| Wompoo fruit dove | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Columbiformes |
| Family: | Columbidae |
| Genus: | Ptilinopus |
| Species: | P. magnificus |
| Binomial name | |
| Ptilinopus magnificus (Temminck, 1821) | |
| Synonyms | |
Megaloprepia magnificus, Palumbes magnifica | |
The wompoo fruit dove (Ptilinopus magnificus), also known as wompoo pigeon and "magnificent fruit dove" among others, is one of the larger fruit doves native to New Guinea and eastern Australia.
The wompoo fruit dove was formally described in 1821 by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck from a specimen that had been collected on the east coast of Australia. He placed it with the doves and pigeons in the genus Columba and coined the binomial name Columba magnifica. [2] [3] The wompoo fruit dove is now one of 57 fruit doves placed in the genus Ptilinopus that was introduced in 1825 by the English naturalist William John Swainson. [4]
Five subspecies are recognised: [4]
This dove measures up to 45 cm (18 in), but are generally far smaller in northern regions. It has purple plumage around its neck, chest and upper belly. Its lower belly is yellow and it has green underparts. The sexes are similar and the juveniles have a duller and greener plumage compared to adults. Notwithstanding their bright plumage, they are hard to see amongst the forest canopy, thanks to their unobtrusive, quiet habits. [5] Their call sounds like wollack-wa-hoo and often sounds very human.
The wompoo fruit dove can be seen in large flocks where food is abundant. The birds feed off fruit-bearing trees in rainforests such as figs. They also occasionally eat insects. They can eat large fruits whole and are able to acrobatically collect fruit of trees and vines. They do not like to travel long distances, preferring to stay in their local area and make use of whatever fruit are in season. The diet of this species was extensively studied in the Port Moresby area by Frith et al. (1976). Despite their small size, they are able to swallow fruits of 5 cm3 (0.31 cu in) volume, which would translate into a diameter of about 2 cm (0.79 in) in spherical fruit.
Major food items included:
Food items of minor importance were fruit of:
Breeding times will vary according to weather conditions. The nest is sturdily constructed from forked twigs not high from the ground. Both sexes help in the construction of the nest. One white egg is laid and the parents share the incubation and care of the chick. In the event that the chick dies, the doves will attempt to have a second offspring in the same season.
Widespread and common throughout its large range, the wompoo fruit dove is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. [1]
Coenraad Jacob Temminck was a Dutch patrician, zoologist and museum director.
Cananga odorata, known as ylang-ylang or cananga tree, is a tropical tree that is native to and originated in the Philippines and spread to Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Queensland, Australia. It is also native to parts of Cambodia, Thailand, India and Vietnam. It is valued for the essential oils extracted from its flowers, which has a strong floral fragrance. Ylang-ylang is one of the most extensively used natural materials in the perfume industry, earning it the name "Queen of Perfumes".
The superb fruit dove, also known as the purple-crowned fruit dove, is a medium-sized, colourful fruit-dove in the family Columbidae.
The jambu fruit dove is a smallish colourful fruit dove. It is a resident breeding species in southern Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei and the Indonesian islands of Kalimantan, Sumatra and Java.
The topknot pigeon is a pigeon native to eastern Australia.
The beautiful fruit dove, also known as the rose-fronted pigeon or crimson-capped fruit dove, is a small, approximately 19 cm long, mainly green fruit dove. It has a red crown, whitish throat, a greenish-yellow bill and purplish-red feet. It has a blue-grey breast and yellowish orange belly, with a reddish purple patch in between. Both sexes are similar.
The collared imperial pigeon is a large pigeon native to New Guinea and adjacent islands.
The rose-crowned fruit dove, also known as pink-capped fruit dove or Swainson's fruit dove, is a medium-sized fruit dove that is found in parts of southern Indonesia, northern Australia and eastern Australia.
The orange-bellied fruit dove is a small pigeon with mainly green plumage, distinguished by a large orange patch on the lower breast and belly, a small lilac shoulder patch, pale yellow undertail coverts, and a grey terminal band on the tail.
The black wood pigeon or Japanese wood pigeon is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in East Asia along shorelines of the Pacific's Korea Strait, Philippine Sea and East China Sea. It is believed to be the largest representative of the genus, Columba, and has a weight of around 550 grams (1.2 lb) and an overall length of 43 cm (17 in). Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. The species is in decline owing to habitat loss, habitat degradation, deforestation and hunting. This wood pigeon is endemic to the laurel forest habitat.
Ducula is a genus of the pigeon family Columbidae, collectively known as imperial pigeons. They are large to very large pigeons with a heavy build and medium to long tails. They are arboreal, feed mainly on fruit and are closely related to the other genus of fruit-eating doves, Ptilinopus. Both genera display brightly coloured plumage, predominantly green, often with contrasting under-parts of purple, orange or red. Some Ducula have prominently swollen ceres. They have large gapes and swallow seeds whole, playing an important role in seed dispersal.
The Torresian imperial pigeon, also known as the nutmeg pigeon, white nutmeg pigeon, Australian pied imperial pigeon or Torres Strait pigeon, is a relatively large, pied species of pigeon. It is found in forest, woodland, savanna, mangrove and scrub in Australia, New Guinea, Aru Islands, islands in the Geelvink Bay, D'Entrecasteaux Islands and Louisiade Archipelago.
The crimson-crowned fruit dove, also the Tongan fruit dove or purple-capped fruit dove, is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in American Samoa, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Niue, Samoa, Tonga, and Wallis and Futuna Islands. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical mangrove forest.
The grey-green fruit dove is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to the Society Islands in French Polynesia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
The claret-breasted fruit dove is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in the Moluccas, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands archipelago. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
Ficus obliqua, commonly known as the small-leaved fig, is a tree in the family Moraceae, native to eastern Australia, New Guinea, eastern Indonesia to Sulawesi and islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Previously known for many years as Ficus eugenioides, it is a banyan of the genus Ficus, which contains around 750 species worldwide in warm climates, including the edible fig. Beginning life as a seedling, which grows on other plants (epiphyte) or on rocks (lithophyte), F. obliqua can grow to 60 m (200 ft) high and nearly as wide with a pale grey buttressed trunk, and glossy green leaves.
The brown cuckoo-dove is a dove in the genus Macropygia found in Australia from Weipa and Aurukun in the north to Bega in the south, and most inland at Atherton and Toowoomba. It is sometimes called the "brown pigeon" or "pheasant pigeon", but both terms are best avoided, as they can lead to confusion with the brown doves and the true pheasant pigeon. It was one of three new species defined when the slender-billed cuckoo-dove was split in 2016.
The fruit doves, also known as fruit pigeons, are a genus (Ptilinopus) of birds in the pigeon and dove family (Columbidae). These colourful, frugivorous doves are found in forests and woodlands in Southeast Asia and Oceania. It is a large genus with over 50 species, some threatened or already extinct.
