Blue Pigeon | All Facts That You Want To Know 2021

 

The Pigeon in the Columbidae family is the Blue pigeon of the genus Alectroenas. The western Indian Ocean is home to its native islands.

Taxonomy And Evolution:

The English naturalist George Robert Gray defined the genus Alectroenas for the first time in 1840, and the Mauritius Blue pigeon (Alectroenas nitidissima) was designated as the type species. Elektron’s genus combines the Ancient Greek words Elektron, which means “domestic cock,” and points, which means “pigeon.”

The Alectroenas Blue pigeon is closely related and may be seen in large numbers wherever there are islands in the western Indian Ocean. Their allopatric nature allows them to be considered superspecies, and they are classified as such. The Madagascar blue pigeon, the Comoros blue pigeon, and the Seychelles blue pigeon are the only three species of blue pigeon that are still alive.

The three Mascarene islands were home to one species, which is now extinct: Mauritius, the Rodrigues, and the Réunion. The three Mascarene islands were home to one species, all of which are extinct: Mauritius, the Rodrigues, and the Réunion.

They may have arrived in Madagascar through the Mascarenes, Seychelles, or a now-submerged hot spot island. They may have developed into a separate genus before making their way to the island of Madagascar.

In New Caledonia, the cloven-feathered dove, Drepanoptila holosericea, is the closest genetic cousin of the pigeon-billed dove, Drepanoptila holosericea, from which they split 8–9 million years ago. According to genetic evidence, their ancestors seem to be the fruit doves (Ptilinopus) of Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Misidentified Records:

They originated in Mauritius and were transported to the Netherlands about 1790. It lived for three months in the menagerie of William V, Prince of Orange, before succumbing to oedema and being exterminated. One of the only known life drawings of this individual, done by the Dutch artist Gijsbertus Haasbroek and originally published by Piet Tuijn in 1969, is the subject of the only known life drawings of the species (along with the Gelderland sketches).

In the pictures, a showing male is seen lifting his feathers into a ruff to demonstrate dominance. This is also typical of otherss, who may similarly vibrate their feathers in response to the action. There are four species of Blue pigeon as

1. Mauritius Blue Pigeon:

The Mauritius Blue pigeon (Alectroenas nitidissimus) disappeared from the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar during the nineteenth century. It has two extinct Mascarenes cousins and three living cousins. The blue pigeon (Alectroenas) is the type species. His body was blue with a red tail and exposed portions of his head. He had white feathers around his head, neck, and breast. Pigeon Hollandais is derived from the Dutch flag’s colours. The youngsters may have been green. Larger and stronger than any other blue pigeon species, it measured 30 cm (12 in). Mauritian woods used to be home to this fruit-eating mollusc-eating creature.

Behaviour And Ecology :

Like their contemporary cousins, these birds lived in couples or small groups in humid highland evergreen woods. Evidence suggests the bird was formerly common in Mauritius’ midwest, Mideast, and south-east. According to French naturalist Jacques Gérard Milbert, lonely individuals were discovered in river valleys by 1812. They presumably became uncommon during the French colonial period (1715–1810), when the island’s lowlands were nearly entirely deforested.

Many other indigenous species of Mauritius went extinct when a man arrived, severely damaging the island’s ecology. Until people came, Mauritius was completely covered with woods, but now only a few survive due to before. The unique fauna is still in jeopardy. The Mauritius blue pigeon existed with other recently extinct Mauritian birds, including the dodo, red rail, Mascarene grey parakeet, broad-billed parrot, Mauritius owl, Mascarene coot, Mauritian shelduck, Mauritian duck, and Mauritius night heron.

The Mauritian giant skink, the saddle-backed Mauritius giant tortoise, and the Round Island burrowing boa are all extinct. The Mauritian flying fox and the Tropidophora carinata snail were extinct on both islands. Some plants, including the palm orchid and Casearia tinifolia, have gone extinct.

Early descriptions of the bird date from the 17th century, although few reports describe its behaviour in the wild. Several stuffed examples made it to Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, but only three remain today. An image of a live bird housed in the Netherlands about 1790 was mistaken for a Mauritius blue pigeon. However, the bird was a Seychelles blue pigeon. Deforestation and predation are believed to have wiped off the species in the 1830s.

Diet Of Mauritius :

Like others, Mauritius may have inhabited the upper canopy and moved seasonally to plentiful food. In the mid-18th century, Cossigny dissected a specimen and delivered it, along with its stomach contents, to the French scientist René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur.

He was informed that the four “nuts” were either Calophyllum tacamahaca or Labourdonnaisia calophylloides seeds. The Comoro and Seychelles eat C. tacamahaca, and the former’s large gizzard aids indigestion. Jacques Gérard Milbert described the wild bird’s behaviour in 1812:

In the second, the Ile de France [Mauritius] residents name it the pigeon hollandaise; the head, neck, and breast are decorated with long pointed white feathers that it can lift at whim; the remainder of the body, wings, and tail are a beautiful deep violet. It is a rare and beautiful species. The second bird lives alone in river valleys, where I have observed it several times without capturing it. It consumes fruit and molluscs.

2. Comoros Blue Pigeon:

The Comoros Blue pigeon (Alectroenas sganzini) is a Columbidae species. It is found only in Comoros and Seychelles. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species.

Description Of Comoros Blue Pigeon:

The Comoros blue pigeon is 27 cm (11 in) long. The male weighs 134-158 g (4.7-5.6 oz) and the female 117 g (4.1 oz). Its head, throat, and breast are silvery grey. The silvery-white neck feathers[2] are long and strongly partitioned. This bird’s beak has a light yellow or greenish-white tip. Its underparts are dark. The lower breast is violet-blue, while the belly and flanks are greenish-blue.

Habitat And Range:

Only the Comoros and coralline Seychelles have this unique bird. Its native habitats are subtropical or tropical wet lowland forests, mangrove forests, and montane forests. It is found at altitudes of 500-1500 m (1,600-4,900 ft).

The Behaviour Of Comoros:

The Comoros Blue pigeon is usually solitary but may be seen in groups of up to 15. These often fly between the Aldabra group’s islands, one way in the morning and the other in the evening. Their flying is quick with wing claps. They often sit high on a tree in the sun, lifting one wing to catch the rays. They are arboreal, fruit-eating birds that avoid descending on the ground, although tiny stones discovered in their crop suggest they do so sometimes.

Conservation Status:

A diminishing or changing range does not justify a vulnerable grade. Its population is unknown, although it is believed to be above 10,000. A population decrease of less than 30% over ten years or three generations puts it below the vulnerable threshold. It is extinct in some places and abundant in others.

3. Madagascar Blue Pigeon:

The Madagascar Blue pigeon (Alectroenas madagascariensis) is a Columbidae species. The species is closely related to the Comoros blue pigeon and the Seychelles Blue pigeon. Northern and eastern Madagascar have it.

Taxonomy Of Madagascar:

In his six-volume Ornithologie, French naturalist Mathurin Jacques Brisson described the Madagascar Blue pigeon. Columbus coeruleus madagascariensis is the Latin name for this bird. Brisson created Latin names, but the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature does not recognize them. In 1766, Carl Linnaeus revised his Systema Naturae, adding 240 species reported by Brisson. One of them was the Madagascar blue pigeon, which he placed in the Columba genus. Linnaeus provided a summary and acknowledged Brisson’s work. This pigeon is currently in the Alectroenas genus, named after the English naturalist George Robert Gray. The species has no recognized subspecies.

Habitat And Range Of Madagascar:

To 2,000 m, its native habitats are tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests (6,600 ft). In this environment, they are often seen from treetops and branches. The species seems to migrate, leaving the northern portion of the island during the rainy season and migrating west. This behaviour requires further study.

4.  Seychelles Blue Pigeon:

This medium-sized bird, also known as the Seychelles Blue pigeon  (Alectroenas pulcherrimus), inhabits woodland vegetation within granitic islands of Seychelles.

Description:

Its length is 25–27 cm (9.8–10.6 in). The neck and throat are silvery blue-grey, the plumes are filamentous, the upper portions are silvery-grey, and the breast blue-grey fading to deep blue on the belly. In addition to the blue head, a huge red patch of exposed flesh surrounds the yellow eye: red foot and a greenish beak with a golden tip.

Ecology And Behaviour:

Its behaviour is unknown. Feast on fruit in couples or small groups of up to 12 birds. The nests are small twig platforms situated 6–20 m (20–66 ft) up a tree, with a single egg clutch.

The Seychelles blue pigeon (Alectroenas pulcherrimus) is a medium-sized pigeon that inhabits the granitic Seychelles archipelago.

Habitat And Range:

The Seychelles blue pigeon inhabits all the major granitic islands, including Denis and Bird Islands on the Seychelles Bank. The numbers have risen dramatically since the end of human food exploitation in the late 1970s. Birds have since recolonized Curieuse (1980), Denis (1990), Aride Island (1990), and Bird (2009).

Behaviour

There may be one, two, or fewer of them. Fly far above the tree canopy before swooping down at an angle, wings firmly front and downward. Repeat this technique before landing in a tree. With his feathered plume neck and head strutted up and down the limb, the male turns his head 180degrees back to the