The island imperial pigeon or floury imperial pigeon (''Ducula pistrinaria'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in 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 ...

. It is found in the

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km. History The first inhabitants o ...

and the

Solomon Islands archipelago The Solomon Islands (archipelago) is an island group in the western South Pacific Ocean, north-east of Australia. The archipelago is in the Melanesian subregion and bioregion of Oceania and forms the eastern boundary of the Solomon Sea. The ...

, living in primary and secondary forests and mangroves. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

(IUCN) has assessed it as a least-concern species.

Taxonomy

This species was described by

Charles Lucien Bonaparte Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857), was a French naturalist and ornithologist. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal Lucien Bonaparte. Life and career ...

in 1855. The following subspecies are recognised: ''Ducula pistrinaria rhodinolaema'', ''D. p. vanwyckii'', ''D. p. postrema'' and ''D. p. pistrinaria''.

Description

The island imperial pigeon is about long and weighs . The head and neck are pale grey, and there are white spectacles. The upperparts are glossy. The

wing covert A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are sm ...

s and

tertials Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail ...

are grey-green, and the primaries and secondaries are blackish. The back is grey-green. The uppertail is dark blue-green, and the undertail is chestnut. The throat is vinous, the breast is greyish-vinous, and the belly is greyish-fawn. The beak is slaty-blue, having a black tip. The eye is dark red or brownish, and the feet are red. The juvenile bird is duller and buffier. The subspecies have different sizes and glosses.

Distribution and habitat

This pigeon is found in the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands archipelago and small islands to the north and east of New Guinea. Its habitat is coastal

primary forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

, old

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

s and some disturbed habitats.

Behaviour

One or two birds and small flocks are usually found; large flocks are occasionally seen. The pigeon flies swiftly and directly. It plucks fruits from branches in the canopy, and it flies across the sea to search for food. Its calls include a rising and repeated ''c-wooooohooo'' given when the bird is upright, a loud series of descending coos while bobbing up and down, and a high-pitched ''crrrrrurrr''. In display, it flies up at an angle of 70° and then glides. Breeding has been observed from June to September and in March. The nest is built at the end of a branch and made of twigs. One egg is laid.

Status

The IUCN has assessed it as a

least-concern species A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

because of its large range and stable population.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1264480 island imperial pigeon Birds of the Bismarck Archipelago Birds of the Solomon Islands island imperial pigeon island imperial pigeon Taxonomy articles created by Polbot