The picazuro pigeon (''Patagioenas picazuro'') is a

pigeon 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 ...

native to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

Description

It is a large pigeon with a wingspan of up to 22 inches and can weigh as much as a pound. It is a brown bird with white dashes on the back of its neck and darker brown wing patterns. It is similar in appearance to the

spotted dove The spotted dove (''Spilopelia chinensis'') is a small and somewhat long-tailed pigeon that is a common resident breeding bird across its native range on the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia. The species has been introduced to many parts ...

Distribution

The picazuro pigeon is found in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 5,800,000 km² and although an accurate population count has not taken place, it is believed that the species is common and the population is thought to be increasing. Picazuro pigeons survive in a variety of habitats; from woodland and forest to agricultural land.

Diet

This species feeds mainly on the ground and like most other

pigeons 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 ...

eats seeds and grain.

Reproduction

Picazuro pigeons nest in every month of the year. A fragile

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materia ...

is built from sticks and one

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

is laid. Both parents incubate the egg. Once the egg has hatched, the chick is fed on

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 ...

and then regurgitated seeds.

References

* InfoNatura: Birds, mammals, and amphibians of Latin America eb application 2004. Version 4.1 . Arlington, Virginia (USA): NatureServe. Available

(Accessed: April 7, 2007 ).

External links

Picazuro pigeon in Ceará, Brazil: Photo, vocalization
fro
www.birds-caatinga.com
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1269659 Patagioenas, picazuro pigeon Birds of Argentina Birds of Brazil Birds of Paraguay Birds of Uruguay picazuro pigeon