White-cheeked pigeon
| White-cheeked pigeon | ||||||||||
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White-cheeked pigeon, San Diego Zoo |
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| Columba vitiensis | ||||||||||
| Quoy & Gaimard , 1830 |
The white-cheeked pigeon ( Columba vitiensis ) is a species of pigeon bird that belongs to the field pigeons . It belongs to the large species within this genus and is only slightly smaller than a wood pigeon , but more powerfully built. The range of the white-cheeked pigeon are islands of Wallacea and New Guinea. Numerous subspecies are distinguished, some of which have clear differences in their plumage and whose range is sometimes limited to a single island. They are all characterized by a white chin, a white throat and white ear covers that stand out clearly from the rest of the head plumage.
The stock situation of the white-cheeked pigeon is given as least concern , although at least one of the subspecies is already extinct.
Appearance
anatomy
The males of the white-cheeked pigeon reach a body length between 36 and 39 centimeters, the females remain somewhat smaller with 32 to 37 centimeters. The tail accounts for 12.1 to 14.2 centimeters of the body length. The wing length is 225 to 251 millimeters in the males, 214 to 238 millimeters in the females. The beak is 19 to 21 millimeters long. The weight is between 168 and 511 grams. Apart from the difference in size, there is no noticeable gender dimorphism .
Adult white-cheeked pigeons
The forehead to the nape of the neck is iridescent purple and can also shimmer green with certain incidence of light. The slightly stiffened neck feathers are also of this color. The wing covers, on the other hand, are black with a greenish sheen on the edges, which is only purple when exposed to certain light. The upper coat shimmers gold-green, the rest of the top of the body is blackish with broad green iridescent feather hems. The upper tail-coverts are black with narrow green and purple shiny feather edges. The tail plumage is black. The chin, throat and ear covers are creamy white and stand out clearly from the rest of the purple, shiny plumage of the crown and neck. The chest and belly have a greenish-purple sheen.
Fledglings
Fledglings are a little more brown on the upper side than the adult birds. With them, the iridescent shimmer of the plumage is also not so pronounced.
Possible confusion
There are several types of pigeons in the distribution area of the white-cheeked pigeon, with which it can be confused. The yellow-footed pigeon , which occurs on the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands, is slightly larger and its plumage is soot-black on the underside of its body. The legs are - as the name implies - yellow. The white-headed pigeon , which occurs in New Guinea, corresponds to the white-cheeked pigeon in body size and resembles it in plumage. However, it lacks the iridescent sheen on the mantle and the wing covers. The Rotscheiteltaube how the barnacle dove a white chin, a white throat and white ear ceilings, crown, neck and chest band, however, are reddish brown and again lacks the luster to coat and wing covers. The bronze fruit pigeon , which occurs in large parts of the distribution area of the white-cheeked pigeon , is also similar in size and can be confused with the subspecies of the white-cheeked pigeon , which have a gray throat. Her upper plumage also has an iridescent shimmer, but this shimmer is exclusively greenish. The pink-headed fruit pigeon , which occurs on the Lesser Sunda Islands, among other places, has a paler head and the underside of the body shimmers pink. In contrast, the top of the body is a monochrome bronze-green and has only a slight metallic sheen.
Distribution area and habitat
The white-cheeked pigeon occurs on a number of Philippine islands, islands off the north coast of Borneo, the islands off Sulawesi, some islands of the Moluccas , the Lesser Sunda Islands and New Guinea and some islands off the coast of New Guinea. Despite the proximity to the Australian mainland, however, Australia is not populated. The individual subspecies occur in the following regions:
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- C. v. griseogularis (Walden & EL Layard, 1872) - Islands of the Philippines and the Sulu Archipelago and islands in the north of Borneo.
- C. v. anthracina (Hachisuka, 1939) - Palawan and possibly Busuanga as well as some islands in northern Borneo.
- C. v. metallica (Temminck, 1835) - Lesser Sunda Islands
- C. v. halmaheira (Bonaparte, 1855) - Banggai Islands and Sulu Archipelago across the Moluccas to New Guinea and the islands of the Bismarck Archipelago as well as the Louisiade Archipelago and the Solomon Islands
- C. v. leopoldi (Tristram, 1879) - Vanuatu
- C. v. hypoenochroa (Gould, 1856) - New Caledonia and Loyalty Islands
- C. v. vitiensis Quoy & Gaimard, 1830 - Fiji .
- C. v. godmanae (Mathews, 1915) - Lord Howe Island . The subspecies has been extinct since 1853. There is also no type specimen , this subspecies is only known through paintings, drawings and written records.
- C. v. castaneiceps Peale, 1848 - Samoa
- C. v. subsp. Latham 1823 - There is a written report handed down by Latham in 1823 that there was a pigeon corresponding to the white-cheeked pigeon on the Vava'u Islands belonging to Tonga . If so, this species has been extinct for a very long time. David Gibbs et al. think it possible that there was a mix-up with the island of Fiji.
The white-cheeked pigeon is considered a resident bird . Outside of the breeding season, however, this species of pigeon roams a large area to find food. It also happens that they cross straits between islands.
habitat
The white-cheeked pigeon prefers dense evergreen forests, gallery forests and monsoon forests from the lowlands up to altitudes of 2,750 meters. It is observed most often at the edges of the forest and in forest clearings, also uses secondary forest and occurs on individual islands in forest forms that have been heavily reshaped by humans and even populates plantations there.
Habits
The white-cheeked pigeon is a secretly living forest pigeon that is usually observed solitary or in pairs. Only for New Caledonia are there reports that troops with up to 80 individuals of these pigeon species used to be formed there.
The white-cheeked pigeon eats a wide variety of fruits, berries, and seeds from both native and introduced plant species. In some areas of the distribution area it even comes regularly to agricultural areas to eat the chilli peppers grown there. It finds its food mainly in the treetops, but also comes to the ground to eat fallen fruit. The breeding season varies with the latitude. In parts of the distribution area they brood in every calendar month. The nest is a pigeon-typical loose platform made of twigs and twigs. In New Guinea, this nest is preferably built in the crown of tree ferns. The clutch consists of one or two eggs. It is incubated for 17 to 19 days. Nestlings fledge after 21 days.
White-cheeked pigeon and human
The white-cheeked pigeon is hunted intensively on some of the islands in its range.
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 .
- 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
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Handbook of the Birds of the World zur Weißwangentaube , accessed on May 23, 2017.
- ↑ a b c d Gibbs, Barnes and Cox: Pigeons and Doves , p. 209.
- ↑ a b c d Gibbs, Barnes and Cox: Pigeons and Doves , p. 207.
- ^ Beehler & Pratt: Birds of New Guinea , p. 64.
- ^ Gibbs, Barnes and Cox: Pigeons and Doves , p. 208.