Orange Dove
Ptilinopus victor
A spectacular and unique dove. Male is vivid orange with peculiar hair-like feathers and bright yellow wingtips. Head is duller brown than body. Female is mostly green with a yellow undertail and a brownish face. She resembles female Golden and Velvet Doves, but those species do not overlap in range. Unique voice sounds much like a dripping tap from a distance, but up close more like someone clicking their thumb and finger together: a regular “drip drip drip.”
Identification
The orange dove or orange fruit dove (Ptilinopus victor) is a species of bird in the pigeon family Columbidae. One of the most colorful doves, the male has a golden olive head and elongated bright orange "hair-like" body feathers. The golden-olive remiges are typically covered by the long orange wing coverts when perched. The legs, bill and orbital skin are bluish-green and the iris is whitish. The female is a dark green bird with blackish tail and orange-yellow undertail coverts. The young resemble females. The orange dove is endemic to Fiji, where it inhabits forests on the islands of Vanua Levu, Taveuni, Rabi, Kioa, Qamea and Laucala. They mainly feed on various small fruits, berries, caterpillars and insects. The female usually lays one white egg. The orange dove is closely related to the whistling fruit dove and golden fruit dove. A common species throughout its limited range, the orange dove is evaluated as being of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Taxonomy
The orange fruit dove was originally described as Chrysoena victor by John Gould in 1872, based on specimens from Vanua Levu, Fiji. The species' generic name comes from the Ancient Greek ptilon (feather) and pous (foot), while the specific epithet victor is from the Latin victor, meaning "conqueror". Alternative names for the orange fruit dove include orange dove and flame dove.<p>It is one of over 50 species in the genus Ptilinopus. Within the genus, it is sister to the whistling fruit dove, with these two being most closely related to the golden dove. These three species are placed together in the subgenus Chrysoena. They have also sometimes been treated as their own genus.<p>There are two recognised subspecies. Intermediates between the subspecies exist.
- Scientific name
- Ptilinopus victor
- Authority
- (Gould, 1872)
- Order
- Columbiformes
- Family
- Columbidae
- Genus
- Ptilinopus
Range and habitat
The orange fruit dove is endemic to Fiji, where it is found on the islands of Vanua Levu, Taveuni, Kioa, Rabi, Laucala, and Qamea. It inhabits woodland like other species in the subgenus Chrysoena. It prefers open forests, including secondary and gallery forest, but is also common in closed-canopy old-growth forest. The species is submontane and occurs at elevations of 420–980 m (1,380–3,220 ft), but its absence in lowlands may be caused by a lack of suitable habitat due to deforestation instead of elevation.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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