Crowned Pigeons | All Facts What You Want To Know 2021

The Crowned pigeons are a bird genus in the Columbidae family. It includes four big pigeon species unique to New Guinea Island and a few neighboring islands. The species are quite similar in appearance and inhabit various areas of New Guinea. In 1819 the English scientist James Francis Stephens established the genus.

They drink falling fruit, seeds, and snails on the woodland floor. The men and women are almost identical, except the male coo and bow for the female during courting. Both parents incubate an egg for 28-30 days, and the chick takes 30 more days. Life may last for more than 20 years.

Species Of Crowned Pigeons:

In 1819, the English scientist James Francis Stephens established the genus Goura. The Western crowned pigeon is the type species. The term Goura originates from the native name of the crowned pigeons of New Guinea. There are four species in the genus:

A crowned pigeon from Scheepmaker and a crowned pigeon from Sclater were formerly regarded conspecific with the English term “southern Crowned pigeons.”

• Western Crowned pigeon
• Scheepmaker’s Crowned pigeon
• Crowned pigeon Victoria
• Sclater’s Crowned pigeon

A 2018 molecular phylogenetic research showed that the four species in the genus constituted two parts: the western crowned pigeon was the sister of the crowned pigeon, while the crowned pigeon of Scheepmakers was the sister of the crowned pigeon of Victoria,

1. Western Crowned Pigeons:

The Western Crowned pigeon (Goura cristata), sometimes known as the ordinary crowned pigeon, is a big blue-gray bird with blue lacy crests above its head and dark-blue foliage around its eyes. Both sexes are almost identical, although frequently, men are bigger than women. It is 70 cm (28 in) length on average and weighs 2.1 kg (4.6 lbs).

Along with its near, comparable cousins, it is one of the biggest and one of the most attractive members of the palm family, alongside the Victoria Crowned pigeons, Sclater’s Crowned pigeons, and Scheepmaker’s Crowned pigeon.

Who? The Western Crowned Pigeons are native to northwestern North Guinea’s lowland rainforests; the other crowned pigeon species occupy other parts of the island. The diet primarily consists of fruit and seeds.

It is only prevalent in isolated regions, hunted for food and its feathers. Due to the continuing habitat degradation, restricted range, and overhunt in certain regions, the western crowned pigeons are assessed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The Western Crowned pigeons were first described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 and named Columba cristata as a binomial. A 2018 molecular phylogenetic research has shown that the western crowned pigeon is most closely linked to the crowned pigeon of Sclater.

2. Scheepmaker’s Crowned Pigeons:

Scheepmaker’s crowned pigeons are big terrestrial pigeons restricted to the lowlands of south-eastern New Guinea. It features a bluish-grey feather with sophisticated blue crests, crimson eyes, and deep maroon breast. Both sexes share a similar look. It has an average length of 70 cm and weighs 2.250 grams (5 lbs).

• Taxonomy:

The German naturalist Otto Finsch originally described this species, who got a live bird in the Amsterdam zoo from trader C. Scheepmaker and named it after him. The crowned pigeon of Sheepmaker was believed to be conspecific with the crowned pigeon of Sclater (Goura sclaterii). A 2018 molecular phylogenetic research showed that the Crowned pigeons of Scheepmaker are the most closely linked to a crowned pigeon in Victoria (Goura victoria).

The Goura sclaterii) is a vast land-based pigeon that is restricted in southern lowland forests of New Guinea. This pigeon was formerly seen as being conspecific to the Crowned pigeons from Scheepmaker (Goura scheepmakeri).

Sclater’s Crowned Pigeons:

There’s a blue-grey plumage with intricate crests of blue lace, red iris, and deep maroon. Both sexes share a similar look. The length is 66–73 cm and weighs 2.00–2.24 kg.

Originally, the Italian naturalist Tommaso Salvadori described the Crowned pigeons of Taxonomy Sclater in 1876. He introduced Goura Sclater’s present binomial name. Slater was selected to honor Philip Sclater (1829–1913), an English naturalist. A 2018 molecular phylogenetic research showed that the crowned pigeon of Sclater was closely linked to the western Crow pigeon (Goura cristata).

• Conservation:

Sclater’s crowned pigeon, being docile and extensively hunts for its flesh and feathers, is assessed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as almost threatened.

Victoria Crowned Pigeons:

The Victoria crowned pigeons are rich blue-gray with a little black mask. The feather crest (a characteristic other than their size crowned pigeons) is white-tipped. On the wing cover, there is a range of light blue-gray plumes with maroon tips. These are separate wing bars. The chest is rich violet-maroon. Melanism was found, as in all Crowned pigeons. The other two crowned pigeons are more outwardly similar, but only the western crowned pigeon overlaps with Victoria. The Crowned pigeons of the Scheepmaker do not. The crown is scraggy and hairy in Western species, the breast is uniform blue-gray and not maroon, and there is a less pronounced wing-bar. Both genders are the same.

This species is usually between 73 and 75 centimeters long. Some specimens may reach 80 cm (31 in) in length and 3.5 kg in weight (7.7 lb). It is slightly bigger than the average of two other crowned pigeons, making it the biggest living pigeon species in this world. The standard measures for pigeons on the New Guinean mainland are 36–39 cm (14–15 inches), 27–30.1 cm (10.6–11.9 inches) in the tail, 3.2–3.5 cm (1.3–1.4 inches) in beak, with an unfettered tarsus 8.5–9.8 inches (3.3–3.9 inches).

Like other Crowned pigeons, it produces a loud clapping sound as it flees. The calls of this species similarly resemble the other two crowned pigeon-like species consisting of a deep hoots-hoots-hoots-hoota sound. These birds produce a loud whup-up, whup-up, whup-up cry while defending their territory. Their call is a profound, muted, human-like hmm or hmmm.

The two subspecies of the crowned Victoria pigeon are G. v. peccary, found on New Guinea mainland, and the nominated breed G. v. Victoria, located on the Yapen, Biak, and Supiori Islands. The nominal subspecies, with a wing chord length of 31,6–33,2 cm (12,4–13,1 inches), are much smaller with less robust legs and feet and black plumage. On the wing covers, the nominee has a sparser crest with black on top of the tail.

Habitat:

The crowned Victoria pigeon is found in northern Guinea’s lowland and swamp forests and the neighboring islands. It typically takes place in regions of former alluvial lands, including sago forests. Although usually found at or around the sea level, birds of this species may sometimes rise to approximately 3,000 ft. in the highlands. They soar every day from the sea to the tree.

Behavior:

Like other Crowned pigeons, a gregarious species is the Victoria crowned pigeon. They typically roam in couples or small groups looking for food. They hurriedly move over the woodland floor. Their diet usually consists of falling fruit. In captivity, birds of this species are especially fond of eating figs. Seeds and invertebrates may augment the diet from time to time. These birds fly directly towards the canopy or a big horizontal limb of an important forest tree when startled. After being startled, they may stay on their bars and flicker their tails for a significant period.

In the wild, this species tends to be shyer than the West capped pigeon, although it may still be approached sometimes gently. [3] The men frequently participate in violent demonstrations to achieve domination. In such encounters, the pigeons puff up their chests and lift their wings repeatedly as if they were ready to attack their opponent. They also make brief strikes and may actually hit each other, but seldom touch and maybe quite benign to other men outside the start of the mating season.

Reproduction:

The maxima of breeding late in the wet and dry seasons. When the male shows up for the female, he drops his head down, extends forward, and swings up and down rhythmically while simultaneously waving his breathtaking tail. Although the woman breeds more directly, both parents assist the young. The female typically lays one white egg in a well-built tree nest of twigs, sticks, and palm fronds. In the weeks before she lays the egg, the male delivers the female’s nesting material.

The egg is incubated for approximately 30 days. The young people leave the nest when they are considerably smaller than their parents but actively spend 13 weeks there