Nicobar Pigeon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nicobar Pigeon
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Aves
Order:
Columbiformes
Family:
Columbidae
Genus:
Caloenas
G. R. Gray, 1840
Species:
C. nicobarica
Binomial name
Caloenas nicobarica
Linnaeus,
1758
The Nicobar Pigeon, Caloenas
nicobarica is a pigeon which is a resident breeding bird on small
uninhabited islands in Indonesia and the Nicobar Islands. It is the only living
member of the genus Caloenas.
A Nicobar
Pigeon in the National Zoo shows off its iridescent scapulars to good effect.
This is a large, heavy
pigeon at 40cm in length. It is mainly metallic green with green and copper
hackles on the neck. The head and upper neck, flight feathers and breast are dark
grey. The tail is very short and pure white. There is a black knob on the base
of the bill, and the strong legs are dark red. This is not a very vocal
species, but the call is a coo-coo-coo.
Females are slightly
smaller than males; they have a smaller bill knob, shorter hackles and browner
underparts. Immature birds have a black tail.
The Nicobar Pigeon roams in
flocks from island to island, including inhabited sites, seeking its food of seeds,
fruit and some invertebrates, and is attracted to areas where grain is
available; usually, it sleeps on offshore islets where no predators occur and
spends the day in areas whith better food availability. Its flight is quick,
with the regular beats and an occasional sharp flick of the wings which are
characteristic of pigeons in general. Peculiarly, groups tend to fly in columns
or single file, not in a loose flock as most other pigeons do; the white tail
seems to serve as a sort of "taillight" when crossing water at dawn
or dusk. These observations are also supported by inexperienced birds, which
could lead a group astray, lacking this feature.
This species nests in dense
forest, building a stick nest in a tree and laying one elliptical, faintly
blue-tinged white egg.
Systematics
Following comparison of mitochondrial
cytochrome b and 12S rRNA sequences (Shapiro et al. 2002), the
Nicobar Pigeon has been proposed as the closest living relative of the Dodo and
the Rodrigues Solitaire. Note however that this does not imply an actually
close relationship; it simply means that all other living species seem to be
more distinct still. In addition, the phylogeny inferred from the data is
spurious; molecular phylogenies of the Indo-Australian pigeons have yielded
wildly differing results depending on the gene sequence analyzed (compare e.g.
with Johnson & Clayton 2000).
From subfossil bones found
on New Caledonia and Tonga, an extinct species, the Greater Maned Pigeon (Caloenas
canacorum) was described. It was a sizeable bird, about one-quarter larger
than the Nicobar Pigeon. Considering that it must have been a good source of
food, it was most likely hunted to extinction by the first human settlers of
the islands where it occurred.
The Liverpool Pigeon,
another more recently extinct species from an unknown Pacific locality, is also
placed in Caloenas, but this is just the least awkward possibility; its
true affinities are presently undeterminable.
References
- BirdLife International (2004). Caloenas nicobarica.
2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on
11 May 2006. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this
species is near threatened
- Grimmett, Richard; Inskipp, Carol, Inskipp, Tim
& Byers, Clive (1999): Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh,
Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. Princeton University Press,
Princeton, N.J.. ISBN 0-691-04910-6
- Johnson, Kevin P. & Clayton, Dale H.
(2000): Nuclear and Mitochondrial Genes Contain Similar Phylogenetic. Signal
for Pigeons and Doves (Aves: Columbiformes). Molecular Phylogenetics
and Evolution 14(1): 141–151. PDF fulltext
- Shapiro, Beth;
Sibthorpe, Dean; Rambaut, Andrew; Austin, Jeremy; Wragg, Graham M.;
Bininda-Em
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nicobar_Pigeon&action=history
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Caloenas nicobarica |
The Nicobar Pigeon, Caloenas
nicobarica is a pigeon which is a resident breeding bird on small
uninhabited islands in Indonesia and the Nicobar Islands. It is the only living
member of the genus Caloenas.
A Nicobar
Pigeon in the National Zoo shows off its iridescent scapulars to good effect.
This is a large, heavy
pigeon at 40cm in length. It is mainly metallic green with green and copper
hackles on the neck. The head and upper neck, flight feathers and breast are dark
grey. The tail is very short and pure white. There is a black knob on the base
of the bill, and the strong legs are dark red. This is not a very vocal
species, but the call is a coo-coo-coo.
Females are slightly
smaller than males; they have a smaller bill knob, shorter hackles and browner
underparts. Immature birds have a black tail.
The Nicobar Pigeon roams in
flocks from island to island, including inhabited sites, seeking its food of seeds,
fruit and some invertebrates, and is attracted to areas where grain is
available; usually, it sleeps on offshore islets where no predators occur and
spends the day in areas whith better food availability. Its flight is quick,
with the regular beats and an occasional sharp flick of the wings which are
characteristic of pigeons in general. Peculiarly, groups tend to fly in columns
or single file, not in a loose flock as most other pigeons do; the white tail
seems to serve as a sort of "taillight" when crossing water at dawn
or dusk. These observations are also supported by inexperienced birds, which
could lead a group astray, lacking this feature.
This species nests in dense
forest, building a stick nest in a tree and laying one elliptical, faintly
blue-tinged white egg.
Systematics
Following comparison of mitochondrial
cytochrome b and 12S rRNA sequences (Shapiro et al. 2002), the
Nicobar Pigeon has been proposed as the closest living relative of the Dodo and
the Rodrigues Solitaire. Note however that this does not imply an actually
close relationship; it simply means that all other living species seem to be
more distinct still. In addition, the phylogeny inferred from the data is
spurious; molecular phylogenies of the Indo-Australian pigeons have yielded
wildly differing results depending on the gene sequence analyzed (compare e.g.
with Johnson & Clayton 2000).
From subfossil bones found
on New Caledonia and Tonga, an extinct species, the Greater Maned Pigeon (Caloenas
canacorum) was described. It was a sizeable bird, about one-quarter larger
than the Nicobar Pigeon. Considering that it must have been a good source of
food, it was most likely hunted to extinction by the first human settlers of
the islands where it occurred.
The Liverpool Pigeon,
another more recently extinct species from an unknown Pacific locality, is also
placed in Caloenas, but this is just the least awkward possibility; its
true affinities are presently undeterminable.
References
- BirdLife International (2004). Caloenas nicobarica.
2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on
11 May 2006. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this
species is near threatened
- Grimmett, Richard; Inskipp, Carol, Inskipp, Tim
& Byers, Clive (1999): Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh,
Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. Princeton University Press,
Princeton, N.J.. ISBN 0-691-04910-6
- Johnson, Kevin P. & Clayton, Dale H.
(2000): Nuclear and Mitochondrial Genes Contain Similar Phylogenetic. Signal
for Pigeons and Doves (Aves: Columbiformes). Molecular Phylogenetics
and Evolution 14(1): 141–151. PDF fulltext
- Shapiro, Beth;
Sibthorpe, Dean; Rambaut, Andrew; Austin, Jeremy; Wragg, Graham M.;
Bininda-Em