Peace dove
| Peace dove | ||||||||||
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Peace dove ( Geopelia placida ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Geopelia placida | ||||||||||
| Gould , 1844 |
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The peace dove ( Geopelia placida ) is a species of pigeon birds. It occurs exclusively in Australia and New Guinea. Some authors classify it as a subspecies of the hawk- pigeon. The species is not considered endangered in its population.
Appearance
The peace dove reaches a body length of 20 to 22 centimeters. It is a narrow, slender species with a long, stepped tail. The sexual dimorphism is only very slight. The males have a more intense color than the females.
The type is gray on the top of the body. The individual feathers are broadly lined with dark gray, so that the species appears roughly corked or almost scaled. The sparrowing extends to the middle of the chest and the sides of the neck. The abdominal sides and the belly, on the other hand, are without sparrows and whitish with a wine-reddish touch.
Distribution area and habitat
The peace dove occurs in the south and disjoint in the southeast of New Guinea. It also populates the Aru Islands , a group of islands 150 kilometers south of New Guinea in the Arafura Sea . The distribution area in Australia is very large, but not contiguous either. One population inhabits western Australia up to the Great Sandy Desert . A second, very large distribution area extends from the northwest of Australia to the southeast of Australia. In the Northern Territory it is only absent in the very dry region around Alice Springs . In large parts of the distribution area, the peace dove is a common to very numerous species.
The habitat of the peace dove are open forests, shrub savannas and savannahs dominated by eucalyptus , acacias and casuarina . The species generally lives in the vicinity of water holes. The peace dove has also developed agricultural areas as well as gardens and parks as living space.
behavior
Similar to the hawk-pigeon, the peace dove spends a large part of the day foraging on the ground. It usually stays in small groups or in pairs. However, larger accumulations can occur at water points. The food spectrum mainly includes small seeds. It is a very trusting way of looking for food between the tables in the outdoor areas of restaurants and cafés.
The breeding season varies depending on the location. In southern Australia, peacocks usually breed between September and February. The courtship is similar to that of the diamond dove , but the male of the peace dove does not raise and fan the tail as far as the male of the diamond dove. The breeding territory of a pair of peace doves is estimated at 300 to 400 square meters. The clutch consists of two eggs. The breeding season is 13 days. Newly hatched young are gray in color and weigh between five and seven grams. The young birds leave the nest at 16 days, but are then fed for another 14 days. Usually it is the male who is still feeding the young birds during this time.
Keeping in human care
Like the diamond doves, doves of peace play a role in keeping wild pigeons. The pigeons were first shown at London Zoo in 1864. The first breeding took place in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 1880s. The first breeding in Germany took place in 1881. The peace dove is considered a peaceful species, which, unlike the hawk pigeon, can also be socialized with other small pigeons.
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 types 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
- Geopelia placida inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . 2. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2014.