Yellow-legged Pigeon
Columba pallidiceps
Body is mostly iridescent green below and dark blue above and on the wings, with diagnostic bright yellow legs and a bright silver head with pinkish yellow-tipped bill. Most often seen in flight in small flocks over forest canopy at dusk and dawn, where flocking behavior and combination of silver head and bright yellow legs are diagnostic. Seems to prefer primary and well developed secondary forest between sea level and 1300 meters of elevation, though more frequently seen in forest above 400 meters. Metallic Pigeon is superficially similar but has a dark cap and pink legs, whereas Yellow-legged Pigeon shows an entirely silver head and distinctly yellow legs. Metallic Pigeon also does not perform flock flights at dawn and dusk. Although mostly quiet, Yellow-legged sometimes utters a typical pigeon-like low-pitched “hooOO hooOO.”
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Columba pallidiceps
- Authority
- (Ramsay, EP, 1878)
- Order
- Columbiformes
- Family
- Columbidae
- Genus
- Columba
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
Long-billed Tailorbird
Artisornis moreaui
Inconspicuous, apalis-like grayish warbler with a long tail, straight thin bill, and buff-brown forehead. Isolated population in Mozambique, sometimes considered a different species (Njesi Tailorbird), is smaller, darker, and browner on the head. Singles and pairs are very low density, shy and creep slowly through the undergrowth and canopy, especially nearby streams; sometimes joins mixed-species flocks. Song a pleasant sweet bouncing “eeh-yuh, eeh-yuh, eeh-yuh” or strident “peelik-peelik-peelik”, sometimes joined in duet with a dry buzzing “dzit”; call a high-pitched “chhet” like a squeaky dog’s toy. Similar Brown-headed Apalis is shorter-billed than Long-billed Tailorbird and has white tips to the tail.
Red-banded Flowerpecker
Dicaeum eximium
A tiny, constantly moving bird with a short bill. Head and back are grayish-brown, throat white. Has a red chest band, gray sides of the breast, a white belly with a black stripe, buffy cinnamon flanks, and a crimson rump. Mostly inhabits lowland and hill forest up to 1000 meters of elevation, avoiding open areas and coastal forest. Short bill eliminates confusion with sunbirds and myzomelas. Common call is a harsh “tzick.”
Black-winged Pratincole
Glareola nordmanni
Similar to other pratincoles, the Black-winged Pratincole is an elegant shorebird of dry habitats, not necessarily mud. Very similar to Collared Pratincole, but in flight lacks whitish wing trailing edge seen on Collared and the underwing feathers are black not rufous. Note however, that both of these features may be very difficult to notice in the field, depending on light conditions. When standing its legs are longer and tail shorter, resulting in primary feathers projecting beyond the tail tip, but beware of Collared Pratincoles molting their elongated outer tail feathers. Flight call is very similar to Collared Pratincole, but slightly lower-pitched.
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