Western crowned pigeon

The western crowned pigeon (Goura cristata), also known as the common crowned pigeon or blue crowned pigeon, is a large, blue-grey pigeon with blue lacy crests over the head and dark blue mask feathers around its eyes. Both sexes are almost similar but males are often larger than females. It is on average 70 cm (28 in) long and weighs 2,1 kg(4.6 lbs).[2]

Western crowned pigeon
At Taman Mini Indonesia Indah Birdpark, Jakarta, Indonesia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Columbiformes
Family: Columbidae
Genus: Goura
Species:
G. cristata
Binomial name
Goura cristata
(Pallas, 1764)
Synonyms
  • Columba cristata Pallas, 1764
  • Columba coronata Linnaeus, 1766

Along with its close and very similar-looking relatives the Victoria crowned pigeon, Sclater's crowned pigeon, and Scheepmaker's crowned pigeon, it is one of the largest and is considered one of the most beautiful members of the pigeon family. The western crowned pigeon is found in and is endemic to the lowland rainforests of northwestern New Guinea; the other species of crowned pigeon inhabit different regions of the island. The diet consists mainly of fruits and seeds.

Hunted for food and its plumes, it remains common only in remote areas. Due to ongoing habitat loss, limited range and overhunting in some areas, the western crowned pigeon is evaluated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed in Appendix II of CITES.

The western crowned pigeon was first described by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 and given the binomial name Columba cristata.[3][4][5] A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2018 found that the western crowned pigeon was most closely related to Sclater's crowned pigeon (Goura sclaterii).[6]

In culture
  • The western crowned pigeon is the official provincial bird of West Papua,[7] and it appears on its coat of arms.
  • The video game spin-off Angry Birds Stella has a western crowned pigeon named Willow, who wears a striped hat to conceal her crest.

References
  1. BirdLife International (2013). "Goura cristata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. "A Guide to the Pigeons and Doves of the World" by David Gibbs, Eustace Barnes & John Cox. Yale University Press (2001), ISBN 0-300-07886-2.
  3. Peters, James Lee (1937). Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 3. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 140.
  4. Sherborn, C. Davies (1905). "The new species of birds in Vroeg's catalogue, 1764". Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. 47: 332–341 [334 No. 78]. Includes a transcript of the 1764 text.
  5. Rookmaaker, L.C.; Pieters, F.F.J.M. (2000). "Birds in the sales catalogue of Adriaan Vroeg (1764) described by Pallas and Vosmaer". Contributions to Zoology. 69 (4): 271–277.
  6. Bruxaux, J.; Gabrielli, M.; Ashari, H.; Prŷs-Jones, R.; Joseph, L.; Milá, B.; Besnard, G.; Thébaud, C. (2018). "Recovering the evolutionary history of crowned pigeons (Columbidae: Goura): Implications for the biogeography and conservation of New Guinean lowland birds". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 120: 248–258. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2017.11.022.
  7. Helradica civica et militaria (in English)
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