neck and coat are creamy white, but in some individuals there are areas that are slightly pearly gray. The wing covers are white, the hand and arm wings are black. The back to the top of the tail is also white. The tail plumage is white at the end of black, with the outer tail feathers the white portion is greatest and can be limited to a narrow black border. The underside of the body is predominantly creamy white. There are black spots on the inner lugs of the plumage on the thighs. There is a black end band on each of the feathers of the rump and on the under tail-coverts, so that this part of the plumage appears to be cross-banded.

The beak is yellowish in most individuals with a greenish beak tip. But there are also individuals with a horn-colored beak base and a yellowish tip. The legs and feet are pale blue-gray.

Distribution area

The spotted pigeon occurs in New Guinea and in the north and east of Australia.

In Australia, the small islands and large parts of the coastal area east of the Vogelkop Peninsula are populated . On the mainland of New Guinea, it also penetrates further inland along the major rivers. It can also be found on numerous islands south-east of New Guinea and also inhabits the Aru Islands , an Indonesian group of islands about 150 kilometers south of New Guinea in the Arafura Sea . It is also found on islands of the Torres Strait and colonizes the north and east of Australia. A large number of the birds that breed in Australia overwinter in New Guinea. The spotted pigeon has already been observed as an irregular visitor on Umboi and New Britain .

The habitat of the spotted pigeon are mangroves, savannas, gallery forests and the edges of rain forests. It is found on small islands in the low scrubland along the coasts.

Way of life

The spotted pigeon occurs mainly in small flocks. They also look for common resting places during the night, where larger groups can gather. The flight is quick and direct with powerful wing flaps. She is very skilled in flight.

It is a fruit eater and uses a number of tree and creeper species as food. Their breeding season is somewhat more seasonal than other tropical pigeon birds. It breeds in the Australian Northern Territory and Queensland from late August to early January. Spotted pigeons occasionally breed solitary. However, breeding in loose breeding colonies is more typical. In 1990, 166 breeding colonies of this species were counted in the north of the Australian state of Queensland alone. The nest is a pigeon-typical loose platform that is built on trees. The clutch usually consists of one, more rarely two eggs. Both parent birds breed. The breeding season is 26 to 28 days. Nestlings are looked after by both parent birds and fledge 23 to 25 days after hatching.

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 .
  • 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

Commons : Spotted pigeon ( Ducula spilorrhoa )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ducula spilorrhoa in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2016 Posted by: BirdLife International, 2016. Accessed September 30, 2017th
  2. ↑ a b c d Beehler & Pratt: Birds of New Guinea , p. 91.
  3. ↑ a b c d Handbook of the Birds of the World zur Fleckenfruchttaube , accessed on May 25, 2017.
  4. Jump up ↑ Gibbs, Barnes and Cox: Pigeons and Doves , p. 570.
  5. ↑ Gibbs, Barnes and Cox: Pigeons and Doves , p. 568.