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Adult male
Photo by Devon Pike
Saipan, July 2012

Gallicolumba xanthonura

[edit] Identification

25cm. Sexually dimorphic. Stocky with a horizontal posture, slow wingbeats in flight.

Males :- White head and breast with a buff wash to the hind crown, nape and sides of neck. Rest of upperparts dark, metallic purple. underparts matt black. Wing coverts, tertials and secondaries dark oily green, primaries with thin yellowish margins. Tail dark oily green.

Females :- Overall greeny-brown. Back, rump, uppertail coverts and wings with bold orangish-buff margins. Tail - basal 33% greenish with yellow margins, central 33% plain green, distal 33% with broad yellow margins ( looks almost all yellow ).

Bare parts :- Black

[edit] Voice

Deep groaning "oooOOOooo". Rising in the middle. Very ventriloquial.

[edit] Distribution

Northern Mariana Islands from Guam ( may be extinct - or almost so - on Guam ) to Saipan and Waqab ( Yap ) in the Federated States of Micronesia,

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Habitat

Moist forest, shrubland and plantations.

[edit] Behaviour

Rather secretive, feeds less on the ground than other Gallicolumba sp. Always in pairs

[edit] External Links