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Torresian Imperial Pigeon

A species of Imperial pigeons
Scientific name : Ducula spilorrhoa Genus : Imperial pigeons

Torresian Imperial Pigeon, A species of Imperial pigeons
Botanical name: Ducula spilorrhoa
Genus: Imperial pigeons
Torresian Imperial Pigeon (Ducula spilorrhoa) Photo By Don Roberson

Description

The Torresian imperial pigeon is a large plump pigeon, 38-44 centimetres (15-17.5 inches) in length, and with a 45 cm (18 in) wingspan. It is entirely white or pale cream, apart from the black flight feathers (remiges), part of the tail (rectrices) and spots on the undertail coverts. The head can be brown, soiled by eating fruit.
Size
44 cm
Feeding Habits
Torresian Imperial Pigeon predominantly consumes fruit, adept at ingesting large-seeded varieties. Seeds are later regurgitated or excreted intact after pulp digestion.
Habitat
Torresian Imperial Pigeon thrives in various forested landscapes, favoring environments such as Eucalyptus woodlands, Melaleuca and mangrove forests, along with low scrub on islets and even in areas that have undergone ecological degradation. This species shows a preference for foraging along forest margins, within swamp forests or coastal forests, as opposed to deep rainforest interiors. For breeding, torresian Imperial Pigeon often forms colonies on littoral isles, selecting either mangroves or rainforest settings, but can also nest in dispersed pairs within open or monsoon forests found throughout broader regions of Oceania.
Dite type
Frugivorous

General Info

Feeding Habits

Bird Feeder Type
Platform

Behavior

The flight of the pigeon is fast and direct, with the regular beats and an occasional sharp flick of the wings which are characteristic of pigeons in general.

Species Status

The birds were once present in large colonies in Cairns, Australia. Edmund Banfield wrote in 1908 that in Dunk Island "fully 100,000 come and go evening and morning", with flying colonies as wide as two miles. It was described by Harold Frith in 1982, who stated these processions as "one of the great ornithological experiences of the tropics." However, the birds were subject to mass slaughter in the 19th and early 20th Centuries because they were thought of as pests or easy targets for recreational shooting. Populations dropped rapidly before conservation activists such as Margaret and Arthur Thorsborne led a campaign to protect them and monitor their numbers. Anecdotal evidence from Weipa, Cape York Peninsula in 1979 was that many birds migrating from Papua New Guinea were shot and pickled as provisions for the merchant shipping fleets moving through the Torres Strait. The population of birds visiting Weipa in the 1980s was so low that the birds distinctive call was heard but sightings at that time were rare. The population in Weipa today is thriving as flocks feed voraciously twice daily on Carpentaria Palms in suburban back yards from August each year. The population is now slowly increasing because of their protected status in Australia, where there are now an estimated 30,000. The species remains locally fairly common in parts of its range, and is therefore considered to be of least concern by BirdLife International and IUCN.
Torresian Imperial Pigeon (Ducula spilorrhoa) Torresian Imperial Pigeon (Ducula spilorrhoa) Photo By Don Roberson

Scientific Classification

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