White-breasted pigeon
| White-breasted pigeon | ||||||||||
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White-breasted pigeon |
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| Columba leucomela | ||||||||||
| Temminck , 1821 |
The white-breasted pigeon ( Columba leucomela ) is a species of pigeon birds that belongs to the subfamily Columbinae . The species is a representative of the avifauna of Australia . It is the only species of field pigeon that occurs on the Australian continent.
The IUCN classifies the white-breasted pigeon as a species that is not endangered in its population ( least concern ).
Appearance
The white-breasted pigeon reaches a body length of up to 40 centimeters and is therefore larger than a wood pigeon . The tail plumage is between 13 and 17 centimeters, the beak is 2 to 2.8 centimeters long. The weight is between 370 and 450 grams.
Both sexes have a creamy white head, neck and upper coat. However, some individuals are also spotted gray on the vertex. The feathers on the upper coat have gray-brown spots and then merge into the blackish lower coat. Depending on the incidence of light, this part of the plumage has a metallic green, purple or blue-black color. The back and rump are black with shiny purple to shiny green feather edges. The tail plumage is black. The elytra are also black, but are narrowly lined with greenish or blue-violet. The hand and arm wings are brown-black. The throat and chin are creamy white and then merge into a dirty white chest and a dirty white belly. The flanks are mottled gray, the under tail-coverts are gray with a reddish-brown mottling. The iris is yellow and surrounded by an orange ring. The eye ring is dull red, the wax skin is red-violet, the beak is red with a yellow tip.
Possible confusion
The white-breasted pigeon can be confused with feral city pigeons. But these are smaller and have a shorter tail and longer and more pointed wings. Young birds of the hooded fruit pigeon also show a similarity with the white-breasted pigeon, as the hood characteristic of the species has not yet developed. However, they have a narrow gray transverse band on the tail plumage, which enables clear identification.
The two-colored fruit pigeon is found in the distribution area of the white-breasted pigeon, but is unmistakable due to its predominantly creamy white body plumage.
Distribution area and habitat
The white-breasted pigeon is only found on the east coast of Australia. Their distribution area extends from Cooktown in the Australian state of Queensland to the north of Eden in New South Wales . In this distribution area, it inhabits the coastal areas as well as the adjacent mountains and high plateau plains. The white-breasted pigeon is a rare bird south of Sydney and may only be found in this region outside of the breeding season.
The white-breasted pigeon lives in tropical, subtropical and temperate rainforests as well as gallery forests . It occurs mainly at the edges of the forest and also colonizes isolated forest remnants and suburbs with a dense tree population. During the winter half-year it can also be observed on agricultural land.
The white-breasted pigeon is basically a resident bird , but roams through a larger area, especially in the winter months. Populations occurring in the north are regularly found in the immediate coastal regions in the Australian spring. In the hot summer months they can be observed mainly in the plateaus.
Way of life
White-breasted pigeons can be seen solitary, in pairs or occasionally in flocks of more than 50 individuals. As a rule, they are not associated with other fruit-eating pigeons.
They are mostly in the treetop area and can usually only be identified there by their soft coo call. They rarely come to the ground, mostly to eat or drink fallen fruit. The range of fruits that are eaten by them is very large. Figs play a special role, but also the fruits of several types of the laurel family . In the suburban area, they also eat the fruits of the camphor tree introduced in Australia . They occasionally come to agricultural land to pick up the grain that fell during the harvest.
White-breasted pigeons typically live a single, white-shelled egg. It is incubated by both parent birds over a period of 19 to 20 days. The nestlings leave the nest when they are 20 days old.
Trivia
The column gardener , a type of bower bird with distinctive mocking properties, imitates the calls of the white-breasted pigeon, among other things.
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 - Die Arten der Wildtauben , 2nd expanded and revised edition, 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, Alfeld, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7944-0184-0 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Gibbs et al: 'Pigeons and Doves - A Guide to the Pigeons and Doves of the World . P. 209.
- ↑ Handbook of the Birds of the World on White Breasted Pigeon , accessed on April 24, 2017
- ↑ a b c d e Gibbs et al: 'Pigeons and Doves - A Guide to the Pigeons and Doves of the World . P. 210.
- ↑ Clifford B. Frith, Dawn. W. Frith: The Bowerbirds - Ptilonorhynchidae . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-854844-3 , p. 317