THE WESTERN CROWNED PIGEON
Goura cristata
The Crowned Pigeon is the biggest Columbidae on Earth and live exclusively in New Guinea. The Western Crowned Pigeon (Goura cristata) has got beautiful feathers verging on blue with a purplish red back and wing coverts and a funny feathery crest on its head. Native od the Western New Guinea, it is frequently found in the rainforests and in marshy areas with thick mangrove vegetation, tree ferns and impenetrable underwood. This bird can be as big as a turkey and spends most of the day down on the ground. It feeds on seeds, fruits falling on the ground, grass and sprouts but it also eats larvae, arthropods, and molluscs it detects while scratching about on the ground. Like many other birds which live in wet environments, it enjoys unfolding its wings to the sun in order to dry and sanitize them. In its nest which is located in the thick of the wood one egg only is laid. The brooding lasts 4 weeks and after that, as all Columbidae do, the baby pigeon is fed with the “pigeon milk” for a few days, a secretion that is rich in fats and proteins with a milky texture which is formed in the throat and is poured into the nestling’s throat. The crowned pigeon represents a very sought-after prey by local peoples and an excellent game. In addition to this the illegal exportation of numerous specimens for food or for breeding: in some areas they are in sharp decline and this species is classified as vulnerable.
