White-capped Fruit-Dove

Identificazione

The white-capped fruit dove is a colourful bird with greenish wings that are marked with blue patches. Their belly is yellow but presents a bright red and orange patch at the middle point of their body; the yellow colours seem to get more vibrant towards the underside of their tail. Their throat is yellow with the same kind of tints as their belly. As their name suggests, they have a lighter white crown that extends all the way to their beak. Right under their crown and next to their eyes, they have a colourful line that extends from the eye ring to the back of their head which can be yellow or darker. The eye ring appears to be orange. The rest of the plumage shows less colours with the presence of more beige or greyish feathers.<p>Their body mass is around 100g and their wing length is close to 14.5 cm.

Tassonomia

The genus name Ptilinopus comes from the ancient Greek πτιλον (ptilon) and πους (pous), which means feathered feet. This refers to the presence of feathers on the tarsi of many species that are part of this genus. The name dupetithouarsii honours French admiral and botanist Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars (1793-1864) who had for mission to take possession of the Marquesas Islands for France. His mission was successful when in 1841 he took control of the islands and established a French protectorate.

Nome scientifico

Ptilinopus dupetithouarsii

Autorità

(Néboux, 1840)

Ordine

Columbiformi

Famiglia

Columbidae

Genere

Ptilinopus

Areale e habitat

They prefer forested habitats where there is the presence of fruiting plants. They have been found sitting next to trees called banyans. They often move from areas where there is an absence of fruits and flowers to areas where there is a higher concentration of food sources, often by traversing mountain passes. It is rare to observe fruit doves in the wild because of their preference for denser forests.<p>The white–capped fruit dove is an endemic species of French Polynesia. It can be found on the group of islands named Marquesas Islands. For the subspecies Ptilinopus d. dupetithouarsii, it can be found on the islands Hiva Oa, Tahuata, Mohotani and Fatuhiva, the more southern islands of the archipelago. For Ptilinopus d. viridior, it can be found on the islands Nuku Hiva, Ua Huka and Ua Pou which are the northern islands.

Migrazione

Specie stanziale

Comportamento

Comportamento migratorio: Specie stanziale.

Conservazione

Tendenza della popolazione: in diminuzione.

Tendenza della popolazione

in diminuzione