Paintball pigeon
| Paintball pigeon | ||||||||||
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Malherbetaube ( Columba malherbii ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Columba malherbii | ||||||||||
| J. Verraux & É. Verreaux , 1851 |
The Malherbetaube ( Columba malherbii ) is a type of pigeon from the genus of field pigeons ( Columba ). It occurs on the islands of São Tomé , Príncipe and Annobón in the Gulf of Guinea .
features
The painting pigeon reaches a size of 28 cm. It is similar to the West African gloss head pigeon ( Columba iriditorques ), the rear neck and upper mantle but are rather shimmering green or pink on slate gray background, as coppery-bronze as the gloss head pigeon. The shoulder feathers, the wing coverts and the area from the mantle to the upper tail coverts are black with a greenish tinge. Throat, chest and stomach are gray. Rump and under tail-coverts are reddish brown with a gray mottling. The top of the tail is dark gray. The outer control springs are washed out, especially on the inner vents, in ocher color. The underside of the tail is light ocher gray. The iris is light gray, the beak is gray with a light tip. The legs are red. The female is similar to the male, but the underside is darker gray and the plumage of the lower breast and upper abdomen has fine ocher-colored mottling. The lower abdomen, tail-coverts and rump are light reddish brown with gray mottling. In juvenile birds, the iridescence on the rear neck is less extensive. The forehead is light gray, the front skull light reddish brown and the top is covered with numerous ocher or reddish brown spots.
habitat
On Annobón the pigeon lives in deep forests at altitudes of 400 to 500 m, on São Tomé and Príncipe it occurs in forests and plantations.
Way of life
The Malherbetaube searches for food in the middle floors of the trees 3 to 16 m above the ground. You can observe them individually or in flocks of up to seven birds. The nest is a sizeable platform and is built 5 to 12 m above the ground in coral trees in secondary forests or in cocoa tree plantations. The breeding season is from November to February.
Existence and endangerment
BirdLife International has put the pigeon on the early warning list ( near threatened ). Around 1902 it was very common on Annobón. However, there has been a decline there since 1959. On the other hand, it was moderately frequent on Príncipe in 1917; today it is widespread there in the lower altitudes. It is common to moderately common in São Tomé, in the low to medium altitudes. The main threat comes from hunting, which is popular and widespread on the islands in the Gulf of Guinea. In addition, adult and young birds are removed from the wild during the breeding season and sold in pet shops.
Etymology and history of research
The brothers described the Malherbetaube under the now valid basionym Columba malherbii . In their analysis they compared the pigeon with the bronze whale pigeon ( Columba delegorguei ) Delegorgue , 1847. The species epithet honors the French naturalist Alfred Malherbe (1804–1866) from Metz . The word Columba is the Latin word for "pigeon".
literature
- Del Hoyo, J., Elliot, A. & Sargatal, J. (Editors) (1997). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 4: Sandgrouse to Cuckoos . Lynx Edicions. ISBN 8487334229
- James A. Jobling: Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4 .
- Jules Verreaux, Édouard Verreaux: Descriptions d'espèces nouvelles d'Oiseaux du Gabon (côte occidentale d'Afrique) . In: Revue et magasin de zoologie pure et appliquée (= 2 ). tape 3 , 1851, pp. 513-516 ( online [accessed August 15, 2013]).
Web links
- BirdLife species factsheet
- Videos, photos and sound recordings for Columba malherbii in the Internet Bird Collection
- Columba malherbii inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved October 22, 2013.