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© Sedgwick County Zoo, credit: Unknown

Nicobar Pigeon

Caloenas nicobarica

Physical Characteristics

  • The pigeons are metallic green with coppery reflections. The head and flight feathers are slate black.The very short tail has pure white undercoats.There is a small black knob at the base of the bill near the forehead that is larger in males.They have a strong, hooked bill and large feet with long claws. Females are smaller and more copper colored with shorter neck hackles. 

Diet

  • Wild: hard seeds, fruit and some invertebrates, is fond of corn

Behavior

  • Feed off of the ground, toss leaves aside and dig with the bill
  • Have a very muscular gizzard, can eat some hard nuts that humans can only open with a hammer
  • In safe localities found together in large numbers
  • Roost and breed only on islands not inhabited by humans, fly to larger islands in the daytime to feed
  • Fly close to the ground
  • Build primitive nests, sometimes only 3 or 4 sticks that must be arranged so the egg doesn't roll away
  • Reproduction
    • clutch size: 1 white egg
    • incubation: 30 days by both parents

Environmental/Global

  • Habitat: small wooded islands
  • Distribution: Indo-Australian region; Malaya to Solomon Islands, including the Nicobar Islands, South Asia
  • Numbers:
  • Status: CITES Appendix I
    • heavy hunting
    • clearing of wood habitat

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