The crested pigeon (''Ocyphaps lophotes'') is a

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

found widely throughout mainland

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

except for the far northern

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

areas. Only two Australian pigeon species possess an erect crest, the crested pigeon and the spinifex pigeon. The crested pigeon is the larger of the two species. The crested pigeon is sometimes referred to as a topknot pigeon, a common name shared with the reddish crested '' Lopholaimus antarcticus'' of Eastern Australia.

Taxonomy

The species was described in 1822 by Temminck; it is the only species in the genus ''Ocyphaps'', established by G.R. Gray in 1842. Two subspecies are recognized: ''O. l. lophotes'', the nominate subspecies, occurring across the south of the continent; and ''O. l. whitlocki'', occurring in regions of the centre and north of Western Australia. The taxon was named for F. Lawson Whitlock, who made important collections of bird specimens in those areas. The species has also been placed as '' Geophaps'', perhaps allied with '' Geophaps plumifera''.Baptista, L.F., Trail, P.W., Horblit, H.M. & Boesman, P. (2018). Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/54193 on 21 July 2018). Common names for the species, aside from crested or topknot pigeon, characterise them as a bronzewing or dove that is likewise distinguished by the crest.

Description

The length of the crested pigeon varies from . Colouration is grey with tinges of brown, pink and green. It has a feathered, but slender, black spike on top of the head. It runs with the crest erect. The periorbital skin is bright orange. Wings have black stripes and are bronzed, while the primary feathers have iridescent areas of brown, purple, blue, and green. Immature birds have duller colours with no bronzing on the wings. The birds can be normally seen in two sizes, they can be thin or plumped. It is almost impossible to tell if a crested pigeon is male or female, because they have the same plumage. If startled, the crested pigeon takes to the air with a distinctive whistling 'call', the source of the noise can be attributed to the way the air rushes over a modified primary feather found on the wings.

Distribution and habitat

The crested pigeon is found in lightly wooded grasslands in both rural and urban areas, but they can also be seen at watercourses, homestead gardens,

pastoral The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...

areas, sports grounds, and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

courses. Their habitat has expanded rapidly since settlement has produced pastoral lands (previously they were only found in inland and

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

). Foraging for grains, they have adapted to grain farming areas, often feeding on the noxious weed of '' Echium plantagineum''.

Behaviour

Their most distinctive behaviour is the beating and

whistling Whistling, without the use of an artificial whistle, is achieved by creating a small opening with one's lips, usually after applying moisture (licking one's lips or placing water upon them) and then blowing or sucking air through the space. Th ...

sound their wings make when they take off. This is most likely to draw the attention of

predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

s to birds on the wing, and away from any birds remaining on the ground, and as an alarm call to other pigeons. When the birds land, their tails tilt upwards and the flight patterns are similar to those of the spotted turtle dove. They can be highly social and tend to be seen in flocks of varying sizes. They are highly gregarious birds when in contact with humans.

Breeding

While they breed throughout the year, it is more common in the warmer months. Males approach females and begin an elaborate mating dance; they bob their bodies up and down, while opening and closing their wings like a fan with each bob. This is accompanied by a soft hooting which is timed with the bobbing. If the female is interested, she remains generally stationary as the male approaches, until copulation is attempted.

Nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold Egg (biology), eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of ...

ing usually occurs in

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s or

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

s. Nests usually consist of a platform of twigs. They lay two oval, white, glossy

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

s. The eggs usually hatch 3 weeks after they were laid. Both parents incubate the eggs.

References

* Pizzey and Knight, "Field Guide to the Birds of Australia", Angus & Robertson, * Trounsen and Trounsen, "Australian Birds: A Concise Photographic Field Guide, Cameron House. .

External links

Birds in Backyards
{{Taxonbar, from=Q167857 Columbidae Endemic birds of Australia crested pigeon crested pigeon Articles containing video clips