Pompadour Green Pigeon
Encyclopedia
The Pompadour Green Pigeon (Treron pompadora) is a pigeon in the genus Treron. It is widespread in forests of southern and southeast Asia
. It has several distinctive subspecies
, and some authorities split
the Pompadour Green Pigeon into multiple species.
, Sri Lanka
east to the Philippines
and the Moluccas
. In India, they are found as disjunct
populations in the Western Ghats
, some parts of the Eastern Ghats
, Northeastern India and in the Andaman Islands
. It remains fairly common in large parts of its range, so its conservation status is evaluated as Least Concern
by the IUCN.
and several of its subspecies
are distinctive, leading some authorities to split it into six species:
are mainly whitish or pale yellowish, though they are deep cinnamon in males of affinis and phayrei. The wings are blackish with distinct yellow edging to the wing coverts and tertials. The mantle is dark green in the female and deep purplish-chestnut
in the male. In most subspecies, this includes the "shoulder", but in males of aromaticus the "shoulder" is very dark grey and in males of chloropterus it is green. Furthermore, males of aromaticus and some members of the axillaris group have a grey band above the mantle.
The legs are reddish in most subspecies, but grey in the axillaris group. The eyes are maroon
-red or deep to very light blue (depends on subspecies), and the bill is whitish-grey with a dull, pale greenish or bluish base, except in the axillaris group where the base is red.
s of a wide variety of plants. It builds a stick nest in a tree and lays two white egg
s.
, this bird and several others green pigeon are known as Bata Goya in the Sinhala language.
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. It has several distinctive subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
, and some authorities split
Lumpers and splitters
Lumping and splitting refers to a well-known problem in any discipline which has to place individual examples into rigorously defined categories. The lumper/splitter problem occurs when there is the need to create classifications and assign examples to them, for example schools of literature,...
the Pompadour Green Pigeon into multiple species.
Distribution and habitat
It is a widespread resident bird in forests of tropical southern Asia from IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
east to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and the Moluccas
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...
. In India, they are found as disjunct
Disjunct distribution
In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but widely separated from each other geographically...
populations in the Western Ghats
Western Ghats
The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
, some parts of the Eastern Ghats
Eastern Ghats
The Eastern Ghats or Eastern Ghauts are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The Eastern Ghats run from West Bengal state in the north, through Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south passing some parts of Karnataka. They are eroded and cut through by the...
, Northeastern India and in the Andaman Islands
Andaman Islands
The Andaman Islands are a group of Indian Ocean archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal between India to the west, and Burma , to the north and east...
. It remains fairly common in large parts of its range, so its conservation status is evaluated as Least Concern
Least Concern
Least Concern is an IUCN category assigned to extant taxon or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category. As such they do not qualify as threatened, Near Threatened, or Conservation Dependent...
by the IUCN.
Taxonomy
The distribution of the Pompadour Green Pigeon is peculiarly disjunctDisjunct distribution
In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but widely separated from each other geographically...
and several of its subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
are distinctive, leading some authorities to split it into six species:
- Sri Lanka Green Pigeon (Treron pompadora) from Sri LankaSri LankaSri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
. MonotypicMonotypicIn biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
. - Grey-fronted Green Pigeon (Treron affinis) from the Western GhatsWestern GhatsThe Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
in India. Monotypic. - Andaman Green Pigeon (Treron chloropterus) from the Andamans and Nicobars. Monotypic.
- Ashy-headed Green Pigeon (Treron phayrei) from northeast India and NepalNepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, east to YunnanYunnanYunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
in ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and south through IndochinaIndochinaThe Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
(north of the Isthmus of Kra). Commonly considered monotypic, though some recognize the subspecies conoveri. - Philippine Green Pigeon (Treron axillaris) from the PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. Includes the subspecies amadoni, canescens and everetti. - Buru Green Pigeon (Treron aromaticus) from small islands in the Flores SeaFlores SeaThe Flores Sea covers 93,000 square miles of water in Indonesia.- Geography :The seas that border the Flores Sea are the Bali Sea , Java Sea , and the Banda Sea ....
and BuruBuruBuru is the third largest island within Maluku Islands of Malay Archipelago. It lies between the Banda Sea to the south and Seram Sea to the north, west of Ambon and Seram islands. The island belongs to Maluku province of Indonesia and includes the Buru and South Buru regencies...
, IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. Monotypic.
Description
The Pompadour Green Pigeon is a stocky, medium-sized pigeon, 25 to 28 cm (9.8 to 11 in) in length, with some subspecies significantly larger than others (e.g., chloropterus is significan larger than the subspecies from the Asian mainland). The head is green to greenish-yellow, and the underparts are green, though males of the subspecies phayrei have a pale orange patch on the chest. The crown, including the forehead is grey, except in the nominate subspecies where the forehead is greenish-yellow. The undertail covertsCovert (feather)
A covert feather on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts, which as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail.- Wing-coverts :...
are mainly whitish or pale yellowish, though they are deep cinnamon in males of affinis and phayrei. The wings are blackish with distinct yellow edging to the wing coverts and tertials. The mantle is dark green in the female and deep purplish-chestnut
Chestnut (color)
Chestnut, also known as Indian red, is a color, a medium brownish shade of red, and is named after the nut of the chestnut tree.As Indian red, it is named after the red laterite soil found in India. It is thus an earth tone as well as a red. It is composed of naturally occurring iron oxides. Other...
in the male. In most subspecies, this includes the "shoulder", but in males of aromaticus the "shoulder" is very dark grey and in males of chloropterus it is green. Furthermore, males of aromaticus and some members of the axillaris group have a grey band above the mantle.
The legs are reddish in most subspecies, but grey in the axillaris group. The eyes are maroon
Maroon
Maroon, marooning, or marooned may refer to:* Maroon , a dark shade of red* Maroon , runaway slaves, of African origin, in the Americas* Marooning, the act of leaving someone on a deserted island-Music:...
-red or deep to very light blue (depends on subspecies), and the bill is whitish-grey with a dull, pale greenish or bluish base, except in the axillaris group where the base is red.
Behaviour
The Pompadour Green Pigeon usually occurs singly or in small groups. Its flight is fast and direct, with the regular beats and an occasional sharp flick of the wings that are characteristic of pigeons in general. It eats the seeds and fruitFruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s of a wide variety of plants. It builds a stick nest in a tree and lays two white egg
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
s.
In culture
In Sri LankaSri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, this bird and several others green pigeon are known as Bata Goya in the Sinhala language.