Crown dove
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Crowned pigeon ( Goura cristata ) |
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| ( Pallas , 1764) |
The crowned pigeon ( Goura cristata ), also called blue-headed crowned pigeon or blue-breasted crowned pigeon , is a species of pigeon birds. It owes its name to the striking feathering on its head. It is considered the largest recent species of pigeon in the world and is the size of a small turkey . It is native to parts of New Guinea and some offshore islands.
The IUCN classifies the population of the crowned pigeon as vu (= vulnerable - endangered). European zoos are trying to keep the species alive in a European conservation breeding program .
Appearance
The crowned pigeon has a considerable body size of up to 70 cm and a weight of up to 2.5 kg. It can reach an age of around 20 years. There is no gender dimorphism . However, the females tend to be somewhat smaller and more delicate.
As is characteristic of the crowned pigeon genus, the crowned pigeon also has a rounded tail with 16 feathers, no rump gland and no gall bladder. The featherless legs are extremely long and strong. The head and vertex are blue-gray, in many individuals the short feathers around the eye are black. The feather crown is also blue-gray, but a little lighter than the nape plumage. The upper mantle is also gray-blue and contrasts strikingly with the maroon dark mantle, back and inner wing-coverts. The large elytra are white and broad maroon at the end. The tail feathers are dark blue to dark bluish-gray with a lighter end band. The chin, throat and ear covers are blue-gray to black. The chest and belly are also blue-gray, the intensity of the shade varies from person to person. In some individuals, there are also black spots of different sizes on the entire body of the body, which can be traced back to increased melanin storage . The beak is dark, the iris is bright red.
Characteristic of the crowned pigeon is its slow and, to humans, deliberate and majestic gait. The tail clearly bobs up and down with every step. The flight, on the other hand, seems cumbersome and exhausting and is accompanied by loud flight noises.
The crowned pigeon's call is a dark hoom-hoom-hoom .
Possible confusion
The crowned pigeon is similar to the fan pigeon and the red breasted crowned pigeon , both of which belong to the same genus. It differs from these two other species by its blue-gray breast plumage, which is maroon in the other two species. The feather crown of the fan crown also consists of dark blue feathers with white lined, spatula-shaped tips.
Distribution area
The crowned pigeon only inhabits islands in the northwest of New Guinea and the Vogelkop peninsula . The inhabited islands include Waigeo , the largest of the four main islands of the Raja Ampat archipelago off the coast of western New Guinea ( Indonesia ) and the somewhat smaller island of Misool , which is also part of this archipelago. It is also found on Seram Island, the second largest island in the Moluccas archipelago . However, it was introduced there with great certainty.
behavior
The crowned pigeon is a ground dweller who only rears up to rest. It is a sociable bird that can usually be seen in small groups of three to five individuals.
Like other pigeons , the crowned pigeon feeds mainly on berries, fruits and seeds . Although crowned pigeons primarily seek their food on the forest floor, as is usual for pigeons, they never scratch to reach it. The nest is built high in the trees. The clutch consists of only one egg. This weighs about 70 grams. It is incubated for 28 days.
Keeping in human care
Crowned pigeons were probably first introduced to the Netherlands at the end of the 17th century. The first breeding successes came in 1850 with the crowned pigeon ( G. cristata ) at the same time in the zoological gardens in London, Rotterdam and Paris.
Crowned pigeons came into European trade in large numbers at the beginning of the 1970s. A copy was then traded for around DM 700, the price that dealers would charge for a pair of crested quail pigeons. However, they have high requirements for their keeping and need a heated interior space of at least 20 square meters for their well-being. Such conditions are usually only offered by zoological gardens, where they are very often shown in the open air vaults.
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 .
- W. Grummt , H. Strehlow (Ed.): Zoo animal keeping birds. Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-8171-1636-2 .
- 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 . Verlag M. & H. Schaper, Alfeld-Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7944-0184-0 ,
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Goura cristata in the Internet Bird Collection
- Goura cristata inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
- The crowned pigeon calls on Xeno-Canto
Individual evidence
- ↑ Goura cristata in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.1. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
- ↑ Gibbs, Barnes and Cox: Pigeons and Doves , p. 580.
- ^ Gibbs, Barnes and Cox: Pigeons and Doves , p. 581.
- ↑ Calls of the Crown Dove on Xeno-Canto , accessed on September 30, 2016
- ^ Beehler & Pratt: Birds of New Guinea , p. 73.
- ↑ Rösler: The wild pigeons of the earth - free life, keeping and breeding . P. 315.
- ↑ Grummt, H. Strehlow (Ed.): Zoo animal keeping birds . P. 345
- ↑ Münst, p. 44