- Goura victoria
Identification
66-74 cm, 26-29 inches 2384 g
Adult
- White tips to broad, flat and bladelike crest feathers
- Barbs only slightly separated
- Dark greyish-blue overall
- Purplish red breast
- Pale greyish-blue wing patch with purple borders
- Red or purplish-red iris
- Dark grey beak
- Purplish red legs and feet
Juvenile
- Duller than adult with purple parts of adults infused with brown
- Dull grey wing patch
Similar Species
Western Crowned Pigeon has a much frizzier crest that lacks white tips Southern Crowned Pigeon has a blue grey plume that lacks white tips
Distribution
Northern New Guinea and surrounding islands.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are two subspecies[1]
- G. v. victoria:
- Yapen Island and Biak Island (New Guinea)
- G. v. beccarii: Paler and slightly larger than nominate
- Northern New Guinea
Habitat
Mainly occurs in lowland swamp and sago forests, also in drier forests, occasionally occurs up to 600 m
Behaviour
Diet
Diet includes fallen fruits, berries and seeds.
Forest floor forager.
Gregarious, seen in parties of between 2 and 10 individuals
Breeding
The single white egg is incubated by both parents for 30 days. Fledging occurs after 4 weeks.
Very little data available on seasonality, but evidence of juvenile in northwestern New Guinea in October.
Nest is tidy, compact mass of palm and lawyer cane leaves, sticks and stems.
Lays 1 white egg; incubation 30 days; fledging 4 weeks. The fledged young don't appear to return to the nest at night.
Courtship display by young male suggests it had reached sexual maturity at 17 months.
Vocalisation
Call is similar to Western Crowned Pigeon; ‘uh wuh-uh wuh -uh whu-uh’, repeated eight times. Contact call is a soft porcine grunting, also produces a low ‘oooommmm’.
Movement
Sedentary. Flies to branches 3-5 m above ground when flushed.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2015. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015, with updates to August 2015. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Avibase
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved February 2016)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Victoria Crowned Pigeon. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 26 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Victoria_Crowned_Pigeon
