Big cuckoo pigeon
| Big cuckoo pigeon | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematics | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Macropygia magna | ||||||||||
| Wallace , 1864 |
The great cuckoo pigeon ( Macropygia magna ), also called tail pigeon, is a species of pigeon bird that belongs to the cuckoo pigeon . It is the largest species within this genus. The range of the great cuckoo pigeon are islands in Southeast Asia. Several subspecies are distinguished.
The stock situation of the great cuckoo pigeon is given as harmless ( least concern ).
Appearance
The large cuckoo dove has the typical slender build of cuckoo doves with a slender body and a long, stepped tail in relation to its size. The long tail also gave rise to the name tail pigeon. It reaches a body length of 41 centimeters. It corresponds to the size of a city pigeon . The tail accounts for 19 to 21 centimeters of the total body length. There is a gender dimorphism . Unlike other species of cuckoo pigeons, the male has plumage that is more transversely banded than that of the female.
Appearance of the males
The head, neck, upper cloak and chest are yellow-brown with dark transverse bands. This transverse banding on the sides of the neck is particularly noticeable. The throat is light yellow-brown, the chest and belly light brown. The chest is narrowly transversely banded, this transverse banding is less noticeable on the abdomen. The flanks are maroon. The top of the body is dark red-brown with little contrasting transverse bands. The wings are dark red-brown with dark stripes. The under tail-coverts are red-brown. The tail feathers dull reddish brown. The beak is dark brown, the tip of the lower mandible is lightened. The iris is blue-gray with an orange-red ring. The feet and legs are dark red.
Appearance of the female and young birds
The female resembles the male on the upper side of the body. The underside of the body has a warmer, cinnamon-brown to hazelnut-colored shade. The dark transverse banding is missing on the fore neck and chest. The breast feathers, however, have a gray base with a reddish brown border, which makes the breast appear speckled. In contrast, many individuals have diffuse transverse ligaments on the abdomen.
The young birds are browner than the adult birds and are very intensely transversely banded on the underside of their bodies. The head is striped red-brown and black.
Possible confusion
Due to the body structure that is characteristic of cuckoo pigeons, the great cuckoo pigeon cannot be confused with any pigeon species belonging to another genus in its range. It can be confused with the little cuckoo pigeon that occurs on Timor. However, the small cuckoo pigeon is much smaller than the large cuckoo pigeon. The males of this species are more cinnamon-colored and have only a very slight cross-banding on the chest. The red-brown parting contrasts strikingly with the sides of the head and the greenish-purple shimmering rear neck.
distribution and habitat
The great cuckoo pigeon is found on several islands in Southeast Asia. The main area of distribution is the Lesser Sunda Islands . The range includes the islands of Timor , Alor , Wetar , Leti , Moa , Romang , southern Sulawesi, Salajar , the Tanimbar Islands and Kalao .
In Timor, the great cuckoo pigeon predominantly inhabits dry forests. It also occurs there in secondary forest. On Tanimbar it is mainly found in dry monsoon forests and at forest edges.
Way of life
On Tanimbar the great cuckoo pigeon is a comparatively common bird, which is often observed because of its low shyness towards humans and which is noticeable by its loud calls. Large cuckoo pigeons often sit singly or in pairs in the trees that line the streets. The flight is quick and direct.
Nothing is known about the reproductive biology of this pigeon species.
literature
- 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
- Macropygia magna in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2012. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2012. Accessed November 10, 2016th
- Macropygia-magna Call of the Great Cuckoo Dove on Xeno-Canto