White-crowned pigeon
White-crowned pigeon | |
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In Florida, USA | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Columbiformes |
Family: | Columbidae |
Genus: | Patagioenas |
Species: | P. leucocephala
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Binomial name | |
Patagioenas leucocephala | |
Synonyms | |
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The white-crowned pigeon (Patagioenas leucocephala) is a fruit and seed-eating species of bird in the dove and pigeon family Columbidae. It is found primarily in the Caribbean.
Taxonomy
In the first half of the 18th century the white-crowned pigeon was described and illustrated by several naturalists including
Description
The white-crowned pigeon can measure 29–35 cm (11–14 in) in length, span 48–59 cm (19–23 in) across the wings, and weigh 150–301 g (5.3–10.6 oz). It is around the same size as the common
Distribution and habitat
It is a resident breeder mainly in the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica and Antigua. It breeds in smaller numbers in Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti), Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Anguilla and other Caribbean islands. It also breeds along the Caribbean coast of Central America. In the United States, it is found only in the Florida Keys, Everglades, and the southern tip of mainland Florida.[15] They will often spend the winter in the Caribbean islands.
The white-crowned pigeon primarily lives and breeds in nest colonies or individually in low lying, coastal, mangrove forests, and will travel inland to feed on the fruits and seeds of a wide variety of plants. In Florida, the white-crowned pigeon has historically been documented nesting exclusively on remote, tidally inundated mangrove islands in wildlife refuges. Recent observations have confirmed nesting on the southern tip of mainland Florida.[16]
With few exceptions, this species requires isolated offshore mangrove islets with limited disturbance for breeding.
Threats and conservation
A main threat to this species is loss of habitat due to deforestation and habitat degradation. The white-crowned pigeon needs two distinct habitats: one for nesting and one for feeding. They typically breed in coastal red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle), which continue to be clear-cut for crops such as sugarcane. Agriculture and deforestation have become a problem for the species' feeding grounds, typically inland hardwood forests. The bird is very skittish, and is known to simply abandon its nest when it is encroached upon. In Florida, white-crowned pigeons often feed on the fruit of poisonwood (Metopium toxiferum). Unfortunately, this native plant causes severe human dermatitis and is often removed.
The white-crowned pigeon is also hunted, often illegally, throughout much of its range. Although, changes have been made to hunting regulations in the Bahamas, illegal hunting is still a problem for these pigeons.
Other threats to this species include (in Florida) a major cause of mortality is collision with man-made objects; and pesticide use.[15]
Like the extinct passenger pigeon, this species illustrates a very important principle of conservation biology: it is not always necessary to kill the last pair of a species to force it to extinction. These birds are "threatened by the slaughter of nesting birds on its Caribbean breeding grounds"; they may play a vitally important, yet not fully understood, role in the seed dispersal of West Indian flora.[17]
References
- . Retrieved November 19, 2021.
- ^ "NatureServe Explorer 2.0". explorer.natureserve.org. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
- ^ Ray, John (1713). Synopsis methodica avium & piscium (in Latin). London: William Innys. p. 184.
- ^ Sloane, Hans (1725). A Voyage to the Islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica : with the natural history of the herbs and trees, four-footed beasts, fishes, birds, insects, reptiles, &c. of the last of those islands. Vol. 2. London: Printed for the author. p. 303, Plate 261.
- ^ Catesby, Mark (1729–1732). The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (in English and French). Vol. 1. London: W. Innys and R. Manby. p. 25, Plate 25.
- ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae:Laurentii Salvii. p. 164.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1937). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 3. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 62.
- ^ Reichenbach, Ludwig (1853). Handbuch der speciellen Ornithologie (in German). Leipzig: Friedrich Hofmeister. p. xxv.
- ^ Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (2020). "Pigeons". IOC World Bird List Version 10.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-873403-60-0
- ISBN 978-1-4262-0828-7.
- .
- .
- ^ a b c "White-crowned Pigeon". BirdLife International.
- ^ a b Zambrano, Ricardo (2017). "New Records of WhiteCrowned Pigeon Nesting in Urban Key West and Miami, Florida" (PDF). Urban Naturalist. 13.
- ^ Ehrlich, Paul R.; Dobkin, David S.; Wheye, Darryl (1988). "The Passenger Pigeon". Stanford University. Retrieved March 3, 2012.