Western crowned pigeon

Western crowned pigeon
At Taman Mini Indonesia Indah Birdpark, Jakarta, Indonesia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Columbiformes
Family: Columbidae
Genus: Goura
Species: G. cristata
Binomial name
Goura cristata
(Pallas, 1764)

The western crowned pigeon, also known as the common crowned pigeon or blue crowned pigeon (Goura cristata) is a large, blue-grey pigeon with blue lacy crests over the head and dark blue mask feathers around its eyes. Both sexes are almost similar but males are often larger than females. It is on average 70 cm (28 in) long and weighs 2,100 grams (4.6 lbs).[2]

Along with its close and very similar looking relatives the Victoria crowned pigeon and the southern crowned pigeon, it is one of the largest and is considered one of the most beautiful members of the pigeon family. The western crowned pigeon is found in and is endemic to the lowland rainforests of Papua, Indonesia section of New Guinea; the other species of crowned pigeon inhabit different regions of the island. The diet consists mainly of fruits and seeds.

Hunted for food and its plumes, it remains common only in remote areas. Due to ongoing habitat loss, limited range and overhunting in some areas, the western crowned pigeon is evaluated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed in Appendix II of CITES.

The western crowned pigeon was first described by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 and given the binomial name Columba cristata.[3][4][5]

Emblem

The western crowned pigeon is the official provincial bird of West Papua,[6] and it appears on its coat of arms.

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2013). "Goura cristata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ↑ "A Guide to the Pigeons and Doves of the World" by David Gibbs, Eustace Barnes & John Cox. Yale University Press (2001), ISBN 0-300-07886-2.
  3. ↑ Peters, James Lee (1937). Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 3. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 140.
  4. ↑ Sherborn, C. Davies (1905). "The new species of birds in Vroeg's catalogue, 1764". Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. 47: 332–341 [334 No. 78]. Includes a transcript of the 1764 text.
  5. ↑ Rookmaaker, L.C.; Pieters, F.F.J.M. (2000). "Birds in the sales catalogue of Adriaan Vroeg (1764) described by Pallas and Vosmaer". Contributions to Zoology. 69 (4): 271–277.
  6. ↑ Helradica civica et militaria (English)
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