Palau Fruit-Dove
Ptilinopus pelewensis
Brightly-colored Palau endemic with a pale gray (almost white) head, neon orange belly, pink forehead, and leaf-green back and wings. Yellow tail tip is especially prominent in flight. Inhabits forested areas throughout Palau, where it can be more easily heard than seen despite its bright colors; listen for its distinctive series of accelerating coos.
Identification
The Palau fruit dove is 23 to 25 cm (9.1–9.8 in) long and weighs around 93 g (3.3 oz). The species has a grey head, neck and breast with a purple cap and yellow line. There is an orange band across the lower breast and belly and olive-green back, wings and tail. Both sexes are alike. Juvenile birds resemble the adults but lack the purple cap, the green upperparts are lined with yellow and the belly is yellow.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Ptilinopus pelewensis
- Authority
- Hartlaub & Finsch, 1868
- Order
- Columbiformes
- Family
- Columbidae
- Genus
- Ptilinopus
Range and habitat
The Palau fruit dove is endemic to Palau, where it is common in all habitats across the island. The species declined due to hunting prior to 1945, but has rebounded with protection and is now common.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
Cinereous Bunting
Emberiza cineracea
Similar to Ortolan and Cretzschmar's Buntings. Males are faintly-streaked with a yellow-green head. Some populations have a yellow belly while others have a gray-white belly. Females and young lack bright yellow tones and are faintly streaked on the throat and breast. Belly whitish, not orange or buff like Ortolan and Cretzschmar’s Bunting. Breeds on open rocky mountain slopes with scattered bushes. During migration found in a varity of open habitats. Flight call is similar to that of Cretzschmar's Bunting, a sharp "Tzip."
South African Shelduck
Tadorna cana
A mostly rusty-colored waterfowl. Male has a gray neck and head; female similar with a whitish face. Resident and nomadic throughout its range, preferring estuaries, rivers, and impoundments within arid zones. Gives a honk call. Egyptian Goose is similar, but larger, with a brown blotch in the middle of the chest and a different head pattern that includes a tawny eye surrounded by an expanded rusty eye-ring. Egyptian Goose honk is higher and harsher than this species.
Magpie Tanager
Cissopis leverianus
Huge unmistakable pied tanager with a very long tail and a white rump and belly. Note the yellow eyes contrasting with a glossy blue-black head, back, breast, and wings. The graduated tail is black and tipped in white. Found at forest edges, plantations, clearings, and gardens; occasionally associated with mixed-species flocks.
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