The Vanuatu imperial pigeon or Baker's imperial pigeon (''Ducula bakeri'') 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

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

and lives in forests. It is threatened by forest clearing, and 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 vulnerable species.

Taxonomy

Norman Boyd Kinnear Sir Norman Boyd Kinnear (11 August 1882 – 11 August 1957) was a Scottish zoologist and ornithologist. Early life Kinnear was the younger son of the wealthy Edinburgh architect Charles George Hood Kinnear and his wife Jessie Jane and came f ...

described the species from Santo in 1928, as ''Muscadivora bakeri''. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

of this bird commemorates the British zoologist John Randal Baker, who discovered the species.

Description

The Vanuatu imperial pigeon is about long. The head and nape are sooty blue-grey, and the neck is dark purplish-maroon. The mantle, back and

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 are sooty-grey and have a steely sheen. The underwing coverts are chestnut, and the

flight feather 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 ...

s are rufous. The throat is dark grey. The breast is dark purplish-maroon with a slight gloss, and the belly is deep chestnut. The uppertail coverts are black, and the undertail coverts are rufous. The eyes are yellow, the beak is black, and the feet are pinkish-red. The female is a little smaller and duller than the male. The juvenile bird has much duller plumage with no gloss.

Distribution and habitat

This pigeon is endemic to Vanuatu, occurring on several larger islands. Its habitat is mostly

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

s, and it also occurs in lowlands. On Santo, it lives in forests above in elevation.

Behaviour

The Vanuatu imperial pigeon is usually found singly or in pairs in the canopy; small parties are sometimes found. It is a wary bird that is not easily found. A

frugivore A frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance an ...

, it eats fruits of trees, shrubs and vines, and it moves within islands to search for food. Its call is a powerful repeated ''twoo-too-too-too-too''. Its breeding biology is unknown.

Status

The population of the species is estimated at 2,500 to 10,000 mature individuals, or 3,500 to 15,000 birds in total. The population is probably declining since it is threatened by the clearing of forests for agriculture and hunting. The IUCN has assessed it as a

vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...

because of its small, fragmented population that is probably in decline.

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet
{{Taxonbar, from=Q788944 Ducula Birds of Vanuatu Endemic fauna of Vanuatu Birds described in 1928 Taxa named by Norman Boyd Kinnear Taxonomy articles created by Polbot