The afep pigeon (''Columba unicincta''), also known as the African wood-pigeon or gray wood-pigeon, is a member of the family

Columbidae Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

which lives in the Equatorial Forests of Africa.

Taxonomy

The afep pigeon was described by the American ornithologist

John Cassin John Cassin (September 6, 1813 – January 10, 1869) was an American ornithologist from Pennsylvania. He worked as curator and Vice President at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and focused on the systemic classification of the Acade ...

in 1860 from a specimen collected in West Africa from the

Ogooué River The Ogooué (or Ogowe), also known as the Nazareth river, some long, is the principal river of Gabon in west central Africa and the fifth largest river in Africa by volume of discharge, trailing only the Congo, Kasai, Niger and Zambezi. Its w ...

, Gabon. He coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Columba unicincta''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

combines the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''uni-'' "one-" and ''cinctus'' "banded". The English name "afep" is the word for a pigeon in the

Bulu language Bulu is a Bantu language of the Bulu people of Cameroon. The language had 174,000 native speakers in 1982, with some 800,000 second language speakers in 1991. Its dialects include Bene, Yelinda, Yembana, Yengono, and Zaman. Bulu was formerly use ...

of Cameroon. The species is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

Description

The afep pigeon is between 35 and 36 cm (14 in) in length and weighs between . The sexes are similar. It has a gray neck and body, with darker gray wings and tail. The throat and belly are white. The breast is buff-pink. The eyes and orbital rings are red. This pigeon has a loud call. It sounds like "doo doo doo" or "whu whu whu whu-WHU".

Distribution

They are found in two disjunct areas of the African tropical rainforest. In particular, they can be found in Sierra Leone, southern Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Ghana. Their range also includes south-eastern Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Uganda and Angola.

Behavior

Diet

Afep pigeons mainly feed on grain and seeds.

Reproduction

They mainly breed in the second half of the dry season. The female pigeon usually lays between 1 and 3 eggs. Both parents help raise the chicks. They are incubated for between 14 and 18 days. They are fed with

crop milk Crop milk is a secretion from the lining of the crop of parent birds that is regurgitated to young birds. It is found among all pigeons and doves where it is referred to as pigeon milk. An analog to crop milk is also secreted from the esopha ...

after hatching. A few days later, they will start eating small pieces of solid food. They leave the nest 20 to 25 days after they hatch.

Conservation

They are classified by the IUCN as of least concern. Their population is stable and unfragmented, though the exact number of birds is unknown.

References

External links

Xeno-canto: Audio recordings of the Afep pigeon

Afep Pigeon Breed Guide - Pigeonpedia

Photos, videos and observations
at Cornell Lab of Ornithologys Birds of the World
about an Afep pigeon
{{Taxonbar, from=Q665742 Afep pigeon Birds of the African tropical rainforest Afep pigeon