Red-backed pigeon

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Red-backed pigeon
Red-backed pigeon, Costa Rica

Red-backed pigeon, Costa Rica

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Pigeon birds (Columbiformes)
Family : Pigeons (Columbidae)
Genre : American pigeons ( Patagioenas )
Type : Red-backed pigeon
Scientific name
Patagioenas cayennensis
( Bonnaterre , 1792)

The red-backed pigeon ( Patagioenas cayennensis , syn .: Columba cayennensis ), also called red dove or fox-red pigeon , is a species of pigeon that is widespread in the New World .

The red-backed pigeon does not play a major role as an ornamental bird. It was first shown at London Zoo in 1867. The first breeding in human care was also successful in Great Britain in 1907.

External features

The red-backed pigeon is 30 to 32 cm long and weighs 230 to 250 grams. It is a little smaller than a city pigeon. The small and narrow beak of this species is striking. The sexual dimorphism is not very pronounced. Females are only slightly more dull in color than males.

Red-backed pigeons are dull purple-pink on the forehead, neck and chest. The top of the head and the neck shimmer greenish. The throat is gray. The mantle and the wing covers are chestnut colored. The belly and the lower tail-coverts are gray. The rump and the upper tail-coverts appear blue-gray and the tail feathers are dark gray with light ends. The iris is red to orange. The bare eye ring is narrow and red.

distribution and habitat

Red-backed pigeon

The red-backed pigeon occurs in five subspecies from southern Mexico to Paraguay and Argentina. It inhabits open terrain and savannahs as well as semi-arid areas with only a few trees, bushes or groups of trees. But it also occurs in sparse forests.

After the breeding season, red-backed pigeons can occasionally be found in larger flocks in places that offer them an abundant supply of food.

behavior

Red-backed pigeons eat seeds and berries. However, they also accept agricultural crops and are found, for example, in large numbers on harvested rice fields.

The red-backed pigeon only lays one egg. She lives mostly singly. The predators of the red-backed pigeon include the written arassari and the brown-eared arassari . Both species, which belong to the black macaws, eat both the eggs and the young birds.

supporting documents

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rösler, p. 105
  2. ↑ Rösler, p. 104
  3. ↑ Lester L. Short and Jennifer FM Horne: Toucans, Barbets and Honeyguides - Ramphastidae, Capitonidae and Indicatoridae . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, ISBN 0-19-854666-1 , p. 389

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 .
  • 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 . M. & H. Schaper Verlag, Alfeld-Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7944-0184-0 .

Web links

Commons : Patagioenas cayennensis  - Collection of images